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Summary: Understanding Sowell is a posteriori not a priori...
Review: Put simply, anyone and everyone can relate to this book! Most of the academics in America are white and upper class, and therefore Sowell's struggles in the Ivy League will reasonate well with them. However, something that has totally bypassed some of the other reviewers that i can relate to is Sowell's attempt to penetrate into the halls of academia, not only as a man, but a black man. As a young scholar, this book reflects a great deal of what i feel as i strive towards a Ph.D. This is one of the only books that reflects a black scholar's trials and tribulations as he stumbles and catches his self on the way to stardom in a discipline that few blacks have directly confronted. However, be forewarned that understanding Sowell is a posteriori not a prior...
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Summary: Good stuff
Review: Slices of an inspiring life. It's true that one wishes for a greater degree of intimacy, but then again the unadorned, reserved prose compells one along smoothly. The personal moves me more than the theoretical anyway, so I'm glad to have these personal facts available to me to do with what I may, and I appreciate that Mr. Sowell did not burden me with any psychological theorizing.
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Summary: Shows the power of clear thinking
Review: The beauty of Dr. Sowell's life as chronicled in the book is its witness to the fact that clear, honest thinking puts one in a minority, regardless of race or class or "station" in life, and that ultimately people come around to respect you for it and you can accomplish so much if you stay that course.So many times Dr. Sowell came to a place where the stated mission was later found contrary to the real priorities of his superiors, who thwarted so many of his efforts to accomplish the stated mission. When he would finally corner them into admitting their ulterior motives and obstructionism, they had the choice of changing policies or accepting his resignation. Few people have resigned from so many places, and fewer still were later sought by the same places with promises that, really, it will be different this time. It is also wonderful to behold someone who thinks like an economist virtually ALL THE TIME. He asks, why should blacks spend any energy protesting against a fifth-rate school for not admitting them? Especially when the best schools WERE admitting them? Can not that energy be better used elsewhere? Good questions. This kind of thinking is so prevalent in the book it inspires one to emulate it as a matter of lifestyle. True, this is not a tell-all, and some things are left mysteries (like why exactly he parted with his unnamed first wife). Perhaps some such things are best left unanswered. After all, we are talking about DR. Thomas Sowell, not MR. Geraldo Rivera. I think we learned enough to understand the man and allow him to keep his dignity, and yes, respect the privacy of the other players, guilty or not. This is a compelling story which is not easily put down once started.
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Summary: Shows the power of clear thinking
Review: The beauty of Dr. Sowell's life as chronicled in the book is its witness to the fact that clear, honest thinking puts one in a minority, regardless of race or class or "station" in life, and that ultimately people come around to respect you for it and you can accomplish so much if you stay that course. So many times Dr. Sowell came to a place where the stated mission was later found contrary to the real priorities of his superiors, who thwarted so many of his efforts to accomplish the stated mission. When he would finally corner them into admitting their ulterior motives and obstructionism, they had the choice of changing policies or accepting his resignation. Few people have resigned from so many places, and fewer still were later sought by the same places with promises that, really, it will be different this time. It is also wonderful to behold someone who thinks like an economist virtually ALL THE TIME. He asks, why should blacks spend any energy protesting against a fifth-rate school for not admitting them? Especially when the best schools WERE admitting them? Can not that energy be better used elsewhere? Good questions. This kind of thinking is so prevalent in the book it inspires one to emulate it as a matter of lifestyle. True, this is not a tell-all, and some things are left mysteries (like why exactly he parted with his unnamed first wife). Perhaps some such things are best left unanswered. After all, we are talking about DR. Thomas Sowell, not MR. Geraldo Rivera. I think we learned enough to understand the man and allow him to keep his dignity, and yes, respect the privacy of the other players, guilty or not. This is a compelling story which is not easily put down once started.
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Summary: THE MAKING OF AN UNUSUAL INELLECTUAL
Review: This is a very human account of one man's rise from the streets of Harlem to a distinguished role in American intellectual life. Unlike most of our "experts" on social and political subjects, Sowell has a advanced degree from the school of hard knocks to go with his Phd in economics. In this autobiographical memoir he writes warmly but without sentimentality of his upbringing in a poor black family. Something of a brawler when young, once sent to a home for wayward boys, a card shark in his Marine Corps barracks, Sowell was no saint but ultimately he imposed upon himself an iron selfdiscipline to overcome the handicaps of discrimination and a spotty early education. When he was six Tom Sowell learned about discrimiation. He was playing innocently with a little white girl when his foster mother admonished him: Keep this up and you headed for the gallows. When he was in the Marine Corps he was sometimes refused service in southern restaurants.The cards may have been stacked against him but Sowell made up his mind that he wasn't going to let that become an excuse for failure. Labelled as a conservative for his opposition to affirmative action, Sowell is more accurately described as someone who thinks for himself and buys no dogma. To learn more about his ideas you will have to read his earlier books, masterpieces like "A Conflict of Visions" or "The Quest for Cosmic Justice". In "Odyssey" you get the experiences that helped shape these ideas. Even if you disagree with Sowell's ideas, or perhaps especially if you do, you should read this book if you want togain a better understanding of the background of today's debate about race.
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Summary: Tough Guy
Review: This is Sowell's personal memoir. It goes from his childhood up to the present. Some of the stories from his childhood were funny. Once he fell asleep in church and woke to find his head in the lap of a female relative. He was angry that a girl would hold his head in her lap as a baby and punched her. He grew up in poverty in the South when black folks were still on the fringes of society. As a kid he visited the home of some white folks, for the first time saw the taps for both hot water and cold water, and thought that the "rich" people "drank a lot of water" because they had two taps. He did not even know that blond was a possible color for hair until he was older. His family moved to New York City when he was still a child. When he enrolled in the schools, he had to fight the Southern stereotypes because everyone knew that "Southern kids were dumb." He got into several fights. Once, he kicked a teacher in the stomach with all his might after an argument, sending the teacher reeling. He eventually got into some of the elite high schools in New York, but this academic career was cut short because his family gave him trouble for studying too hard - the typical rising peoples that do not understand the "new" methods for those who seek a good education. He was virtually forced to move out on his own and could not finish in the elite school. He worked in a machine shop for a time. The government then drafted him in to the Marines. He spent some time there and developed some skills in photography. After he got out of the Marines, he went on to a small college, then on to Harvard, graduating with honor. If I could sum up Mr. Sowell in a few words, it would be "tough guy." This guy had a reputation for not compromising. He turned down several positions because some were token positions for Negroes. He was not afraid of anything seemingly. When he taught at colleges, it was his way or the highway. He never gave students any slack for lame excuses on grades and schoolwork. If his superiors did not allow him to do his job correctly, he quit and went elsewhere. When superiors attempted to undermine his authority, he resigned or forced them to mend their wicked ways. He thought, as I do, that much of the so-called civil rights movement was useless and counter productive. He favored lifting the restrictions such as the Jim Crow laws, but anything that forced "integration," "affirmative action" or any other sacred cow to the movement was misguided. He thought that after the lifting of only those bad laws, Negro leaders should focus on education and increasing job skills for economic advancement. Looking back, he was right and the Negro leaders were wrong, and he has the facts to prove it. Many of the leaders assumed that after the lifting of the restrictions, Negroes would rise fast economically without anything else. Sowell knew that they were wrong and that fundamental change required attitude changes toward both work and education. In despair that the Negroes as a whole did not raise fast enough, leaders started making excuses for the stagnation such as "racism," and other such nonsense. Sowell gave them a dose of the painful truth, and they did not want to hear it for the most part. Many people thought he was a "conservative Republican." However, he was not a member of either party in later years when the mass media made these claims. For the most part, he is simply a tough, straight, fact-driven scholar who finds the truth and reports it without any thought of the social consequences. This is good. Whether writing about race, government, economics, or anything, he simple reports it straight without any ideological slanting or filtering. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the man behind the great books. He does not bore the reader with things like his love life and such. I think that intelligent Negroes can look upon the life of this great man and see that greatness is possible to that race that knows too much of despair and broken dreams. Sowell rose from poverty to the life of a towering scholar though hard work and hard study. This book inspires.
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Summary: His life's path is very different that one would expect.
Review: Thomas Sowell has led a remarkable life. To come as far as he has after such inauspicious beginnings makes his triumph all the greater. Frankly, if this life were written as fiction I would have criticized the story for putting too many roadblocks, false starts, and squandered opportunities in the protagonist's path to success. Frankly, I find it hard to believe someone could come so far with what amounts to an amazingly late start down the path to an academic career. However, reality has a way of confounding our expectations and this is the real life story of a well-known man whom many of us admire greatly It isn't just that he has accomplished a great deal in his life from difficult beginnings. While such a story is always heartening, there are many examples of overcoming adversity. This is a story about a life of high academic achievement that almost comes out of nowhere. Yes, he had some foundation laid when he was a child, but it was more that he had a few accidental years of good primary education. Everything else about his life was driving him away from building on any education he happened to glean along the way. He made some efforts to continue his education as an adult, but during his critical years of adolescence he left school without graduating and even his later first attempts at college were not glowing successes. Thankfully, for us (for me), he eventually did find his way to academic success. The story of his teaching career is another tale of success found in a sequence of unlikely events. Dr. Sowell is a much different personality than I would have predicted, and certainly his absolutely uncompromising positions on certain things are important to his sense of self and integrity. However, I must admit, that my life has taught me some different lessons about compromise as accommodation versus compromise as abandonment of principal although I admit there comes a fine line that is easy to cross. But sometimes "personal integrity" is really just a mask for a rigid indifference to others that creates its own problems and injustices. I am not saying this is the case with Dr. Sowell, but it is a lesson I have learned in living my own life. In any case, I found his life and his approach to it very instructive. His strength and determination are inspiring. He has given me a great deal to think about as he always does and I thank him for it. Knowing more about his life has made me want to read even more of his work including his earlier works and gives a richer context to what I have already read. I was a fan and enthusiast of his before I read this book. Now I have a deeper sense of how much it has cost him to provide me with his wisdom and insight. Now I feel a quieter gratitude for his work and generosity. This is a book that is not only worth reading, it will enrich you and defy your expectations. I encourage everyone to read it.
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Summary: An excellent book to read
Review: Thomas Sowell is one of the first African American scholars who has made enormous contributions in economics and history. He is not afraid to even attack the education of most predominantly black colleges. He even has the guts to criticize the underlying philosophy behind most top-flight universities. His keen interest and personal journey deserve our careful reading, and one will not feel the same after reading A Personal Odyssey. I personally admire this man for what he stands for and I think every everyone--regardless of their background--should read this book.
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Summary: Sowell: Great Teacher, Powerful Writer, Funny, Brave
Review: You cannot say enough good things about Thomas Sowell. If you have enjoyed reading his books over the years and do not know much about him, this book is like reading Montaigne. You get all his brilliant insights connected with his life's journey.
Sowell's writing is clear and powerful. No other comparable professor provides as stark a contrast to the Intelligentsia. That he seems like a Socrates versus the Athenian mob is not a pose. That's just the way he is. He never aimed to be that way. He never squirmed away from the search for truth, the way the Intellectual Class has.
He is a brilliant economist and political scientist. Actually, it is difficult to put him in any category because he managed to refute so many false notions and clean up so many cognitive messes made by the Intellectual Class.
Very few writers who taught what Sowell did can make you laugh out loud when you read them. And it seems like he was not even trying to write jokes. It is that liberals, self-annointed intellectuals, and radicals were so absurd. With his hard work and talent, he had an ability to summarize how kooky the Intellectual Class is.
He has genuinely helped improve the life of America by improving our thinking about how we know what we know, public decision-making, race, culture, and free enterprise.
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