Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #1046 - A Very Peachy Book Club

Transcript

#1046 - A Very Peachy Book Club · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: time poor parent. They just wants answers me now.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Every month or thereabouts on the Happy Families podcast, we
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: do a non parenting podcast. We call it book Club.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: This is the bit where we kind of forget about
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: all the parenting stuff and we just get into escapism,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the books we're reading, the stuff we're enjoying today. That
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: is the day, Kylie, how many books have you got
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: to talk about today? That was a long pause.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: It's a really unfair question.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Especially since I know the answer, and the answer.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Is can I include Emily's school read?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: It's a donut. It's a big fat zero, isn't it. No,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: we can't include. We can't include you reading a book
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: to the kids.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Well we can. So I've read one and I read
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: it to Emily, okay, because it was the school read.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: So what does that mean about our book club podcast today?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: How are you going to do this?
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Well, I've decided to be a little bit novel today.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: I'm going to invite Emily to come on and talk
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: with me about her read.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: A ten year old giving a book report on the
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Happy Families podcast that's coming up soon. I have read
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: a number of books more than you four. I've read
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: four books since our last book Club podcasts. I'm only
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: going to talk about two of them. One of them
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: was a religious book. It doesn't really have a place
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: here on this podcast. That was for just my own
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: personal satisfaction. I also read an entrepreneurial book.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: M you know what.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I got a couple of really good things out of it,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: but it was quite poorly written, and overall I didn't
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: like the book. I just liked a few of the
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: ideas that I got from it. Does that work? Can
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: you say that? Can say it wasn't a very good book,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: but I still got some good value from it. Doesn't
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: that make it a good book? Or is it just
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: not a very good book? But there were some good
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: ideas in it? I think that I'm right. I think
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: that I can get away with it.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: That you can, because the reality is it's not a
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: book that you're therefore going to kind of rap about
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: and tell everybody to go out and buy. But definitely
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: got a few things out of it.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and entrepreneurial stuff. Relevance for our podcast minimal. So
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: let's talk about the two that I did read. I
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: read a novel about the Vietnam War. And I also
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: read a book about parenting, because when the good ones
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: come out, I do like to pick them up and
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: get stuck in them. Which one should we start with, Well.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: If you're acknowledging that it's a good book, let's start
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: with the parenting one.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: It was a great book. One of the pre eminent
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: thinkers of our day is a man from New York University.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: He works in the Stern School of Business. His name
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: is Jonathan Hate, Professor Hat. He came to my attention
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: back when I was studying and I was looking at
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the psychology of morality. He used to look at disgust
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: as a psychological experience and got people to talk about
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: why things were disgusting or not. And some of the
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: things that he did are not appropriate to talk about
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: in this podcast because little ears might be listening. But
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: really really compelling guy, fascinating. Maybe fifteen to eighteen years ago,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: he wrote what I still think is one of the
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: best books about happiness on the face of the Earth.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: The book was called The Happiness Hypothesis, and I fell
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: in love with everything he writes. Ever since then, he's
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: written The Coddling of the American Mind, The Righteous Mind.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: And he's also recently released something that has just had
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: blanket global media coverage called The Anxious Generation. The Anxious Generation,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: and it's really a book about what has gone on
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: with well being with our young people in the last
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: ten to fifteen years. Really, this guy knows how to
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: lay out an argument. I think that this is one
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: of the most influential and important books of the year.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: So much to love about it in terms of the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: way he lays out research and explains what's going on,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: at least his hypothesis around it, the concepts explored, the
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: overall argument made really compelling, really engaging. I just love it.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: There is a reason that Jonathan Hate is considered one
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: of the most influential academics and thinkers on the planet.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But I'm only giving it a four point five and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: not a five out of five. I didn't like it
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: as much as his other books. Oh you sound so enthralled.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: I've asked you to read the book. What was your response?
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: Got there? It's just on the pile of books that
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: are waiting, including novels. So it's not even it's not
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: even that I am being picky. I just I don't
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: have the headspace you're.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Not in the reading frame of mind. I'm not no,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I'm not well. I gave it a four point five
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: because for me, the solutions didn't quite land. It still
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: felt like it was a little bit of just a
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: little bit unrealistic. I want his solutions to be right.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: I want his emphasis on keeping kids off devices and
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: restricting their access even when they do get it. All
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: these things, I want them to be right. And I've
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: even set up a website called Unplugged Childhood dot org
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: to encourage parents to get on that page, like, I
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: really believe in it. But I don't feel like he
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: laid out his solutions well enough. And I don't know.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: The plane still feels like it's up in the air.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: It hasn't quite landed. Or maybe it was a two
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: whill landing rather than a three will landing. It was
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: a bit of a bumpy landing. Overwhelmingly, VALEA.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Does that necessarily mean it's a bad book or does
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: that just give you your platform with which for you
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: as the reader to work out what's going to work
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: for you.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: It's nice when you read a book and the solutions are.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: There, well, yeah, because then you don't have to do
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: any thinking yourself.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: I think that he's tried to do the thinking for us.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: But the one thing that I'll give him credit for
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: is he has said this is tricky, and these are
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: the best solutions we've got at the moment. This is
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: a work in progress. So he's quite open about that,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: and I'm sure that he would probably agree with me.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: In fact, I've read a couple of articles where he's
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: really openly acknowledged we want more voices in this, and
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: we've really got to figure out what's going on. The
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: other thing that I struggled with, and the other reason
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I brought it down to four point five is as
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: much as he laid out his argument, brilliantly explained his
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: position and his hypotheses supremely well, I'm not sure that
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: I agree with let me rephrase, it's not about me
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: a green. My read of the research is I think
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: that there's more nuance there than he's acknowledging. He's making
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: an argument, and it feels to me like there is
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a little bit of bias, a
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: little bit of cherry picking of the evidence, and an
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: unwillingness to engage deeply with other explanations particularly with more
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: recent research. So ultimately I think he's right. Ultimately, I
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: think we're heading in the right direction with what he's done,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: and I'm on the same page, but I'm looking for
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I'm looking for just a little bit more. I'm being
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: very picky. Four point a point five. Still loved it
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: in spite of those limitations. Still overwhelmingly valuable, Still a
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: fabulous conversation starter, and still a book that I think
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: everybody who has kids who use screens should read. In
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: the same way, I would say the same thing about
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Johann Harry's Stolen Focus. In fact, I did say that
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: on the same page. You agree with him, but I'm
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: just not sure that the evidence is there yet. Having
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: said that, it took a long time for the evidence
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: on smoking to come through, but everybody knew it was
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: a problem, and I think that's where we are with
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: this screen issue.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Well, you've alluded to the fact that you've got a novel, Fred.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: The whole reason my reading stopped just because I picked
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: up a novel.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: You recommended the measure how long will your life be?
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: It's in the box. Have a look at the stream.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: Think I'm up to about page forty two.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: I can't believe you're not getting get into it.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: But I look, I honestly think it's just where my
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: headspace is at the moment. So I'm willing to keep
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: pushing through. But it's going to be a long, long journey.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: So tell me about your book. Okay, this is not
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: one that I would recommend, but I'm still giving it
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: five stars.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: The reason I wouldn't recommend it is because it is
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: It's a novel reads like a memoir about the Vietnam War,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: and it was it was just awful to read in
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: so many ways, brutal and hideous and so senseless, and
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: the profanity in the baseness of it all. The guy's
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: name is Tim O'Brien. The book is called The Things
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: They Carried, and you can just get from the sense
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: of the title. I'm almost getting weepy about it because
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: the trauma experiences that the men and women who serve
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: our country in wars, and primarily it was men who
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: were what was almost exclusively men on the front line
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: in the Vietnam War. They came home carrying things. And
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: the first chapter he talks about all the things that
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: they carried as they went into war, as they flew
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: those choppers into rice paddies and got out under mortifier,
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: and they were carrying all of these different things. And
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: he talks about how they're carrying this and it weighed
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: this many pounds, and they carried this and it weighed
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: this many pounds. But this guy had that role on
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: it was this and you're sort of reading it, going okay,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of getting it, but where are we going here?
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: And then he starts to open up on these different
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: characters who are in this platoon. Now, like I said,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: it's a novel that it reads like a memoir, and
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: he was there, so I think he's drawn very much
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: on his real life experience. Oh Kylie. I found the
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: subject matter mostly awful. I found the coarseness of the
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: language and the stories so hard to take. And yet
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the beauty of writing and the way he brings the
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: reader to face the realities of this Vietnam War, or
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: probably any war I guess was it was exquisite. And
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: the way you're drawn into the lives of these eighteen
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: and nineteen and twenty year old boys because they are
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: they're just boys who are suddenly carrying rifles and the
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: responsibility that they carry and their complete lack of preparation
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: for it, and the way they were drafted in. I mean,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: they didn't want to be there, they didn't know, they
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: didn't choose it. Oh what a book.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: What a book.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: So disturbing, so disturbing.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: And you talk about the things that they carry, But
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: I'm assuming that the essence of what he's sharing is
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: that the things that they come home they're not tangible.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: The psychological stars. The weight of what they carry, the
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: weight of what they come home.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: With can't even compare to the pounds they were carrying
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: into war.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm almost in tears talking about it, really, really
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: just and this guy can write. I mean, the of
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: this book is absolutely exquisite. It's called The Things They
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Carried by Tim O'Brien. It's kind of an older book now,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: but I heard about it on someone else's podcast. I thought, yeah, oh,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: grab that. It sounds interesting. And I'm so sorry I did,
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: and I'm so glad I did.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Well. I'm not sure if i'll even have a list
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: to share next month.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Or not not making anything from I'm not.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Making any read might not, but I do know that
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Emily will be a very eager participant should we find
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: ourselves in the same position this month.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Up next, let's find out what the ten year old
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: thinks about her school book. Our youngest daughter, Emily, is homeschooling,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: and as part of her school curriculum this year, her
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: grade four book, or this term, her grade full book
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: is Well, we're going to find out in just a second.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I think we've kind of mentioned it in the first
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: part of the podcast. Anyway, I'm going to step out, Kylie.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Why don't you take it away and interview Emily about
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: her book review?
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: All right, Emily, I'm putting you on the spot. What
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: have you just finished reading?
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I've just finished reading Being Percy Jackson.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Did you enjoy it?
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: I loved it.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Well, we're not here to talk about Percy Jackson. We
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: might need to save that for another podcast. What are
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: we going to talk about today?
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Today? We're talking about James and the Giant Peach.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Okay, what did you love about James and the Giant Peach?
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I just really love the illustrations. They're not too perfect
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: and they're not too messy.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: So you're a bit of an artist, And what I
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: get from what you're sharing is that it looks like
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: it's something that you could actually emulate. You could try
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: and draw like roll Dale.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Is that right?
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: That is correct?
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Okay? What about the story did you like? If somebody
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: hadn't read it, what would you tell them about the story?
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I like how the story starts off a little sad,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: because most heroes usually have sad beginnings, and James is
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: no different.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: What was sad about his beginning?
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: His parents passed away and he's living with awful aunts.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: All their names were Spiker and Sponge, Aunt Spiker and
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Aunt Sponge. Just the names make you feel lucky, don't they?
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: And what was it about the story that got you
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: really really excited?
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: One magical evening, the serious man hands James a small
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: bag filled with crocodile tongues. Crocodile tongues just think Jack
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: and the Beanstalk.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, we're talking about magic beans. What happens next?
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: On the way back to the house, he tripped on
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: a root of an old peach tree, spilling crocodile tongues everywhere.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: I reckon he was going to be really sad about that.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: James goes to bed that night feeling so sad, But
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: in the morning, to their surprise, was a giant peach.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: This is where James's story really begins. He makes some
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: unusual friends and it goes on an adventure of a
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: lifetime while making some strange enemies along the way. Spoiler alert,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker might not make it.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Oh oh, well, this sounds like it's a really really
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: fun book. You read it with me, But do you
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: think that it's a book you could have read on
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: your own?
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Probably?
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, if you were going to recommend this to someone,
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: what kind of books would they like to read if
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: they were going to read this one?
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Probably not too big books, but not too small.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: So this is kind of a middle read. It's not
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: a small novel, but it's not a really big novel.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: It's some like small chapter books.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: Yep, okay. And what would you give it out of five?
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: If five was like the best book you've ever read
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: and one was the worst, what would you say?
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Four point seven?
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Four point seven? This is a good read. You really
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: enjoyed it.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: I like how the chapters in as shorts, so if
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I start feeling a bit like I want to do
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: something different, I can just finish my chapter really quickly
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: and then I can go do something else.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Amazing. Well, I think we might have to have you
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: back again. How do you feel about that?
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: A bit more nervous.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: Well, thanks for sharing your read today, and you're welcome
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: and goodbye.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Okay. I think that's everything. Nicely done, Emily, well done, Kylie.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Love love that. I hope that parents enjoyed that. It's
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: a classic James and the Giant Peach. I feel like
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I need to read it again. I haven't read it
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: forty years.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: I don't actually think I ever read it, so it's
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: actually been really fun reading it and watching her come
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: to life as the characters have evolved.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Roald Dale sales are going up again. Good for him.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: We hope that you've got something out of our book
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: club today. The Anxious Generation, The Things They Carried and
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: James and the Giant Peach. Will link to each of
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: those in the show notes. The Happy Families podcast is
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: produced by Justin Ruhl on the Frimbridge Media. If you
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: would like more information about making your family happier, visitors
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: at happy Families dot com dot au tomorrow on the
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: podcasts Boldly Better Tomorrow