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I recently read a popular science book on a topic that I felt I needed to learn more about. The book was well written, ideas were clearly explained, and I finished the book knowing a lot more about the history of the subject than beforehand. However, I don't feel I understand the key ideas in the book any better. I won't mention the name of the book or the author because this post isn't really about that specific book. It's about how I feel books of this nature often fail to deliver on what they implicitly promise: that you will understand the science contained within their pages.

n Chapter 2 of the book Creating & Recognizing Quality Rubrics, we describe a "rubric for rubrics" designed to assist educators to be thoughtful consumers and developers of rubrics for instructional use in the classroom. The various quality levels described by the Rubric for Rubrics are illustrated with many sample classroom rubrics. All classroom rubrics discussed in the book have been evaluated using the Rubric for Rubrics; these evaluations are included on a CD that accompanies the book.

Malcolm Gladwell, the New Yorker writer and perennial bestselling author, has a new book out. It's called David and Goliath: Misfits, Underdogs, and the Art of Battling Giants. I reviewed it (PDF) in last weekend's edition of The Wall Street Journal. (Other reviews have appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Millions, to name a few.) Even though the WSJ editors kindly gave me about 2500 words to go into depth about the book, there were many things I did not have space to discuss or elaborate on. This post contains some additional thoughts about Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath, the general modus operandi of his writing, and how he and others conceive of what he is doing.

""Every book is a sort of machine… You have to read it to find out how it works.""

Book review by Troy

"http://www.mathebook.net/highschool/virtual/midpoint.htm"