Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, And Behave (2013)

Book Info

Author

Adam Alter

Genre

Nonfiction

Rating

3.47 of 5 Votes: 2

Your rating

ISBN

1594204543 (ISBN13: 9781594204548)

Language

English

Publisher

Penguin Press HC, The

Shops

Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble

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About book Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, And Behave (2013)

The information in this book is very interesting, but it's hard to just sit down and read/listen to it for long periods of time because it's basically description after description of research study. Those are great, but I also kind of wanted the book to go deeper into the implications of the studies and what they meant for me. It kind of did that, but in a cursory way.I still think it's worth reading to get a sense of the way the world around us shapes our self-image and behavior (though some of the info won't be news to most people). Just don't think you're going to sit down and breeze through it. The transitions from section to section were also bulky and inelegant -- Alter is not the best writer ever, though he's not awful. Gladwellization strike again, as Alter dumbs down famous social science experiments, like the honor culture/hallway aggression classic, the fad for painting locker rooms and drunk tanks pink to calm down testosterone, the attempt to get people to pay for their coffee on the honor system by putting a picture of eyes on top of the coin box...mostly useful for the notes which include the real citations for the research, and a new example of NGOs using world soap operas to effect cultural changes (Turkish series, Noor).