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The Up Side Of Down: Why Failing Well Is The Key To Success (2014)

by Megan McArdle(Favorite Author)

3.71 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

067002614X (ISBN13: 9780670026142)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: This book wasn't too bad. It was interesting enough to read but a very macro view that was not really applicable to a personal situation (at least for me). It discussed larger topics such as the US prison system, the financial collapse, US bankruptcy rules etc. Thought it was a little too generous to the architects of Wall Street's demise (short-term) pretty much stating "at worse they were guilty of insufficient imagination" to imagine a total financial meltdown. Sorry but I heartily disagree with this and whilst some of these people lost money and employment (and perhaps even reputation) many of them still have more money than any regular person will ever earn in 10 lifetimes. But apart from this I found this book quite interesting but definitely written largely from... more the point of view of an Economist journalist.
review 2: The Up Side of Down is a tour of failure: failure in love, business, and policy. The message is simple: making it easy to recover from failure is a good thing for the world, and especially the economy. She sprinkles stories of her own personal lows into discussions of policy issues that deal with failure, like bankruptcy, welfare reform, and probation for criminals. It’s not a self-help book, though it does remind you to learn from failure and move on rather than let it cripple you. Instead, it’s a sophisticated analysis on why allowing a fresh start is a good thing, and how rules need to be structured so that a clean slate doesn’t encourage reckless behavior.There are two challenges to striking this balance. First, it’s easy to go wrong and end up with rules too tight (which cripples dynamism) or too loose (encouraging reckless behavior without consequences). Second, it’s difficult to overcome our feelings of justice and retribution when we design rules that permit people to walk away from debts or mistakes without fully paying for them. McArdle tackles real-life versions and argues that, ultimately, we’re better off being rich than being right.Even though it covers complex and varied policy questions, the writing makes it easy to follow – McArdle is a master of starting any issue at a point everyone understands and guiding you from there to her conclusion. I may have a head start from reading her writing over the past decade, but I think most readers will find the issue easy to follow.Highly recommended, and probably belongs on every decent college or prep school reading list. This is a good mindset to have. less

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