Free Republic

No, you cannot. That title is a lie, and, judging by a recent spate of books on the subject, a popular one. Ann Hulbert of Slate has compiled a list of books which preach the Gospel of Success (HT A&LD). Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success was not, appropriately enough, a bolt of original genius when it appeared in November 2008. Geoffrey Colvin’s Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everybody Else had come out a month earlier. The following spring brought Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. …This spring David Shenk’s...

Garrison Keillor, author and host of the folksy radio show "A Prairie Home Companion," was being treated Wednesday for a minor stroke he suffered over the weekend, a hospital spokesman said. Keillor, who turned 67 last month, was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on Sunday night, spokesman Karl Oestreich said in a news release. "He is up and moving around, speaking sensibly, working at a laptop, and it's expected he'll be released on Friday," Oestreich said. "He plans to resume a normal schedule next week." The live variety show "A Prairie Home Companion"...

Ron Smith's "Something to Say" CommentaryWeekdays at 6:50AM | rsmith@wbal.com | Ron Smith Show Page The Lake Woebegone EffectMonday, August 25, 2003    Ron Smith's Something to Say As our children trudge off to another year of schooling, those charged with teaching them are struggling to figure out how to meet the impossible standards blithely imposed on the public schools by federal mandate. Under the “No Child Left Behind Act,” American public schools are ordered to test their students in reading and math, meet certain arbitrary standards in the results, or suffer the consequences, which include an overhaul of instruction, a...