Time & Place

I do not believe that bad books exist. I think if a book has a positive purpose then it is a good book. However, time and place are very important when trying to read a book. If I read a book at the wrong time and at the wrong place I will most likely not enjoy it. Drive by Daniel H. Pink was a book that I read at the wrong place and at the wrong time. I did not feel that the book was appropriate for my age, my environment, or my peers.

The purpose of Drive was to explain motivation. However, most of the book used examples of the work place. It tried to explain that if workers were to be motivated it shouldn't be through a higher wage. It wasn't until page 130, more than half way through the book, that the author even mentioned a child's perpective of motivation. I do not feel that every book should relate to the reader, but I do think that would make it a more interesting and better source of knowledge for the reader. I am currently about to be a senior in high school, while this is a full time job, I am not getting paid anything. My motivation does not come from as the author states,"...the baseline rewards--wages, salaries, benefits, and so on..."(Pink,60). The book is meant for an adult with a career, while I am an adult I do not plan to have a career established until 6 plus years from now.

When the author did mention children, he didn't bother to take into account the environment kids are in. I am at Chinquapin for many reasons, but one of the most important is because I wanted to be out of the ghetto. I didn't want to be in an environment where I was afraid to walk down the block because I might get jumped, robbed, or shot. The author states,"They're working hard and persisting through difficulties because of their internal desire to control their lives, learn about their world, and accomplish something that endures." (Pink, 79). By being at Chinquapin I am in fact not controling my life or learning about my world. I am allowing for teachers to take over my schedule and protect me. I am getting out of my world and purposely trying to learn about another world where people don't sell drugs or weapons to children. The book doesn't make sense in the world I live in.

Lastly I don't feel like the book relates to my peers. While all of us are motivated to go to college and have a better life, it's all for different reasons. Some of us are doing this because we want to make sure we give a better life to our kids. This is directly related to how much money we make. This extrinsic motivation isn't necessarily bad because we are doing it not only for ourselves, but for others. We all come from different backgrounds and most of us from backgrounds no where near what the book uses as proof. We are motivated because we want to live, dream, and be happy.

Motivation is not a science. I don't think that you can actually predict what works best. Everyone is different and there are a million different factors that fall into predicting someone's accomplishments and happiness. Pink does an astonishing job of trying to show how there is a better way to be motivated. However I don't think it relates much to my age, environment, or peers.