worth the read, lots to consider, especially for younger adults ( )

A good analysis of social and geographical implications of innovation-related jobs. Moretti focuses on the US, so the global perspective of the analysis always starts from case studies coming from the American work environment (e.g. Silicon Valley). ( )

Life's too short to finish shitty books. I was hoping to read something that would put into words the vague feeling of discontent I have that my immediate family is spread across the US. Yet I have first cousins who all still live within one block of each other in the small town where they grew up. I know it has to do with our jobs, careers, maybe level of education, but I was hoping to read something more than a gut feeling. Anyway: THIS IS NOT THAT BOOK.

This is a book like Freakonomics (which is one of the worst books I've ever read). Like here's something people know, and now I'm going to use my narrow-minded view of life to make some pithy, radical, off-the-wall comment about it!

This book was all about how poor people are poor because they suck, and rich people were just smart to move to places like San Francisco. There is no analysis of capitalism. None. The author goes on about how WalMart is good for poor people without looking into how WalMart contributes to global poverty. I didn't get far enough to see if there was a critical look into the decimation of labor unions, but I doubt the author was enlightened enough to understand that that, more so than where people live, has contributed to the stagnating and lowering wages of so many people in the United States. Let's not even look into structural racism, student loan debt, the housing crisis, moving risk from corporations to employees (I'm looking at you Uber), and so many other things that are screwing people over, so much more so than where they live.

Seriously, I just can't even with books like this. I can't imagine what it must be like to be so ignorant and privileged that I could choose to ignore the reality of so many people. ( )

This is not what I expected, but so much better. Rather than a list of what jobs can be found where, this is an in depth look at the forces that separate places like Silicon Valley from Detroit in terms of opportunity and income. The author also talks in depth about the global workforce differs and competes with our (US) own. This would have been an amazingly useful read my freshman year of college or sooner. ( )

A great summary of Moretti's and other economists' research on why highly skilled workers tend to be attracted to cities, and why some cities become "innovation hubs" that make everyone who works there wealthier -- not just the best-compensated people -- compared with workers in cities with fewer knowledge-intensive jobs. Moretti raises his concerns about "The Great Divergence," his term for the fact that people's incomes, educational attainment, and even health are better in prosperous cities than in those that are falling behind. Among his proposals are increasing federal subsidies for basic research, which can lead to high-tech jobs years later, and improving public transportation to allow more workers to commute to jobs in expensive but especially productive cities such as San Francisco and New York.

If your primary concern is earning potential, then follow Moretti's advice and move to Silicon Valley, or Manhattan, or London soon after college graduation. If you have other priorities, his suggestions may be less instructive. Wendell Berry would be an interesting counterpoint to this book. ( )