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Mary Trump's Book

Skeptic Ginger said:
There's a lot of interesting stuff in there. What a horrible person:You'd think his wife (any of them) would have bought the kids some decent gifts despite Trump. Or maybe said wives picked out the gifts.
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Rich people and gifts are weird.

Once when I was a kid, one of my yard work customers (I mowed lawns and pulled weeds for spending money) offered to pay my year end tip with a "collectible calendar" - I said sure. Mostly I was curious about what a collectible calendar actually was. I was thinking maybe car photos or something.

Turned out to be her free giveaway real estate agent promo calendar, with photos of herself standing in front of local houses she had been involved with selling. And it was from that year, meaning, given it was December, I could use it for another two weeks max.

To this day, I still don't know if she genuinely thought these were great gifts, whether she was just trying to see what she pull on a 10 year old, or if she just wasn't thinking at all and just dumping old inventory. Anyway, I just thanked her and called it a year.

Typical tip in those days was $2, which doesn't sound like a lot, but that was 1978, so maybe $25 in current dollars. I told my dad about it and he had some profane words, but we decided not to do anything. It definitely affected his opinion of her.
 
I find that rich people didn't get to be rich by giving stuff away for free.

Comfortably off people are, in my experience, the most generous.
 
The Don said:
I find that rich people didn't get to be rich by giving stuff away for free.

Comfortably off people are, in my experience, the most generous.
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As ever Pratchett covered it - Molly the Queen of the Beggars "...befitting her position, she is required to beg others for the most extravagant goods, though even with her sheer hideousness few people are prepared to hand over a sixteen-room mansion to a beggar...."
 
Apparently there is some debate about the value of a book whose author has "Ph.D." next to their name on the cover.

According to this alleged librarian on Quora, in their experience such books are generally not worth reading:

https://www.quora.com/Should-I-put-PhD-after-my-name-on-the-cover-of-my-book

The main argument seems to be that unless the Ph.D. is directly relevant to the subject matter, it amounts to an Appeal to Authority. Resorting to a logical fallacy to make sales is neither a good look for the author, nor a good sign about the value of their book.

I mention this not to cast aspersions on the book itself, though that is of course implied. Make of that what you will.

But logical fallacies are of general interest to this forum. Skeptics who are enthusiastic about this book may find it worthwhile to take note of the implied fallacy here.

Also I'm amused by the notion that Mary Trump is somehow a Doctor of the Philosophy of Donald Trumpism. Like she not only studied the subject enough to make her own way in the world on the strength of her knowledge (a Bachelor); and she not only mastered the extant body of knowledge and its application (a Master); but she also has contributed to expanding this body of knowledge with new insights and applications (a Doctor of Philosphy).
 
theprestige said:
Apparently there is some debate about the value of a book whose author has "Ph.D." next to their name on the cover.

According to this alleged librarian on Quora, in their experience such books are generally not worth reading:

https://www.quora.com/Should-I-put-PhD-after-my-name-on-the-cover-of-my-book

The main argument seems to be that unless the Ph.D. is directly relevant to the subject matter, it amounts to an Appeal to Authority. Resorting to a logical fallacy to make sales is neither a good look for the author, nor a good sign about the value of their book.
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Mary Trump is a Ph.D. clinical psychologist. Her education is about as directly relevant to the subject as it possibly could be.
 
At the very least I trust Mary Trump's account of her uncle's personal life and relationship with his family. I have no way of proving them true, but what she describes is consistent with his general character.

The most I can honestly say is.... sounds a lot like Donald Trump!
 
theprestige said:
Apparently there is some debate about the value of a book whose author has "Ph.D." next to their name on the cover.

According to this alleged librarian on Quora, in their experience such books are generally not worth reading:

https://www.quora.com/Should-I-put-PhD-after-my-name-on-the-cover-of-my-book

The main argument seems to be that unless the Ph.D. is directly relevant to the subject matter, it amounts to an Appeal to Authority. Resorting to a logical fallacy to make sales is neither a good look for the author, nor a good sign about the value of their book.

I mention this not to cast aspersions on the book itself, though that is of course implied. Make of that what you will.

But logical fallacies are of general interest to this forum. Skeptics who are enthusiastic about this book may find it worthwhile to take note of the implied fallacy here.

Also I'm amused by the notion that Mary Trump is somehow a Doctor of the Philosophy of Donald Trumpism. Like she not only studied the subject enough to make her own way in the world on the strength of her knowledge (a Bachelor); and she not only mastered the extant body of knowledge and its application (a Master); but she also has contributed to expanding this body of knowledge with new insights and applications (a Doctor of Philosphy).
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Among who is there such a debate?

One doesn't need to be an authority to determine that Trump is a clown. Mary Trump is just one person in a long long line that thinks that.

Are you still defending the clown? What does this nutjob have to do for you to assess that you may have been wrong about him?
 
theprestige said:
Apparently there is some debate about the value of a book whose author has "Ph.D." next to their name on the cover.

According to this alleged librarian on Quora, in their experience such books are generally not worth reading:

https://www.quora.com/Should-I-put-PhD-after-my-name-on-the-cover-of-my-book

The main argument seems to be that unless the Ph.D. is directly relevant to the subject matter, it amounts to an Appeal to Authority. Resorting to a logical fallacy to make sales is neither a good look for the author, nor a good sign about the value of their book.

I mention this not to cast aspersions on the book itself, though that is of course implied. Make of that what you will.

But logical fallacies are of general interest to this forum. Skeptics who are enthusiastic about this book may find it worthwhile to take note of the implied fallacy here.

Also I'm amused by the notion that Mary Trump is somehow a Doctor of the Philosophy of Donald Trumpism. Like she not only studied the subject enough to make her own way in the world on the strength of her knowledge (a Bachelor); and she not only mastered the extant body of knowledge and its application (a Master); but she also has contributed to expanding this body of knowledge with new insights and applications (a Doctor of Philosphy).
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I had to laugh at the advice given by this person on Quora whose own qualification is that she "works in a library". Talk about "appealing to authority"!

Frankly, you claim that your post is not intended to cast aspersions on Mary Trump's book. I think your intent was to do exactly that.
 
theprestige said:
Is it a biography or a diagnosis?
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Do you think it matters? I don't need a psychologist to tell me that Trump is a loon. I see homeless people ranting and raving that make better sense than the Donald.

You can follow the pied piper of insanity like a lemming if you choose.
 
The Don said:
I find that rich people didn't get to be rich by giving stuff away for free.

Comfortably off people are, in my experience, the most generous.
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A quite wealthy woman I did some work for announced she would stop paying me once I'd reached the low end of an estimate I had made for editing a self-published manuscript. The high end I cited was MUCH higher. She said I was great, worth every penny but she simply couldn't afford more. I think she wanted the "win" of cutting me off. She was shocked that I did not want to continue working for free to improve the manuscript. I just thanked her profusely and urged her to hire a copy editor, since she didn't want to pay me anymore. A mutual friend said she was obsessed with winning and that continuing to engage would just feed her narcissism.
 
Stacyhs said:
I had to laugh at the advice given by this person on Quora whose own qualification is that she "works in a library". Talk about "appealing to authority"!

Frankly, you claim that your post is not intended to cast aspersions on Mary Trump's book. I think your intent was to do exactly that.
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theprestige said:
Originally Posted by Bob001 View Post
Mary Trump is a Ph.D. clinical psychologist. Her education is about as directly relevant to the subject as it possibly could be.
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Is it a biography or a diagnosis?
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This response just confirms my opinion.
 
3point14 said:
Are you now backing off from the 'main argument' you present below in light of the fact that her qualification is directly related to the subject at hand?
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It's really funny seeing Prestige first make the argument that a PHD in a non relevant field is worthless and then completely ignoring that Mary Trump's expertise is directly relevant.

I think the argument is also amusing considering the irony of continuing to listen to Trump about say the Pandemic instead of Dr. Faucci or the CDC.
 
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