Review of Connecting the Dots

Oyedeji Okikioluwa · Post by **Oyedeji Okikioluwa** » 15 Dec 2022, 03:41

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Connecting the Dots" by Richard K. Caputo.]

4 out of 5 stars

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Connecting the Dots by Richard K. Caputo is an intellectual memoir highlighting the author's journey through decades of academia and his surmounting challenges.

Richard K. Caputo was born into a Roman Catholic home and took a genuine interest in holding fast to the tenets of his belief. However, as life continued with exposure to advanced social issues that plagued humankind, he morphed into a staid degree of religious aloofness. Instead of religiosity, the author buried his zest and energy into dissecting social issues and canvassing for a budding career as an administrative and scholarly academic. In between pursuing further academic integration, he worked with the Arizona State Department of Health across varying unit sections, which afforded him the wings to fly and pursue research and an academic career across United Charities, Barry University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yeshiva University. Within these periods, he finds love in the bosom of his wife, Mary, who was also an academic at Susquehanna University. At the end of this memoir, the author debates and reflects on the worthiness of his scholarly adventure and its contribution to shedding more light on social work and social welfare, which he deems worthy.

The author wrote this book to cater to the interests of academics and satiate the whetted appetites of students and readers interested in this curated field. Also, there is a distinct academic tailoring to the vocabulary and writing style that makes it difficult for readers who do not fall into that category to read and understand clearly. However, readers could learn some general and academic lessons despite their diverse fields or lack thereof. One of the author's resonating statements spiked my interest. It says, "We know what we have, but we do not know what we will get." The preceding was a heuristic-political statement; however, it is thought-provoking regarding various aspects of life in which we disparage what we have for what we believe to be better.

I anticipated the diary entries of the author. I appreciate how bare and honest he is in these entries. He scraped himself into a vulnerable state of relation with which anyone, creative, academic, or artistic, could identify. He candidly shared his fears, confidence constipations, confusions, and decisions. Especially in the scene where he was to choose between going to Penn or staying with United Charities, I could precisely understand the arduous decision-making process and each of the fears he so clearly conveyed.

However, I do not think this book justified the underlining reason this author wrote it into conception, which was supposed to shed more light on social work and welfare fundamentally. The book seems chaotic as there is a lot of information the author tries to fit in, which does not provide a detailed analysis of this topic. For this reason, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

This book is professionally edited with one minor error and would be well-suited to an academic audience. Also, I believe readers interested in social work and welfare can learn one or two lessons from the book.

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Connecting the Dots
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Hazel Mae Bagarinao · Post by **Hazel Mae Bagarinao** » 19 Dec 2022, 22:07

I haven't read yet an academic memoir. This book sounds unique to me. I like what you highlighted, "We know what we have, but we do not know what we will get." It resonates with me. I'd like how you give justice to the book. It's more captivating. Wonderful review!