Monday, May 31, 2010
Summer Reading!
Need an idea for a summer book? See our list of recommended reads! Post your favorite books here too.
Ben's Summer Reading Suggestions!
Hey, this is a list of books that I think you people would like. Thank you.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch: A priceless book about a teacher, who has pancreatic cancer and has only a few months to live, giving a lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” The Last Lecture is a relatively short book that will be remembered and read for years to come. This book is remarkable not just because the speaker has cancer and knows he will die, but because of his extraordinary mindset. Quote: “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” More information can be found at www.thelastlecture.com
Please Forgive Me, God by Sister Mary Rose McGeady: An unbelievable series of letters from Covenant House (America’s largest shelter for homeless and runaway kids) asking for prayers and help for these children. Please Forgive Me, God is another short book revealing the truth about their troubled lives and the main cause behind it: a dysfunctional family. Quote: “Maybe, if you and I care about them and love them enough, we can comfort them and convince them that God cherishes them. That’s what they need most of all. That is the answer to their prayer.” More information can be found at www.CovenantHouse.org
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank: The internationally famous diary of Anne Frank chronicling the life of a Jew in hiding during World War II. What struck me most about this book was the way Anne and the rest of the people in the Secret Annex remained hopeful throughout the war. Quote: “Her voice was preserved, out of the millions that were silenced, this voice no louder than a child’s whisper… It has outlasted the shouts of the murderers and has soared above the voices of time.”
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien: Yes, many of you have seen the films, but how many of you have read the books? This is not just the story of an epic journey, but a tale of hobbits. Now, hobbits are the most unlikely creatures to face the Dark Lord; they’re not good fighters (like men), they’re not terribly brilliant (like elves), they can’t use magic (like Gandalf), and they don’t seem that courageous (like dwarves). How can hobbits defeat the Dark Lord? Because of from where they come: the Shire. Quote: “I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.” The first book in a trilogy.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc: This is a comedic book relating the exploits of the arrogant and memorable Arsene Lupin, gentleman-burglar. Quote: “So much the better if no one can ever say with absolute certainty: There is Arsene Lupin! The essential point is that the public may be able to refer to my work and say, without fear of mistake: Arsene Lupin did that!” The first book in a series of many.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch: A priceless book about a teacher, who has pancreatic cancer and has only a few months to live, giving a lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” The Last Lecture is a relatively short book that will be remembered and read for years to come. This book is remarkable not just because the speaker has cancer and knows he will die, but because of his extraordinary mindset. Quote: “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” More information can be found at www.thelastlecture.com
Please Forgive Me, God by Sister Mary Rose McGeady: An unbelievable series of letters from Covenant House (America’s largest shelter for homeless and runaway kids) asking for prayers and help for these children. Please Forgive Me, God is another short book revealing the truth about their troubled lives and the main cause behind it: a dysfunctional family. Quote: “Maybe, if you and I care about them and love them enough, we can comfort them and convince them that God cherishes them. That’s what they need most of all. That is the answer to their prayer.” More information can be found at www.CovenantHouse.org
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank: The internationally famous diary of Anne Frank chronicling the life of a Jew in hiding during World War II. What struck me most about this book was the way Anne and the rest of the people in the Secret Annex remained hopeful throughout the war. Quote: “Her voice was preserved, out of the millions that were silenced, this voice no louder than a child’s whisper… It has outlasted the shouts of the murderers and has soared above the voices of time.”
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien: Yes, many of you have seen the films, but how many of you have read the books? This is not just the story of an epic journey, but a tale of hobbits. Now, hobbits are the most unlikely creatures to face the Dark Lord; they’re not good fighters (like men), they’re not terribly brilliant (like elves), they can’t use magic (like Gandalf), and they don’t seem that courageous (like dwarves). How can hobbits defeat the Dark Lord? Because of from where they come: the Shire. Quote: “I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.” The first book in a trilogy.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc: This is a comedic book relating the exploits of the arrogant and memorable Arsene Lupin, gentleman-burglar. Quote: “So much the better if no one can ever say with absolute certainty: There is Arsene Lupin! The essential point is that the public may be able to refer to my work and say, without fear of mistake: Arsene Lupin did that!” The first book in a series of many.
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis: From the famous author of The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of letters from a devil named Screwtape advising his nephew (Wormwood) on how to seduce humans. This book explores the mindset of devils and their methods in seducing humans. Quote: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff: In which the theories of Daoism (a Chinese Philosophy) are explained by none other than A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. Quote: “It’s about this dumpy little bear that wanders around asking silly questions, making up songs, and going through all kinds of adventures, without ever accumulating any amount of intellectual knowledge or losing his simpleminded sort of happiness.”
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins: A book relating the Christian end of the world (see Revelations) seen from the eyes of a group of those left behind in the Rapture. A frightening book about the confusion and terror that will exist in that time. Quote: “He had already paid a terrible cost for missing it. Whatever it was, it had been in this book for hundreds of years.” The fourth book in a series of sixteen (including prologue and epilogue).
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes: Originally a short story, Flowers for Algernon is the tale of mankind’s quest to fit in. It is told from the point of view of Charlie Gordon, a mental retard who is given the chance to be made smarter. This book is loosely based on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Quote: “He said Miss Kinnian tolld him I was her bestist pupil in the Beekman School for retarted adults and I tryed the hardist becaus I reely wantd to lern I wantid it more even then pepul who are smarter even then me.”
Foundation by Isaac Asimov: This is the book most people will think of when the name Isaac Asimov is brought up in a conversation. This is the story of the fall of the Galactic Empire and Hari Seldon’s attempt to diminish the following 30, 000 years of darkness to a mere millennium. For history students/ teachers who enjoy science fiction (Mr. Kielty), this book holds a certain appeal as it closely parallels the fall of the Roman Empire. Quote: “The appearance of strength is all about you. It would seem to last forever. However, Mr. Advocate, the rotten tree-trunk, until the very moment when the storm-blast breaks it in two, has all the appearance of might it ever had.” The second book in a series of six (including prelude).
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov: Another Asimov book, which is somewhat related to the Foundation series (see Prelude to Foundation), about the growing tensions between man and machine. Lije Baley, a human who greatly dislikes robots, is ordered to investigate the murder of an important scientist. On top of that, he is assigned to work with R. Daneel Olivaw, R standing for robot. Quote: “A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” The first book in a series of four.
Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman: This book presents thirty parallel dimensions, each with their own nature of time, as the dreams of a famous patent clerk: Albert Einstein. Quote: “Out of the many possible natures of time, imagined in as many nights, one seems compelling. Not that the others are impossible. The others might exist in other worlds.”
Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick: This is a book for those of you who like to impress others with very erudite pieces of knowledge. This is a book chronicling the early history of chaos (non-linear theoretical physics). Chaos is erratic behavior, without a linear pattern. Quote: “Where chaos begins, classical science stops.” Also by James Gleick: Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman.
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott: A short book about the second-dimension (flat shapes) and what would happen if they encountered beings from other dimensions (a point from the zeroeth, a line from the first, a sphere from the third). Quote: “So the citizens of that Celestial Region may aspire yet higher and higher to the secrets of Four, Five, or even Six dimensions.”
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach: A book about Donald Shimoda, a man who was able to see through the illusions of this world, and his student, Richard. Filled with short maxims, this book offers a new way of looking at life and the world around us. Quote: “This world? And everything in it? Illusions, Richard! Every bit of it illusions!”
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: A comedic science-fiction about Arthur, a carbon-based, bi-pedal life form descended from an ape, and Ford Prefect, a researcher for the Guide. It tells the story of the destruction of the Earth (to make way for a new hyperspatial express route), the search for Magrathea (an impossible planet), and the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything (42). Quote: “Ford... There’s an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they’ve worked out.” The first book in a series of five.
Thank you and have a great summer.
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