Upper School Summer Reading 2010 – Faculty Recommendations
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Upper School Summer Reading 2010 – faculty recommendations CHRISTINE BESSETTE The Tapir's Morning Bath: Mysteries of the tropical rain forest and the scientists who are trying to solve them Elizabeth Royte ISBN: 0-618-25758-6 While researching this book, Royte spent a year living and working intermittently with the ardent rainforest researchers on Barrow Colorado Island in the Panama Canal. A contributing writer to Outside magazine, Royte deftly describes these researchers and their work as well as the historical research done on the island and the history of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, which serves as a base camp for researchers on the island. Through stories about spider monkeys, tent-making bats, leaf-cutting ants, spiny rats, innumerable bugs, and even the movement of water in the ecosystem, Royte offers an excellent overview of the need for tropical research. She also discusses the decline of the generalist in the field of biology. Books like Marty Crump's In Search of the Golden Frog (LJ 5/15/00) and Margaret Lowman's Life in the Treetops (LJ 5/15/99) focus on the life-work of one particular scientist (Lowman includes a chapter on her own work on Barrow Colorado), while Royte combines the studies of many researchers, resulting in an introduction to the ecosystem. An excellent book for all libraries. CINDY BRIGGS An Unquieted Mind: A Memior of Moods and Madnes Kay Redfield Jamison ISBN-10: 0679763309; ISBN-13: 978-0679763307 In this emotionally-charged memoir, Kay Redfield Jamison, a Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine takes us through her maze of manic-depressive illness also known as bipolar mood disorder. Jamison shares not only the challenges of her own personal journey, but also how she has been able to use her disease to treat others similarly affected and to crusade for better understanding of the illness. BILL CLAPP Freakonomics: A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner ISBN: 978-0060731335 Which is more dangerous, a gun or swimming pool? What do a school teacher and sumo wrestler have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? These are the questions explored by economist Steven Levitt. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight he and co-author Stephen Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives – how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of everything. The book is a series of short stories that are united in the belief that the modern world is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and – if the right questions are asked – is even more intriguing than we think. DANA CLINTON The River of Doubt Candice Millard ISBN-13: 9780767913737, ISBN: 0767913736 The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever. Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks.... DARCY COFFTA The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde ISBN: 1416500278 High society and wealth, youth and beauty, art and privilege... Are they the so called trappings of a narcissistic society? Find out in The Picture of Dorian Gray, a classic novel written in the early 1890's by Oscar Wilde. To fully appreciate the poetic style, one should read a brief biography of Oscar Wilde (which I can provide) and get a sense of the time period in which he wrote. Although this was written well over one hundred years ago, many of the themes of eternal youth and physical beauty still hold true today. A wonderful novel written in the form of didactic fiction, meaning that it was written in a style intending to instruct or enlighten, either in a moral or philosophical fashion, will offer much more than sheer entertainment. PATRICK CONNOLLY The Game of their Lives Geoffrey Douglas ISBN: 0060758775 In the 1950 World Cup, the United States fielded a team of scrappy immigrants' sons which the world refused to take seriously. Three games later, respect had been gained. The U.S. had defeated England, the land where soccer was born, in the most shocking upset in World Cup history, 1 goal to none. Far beyond a story of a sporting journey to Brazil in 1950, The Game of Their Lives offers a glimpse into the lives of eleven elegantly simple Americans. Centering on 50's St. Louis, then the soccer capital of the U.S., these men recount life growing up as a first- generation American. This inspiring tale is a humbling read in the face of the millions pro athletes make today. There was a time when the sheer thrill of victory and the honor of playing for your country was pay enough. Douglas recaptures an inspiration created 47 years ago and immortalizes it for all in the pages of this book. A must-read for any U.S. soccer fan. GREY CORNWELL Where The Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls ISBN-10: 0440412676 ISBN-13: 978-0440412670 Short synopsis: In Where the Red Fern Grows, Billy and his precious coonhound pups romp relentlessly through the Ozarks, trying to "tree" the elusive raccoon. In time, the inseparable trio wins the coveted gold cup in the annual coon-hunt contest, captures the wily ghost coon, and bravely fights with a mountain lion. When the victory over the mountain lion turns to tragedy, Billy grieves, but learns the beautiful old Native American legend of the sacred red fern that grows over the graves of his dogs. JON DAVIE Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen Christopher McDougall ISBN Hardcover: 0307266303; Paperback: 0307279189 Born to Run is a story about running. The author is an experienced runner, and chose to study a tribe in a remote region of Mexico, the Tarahumara, whose running prowess seems almost mythical. His experience with the Tarahumara proved to be as much a personal transformation for the author as it is an intriguing story of journalistic non-fiction. As unlikely as it may seem for a book about running, as soon it was published, this book became a bestseller. It appeals to both runners and to non-runners in its examination of a culture very different from ours. It also sheds light on the very deep roots of our specie’s innate ability to run long distances. This book has caused quite a stir in the running community, and the running shoe manufacturers have responded to what the author has revealed about the footwear used by the legendary Tarahmura runners. POLLY DAVIE Left to Tell Immaculee Ilibagiza ISBN: 978-1401908973 Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them. The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss. JOHN DOWNEY Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom ISBN: 076790592X Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly 20 years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neurone disease - Morrie visited Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live. This is a chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world. BRAD FLETCHER The Killer Angels Michael Shaara ISBN-13: 978-0345407276 Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War is a brilliant and powerful exploration of the lives, emotions, and experiences of men at war. CHARLENE HOYT A Gracious Plenty Sheri Reynolds ISBN: 060960225X Badly burned in a household accident when she was a child, Finch Nobles grows into a courageous and feisty loner who shuns the pity of her hometown and discovers that she can hear the voices of the people buried in her father's cemetery.