The Ten Books Thing

People have been tagging me for 10 book thinks. I tend not to have favorite books at least not in the sense that I read them multiple times. Very few get reread. So making a list off the top of my head is impossible. But I have a list – a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Not in any particular order.

Bible – Not without reason is this the best selling book of all time.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress – Robert Heinlein – AI computer and others rebel against the government. It’s full of libertarian ideals.

Have Spacesuit Will Travel – Robert Heinlein – This is one of his “juveniles” but the plot is wonderful. The human race is put on trial by galactic powers. There was a Star Trek (original series) episode with a similar story line but not done as well. How would you justify humanities right to live given our history?

The Count of Monte Cristo – Dumas – The movies cannot hold a candle to the book. This would be a great summer reading book if you could get students to read a book this long. Revenge – right or wrong?

The Man in the Iron Mask – Dumas – Perhaps the greatest book long chase of all time.  Again, much better than any of the movies. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll worry.

The Foundation Series – Isaac Asimov – the ultimate future history novel. OK that is three books but if you read one you owe it to yourself to read all three.

Catholic Schools and the Common Good: Anthony S. Bryk, Valerie E. Lee, Peter B. Holland – non-fiction – A research project by some public school administrators about how/why Catholic schools work. Some eye opening things including that Catholic schools do a better job of dealing with racial, ethnic and religious differences in their population than public schools.

Democratic Education (Princeton Paperbacks): Amy Gutmann: 9780691009162: Books – Non-fiction. A case for public education that convinced me that public education was not such a good thing. Yes, the author’s arguments convinced me of the opposite of her position. If the goal of education is to shape society (authors position that I do agree with) I came away convinced that the government should have as little role in it as possible.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies – Jared Diamond – I love history and this is one of the most interesting and different looks at history I have read. This is one I intend to read again soon.

OK that is nine (or eleven) best I can do for now.

Leave a Reply