Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot Sampler
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Required reading: Agatha Christie: Five Complete Hercule Poirot Novels , Agatha Christie.
Any copy of the stories to be covered in class is fine. This one contains: Murder on the Orient Express / Thirteen at Dinner (Lord Edgware Dies) / The ABC Murders / Death on the Nile plus a bonus of Cards on the Table. |
Black Holes Explained
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Recommended reading: Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy, Kip Thorne.
This book's subtitle explains it all. Virtually all astrophysicists accept the fact that Einstein's theory of general relativity is the best model of physical reality that we have. In other words, it is essentially correct. Yet the model requires the existence of physical phenomena beyond one's wildest imagination. |
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Recommended reading: Black Holes and Warped Spacetime, Wm. J. Kaufmann III.
Learn how the stars were formed, universes are created and the life cycle of a star until IT DIES and: becomes a BLACK HOLE and all time is consequentially WARPED because of this. Is the universe expanding or contracting???? You decide. |
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Recommended reading: Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide, Clifford A. Pickover.
Clifford Pickover, an extraordinarily prolific and polymathic research scientist at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, has consistently been one of the most creative writers about computer graphics, scientific visualization, and mathematical models of natural and physical systems. This latest offering is classic Pickover in its wealth of information, ideas, bold speculations and and propositions -- including proposed "hands-on" experiments with black holes -- which just may turn out to be plausible. |
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Recommended reading: Cosmic Catastrophes: Supernovae, Gamma-Ray Bursts, and Adventures in Hyperspace, J.C. Wheeler.
Supernovae occur when a star blows up: in its death throes, a star gone supernova "becomes as bright as an entire galaxy." University of Texas astrophysicist Wheeler is one of the world's experts on such stellar explosions and the forces behind them. This accessible, painstaking work of astronomical exposition brings to a general readership Wheeler's knowledge of stars, supernovae and their cousins. The first chapter covers the life cycles of "ordinary" single stars, which coalesce, burn, turn yellow, then red, then dark. Wheeler then gets to the weird stuffAto binary stars, which orbit each other in pairs, and to white dwarves, accretion disks, pulsars and the density of the universe. |
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Recommended reading: Gravity's Fatal Attraction: Black Holes in the Universe, Mitchell Begelman.
Richly illustrated with the images from observatories on the ground and in space, and computer simulations, this book shows how black holes were discovered, and discusses our current understanding of their role in cosmic evolution. |
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Recommended reading: Prisons of Light - Black Holes, Kitty Ferguson.
Through astute use of definitions, stories, illustrations and verbal imagery, Ferguson describes how gravity might overwhelm the exclusion principal of certain larger stars to create a black hole; what a visit to a black hole might turn up (with all due respect to the improbability of ever returning from such a trip); how black holes hide and what traces give them away; as well as major candidates and how they have been smoked out. |
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Recommended reading: The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics, Leonard Susskind.
Stanford physicist Leonard Susskind provides a marvelous introduction to the subject that is both readable and easy to understand. Or at least as easy as something involving the two great 20th-century advances in science -- relativity and quantum mechanics -- can possibly be. |
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Recommended reading: The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium (college textbook), Pasachoff and Filippenko.
The authors have struck a balance between the fundamental concepts and the exciting topics at the forefront of astronomy, conveying the spirit of contemporary astronomy within a big picture context. The authors emphasize the central theme of origins in this text, first by singling out specifics in the headings of each chapter and then by dealing with a variety of relevant material in the text itself. An early discussion of the scientific method stresses an importance on the verification of observations, and sets the stage for the text's consistent focus on astronomy as a science. |
Bridge: Beginning Play of the Hand
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Required reading: Play of the Hand in the 21st Century: The Diamond Series, Audrey Grant.
This is the 2nd in the American Contract Bridge League's series of bridge books for beginning and advancing players. Successfully used by students and teachers for over 20 years, this edition has been updated to reflect current standards for playing bridge. This book concentrates on the play of the hand (making a plan, promoting winners, finessing, trumping losers, etc.). The initial bidding concepts are reviewed and Jacoby transfers and slam bidding are introduced. |
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Recommended reading: Watson's Classic Book on The Play of the Hand at Bridge, Louis Watson.
Every accomplished bridge player has a copy of this book, but don't expect them to lend it to you. This is the oldest and most comprehensive guide to understanding the cards. There is a wealth of information on suit combinations, basic strategies, and other principles of declarer play. You won't be able to read it in a weekend, or even a month, so plan to take it slowly and study each chapter carefully. |
Celebrating Women Over Sixty: Choices! Choices!
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Recommended reading: The Fountain of Age, Betty Friedan.
Friedan tackles the subject of aging with the same candor evident in her earlier critiques of women's roles (e.g., Feminine Mystique , 1963). She offers no quick fixes on how to grow old gracefully in a society that worships youth. Instead, she confronts the reality of aging. |
Cinema: Behind the Scenes
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Recommended reading: Cinema, Year by Year, DK Publications, Karney, Robyn.
From the earliest flickering pictures to the triumph of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, this year-by-year guide to the films, the stars, and the innovations of movie-making brings the silver screen to life. With Oscar results from the first awards ceremony to the latest 2004 winners, this is the most entertaining and detailed visual history of cinema you will ever read. |
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Recommended reading: (Anything!), Maltin, Leonard.
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Recommended reading: Book of Film, Ebert, Roger.
This is the best film book of the mid-'90s and probably the best anthology of writing about the movies ever published. Choosing from the work of novelists and essayists as well as directors, actors, screenwriters and technicians, Ebert places the best that has ever been said or thought about the movies on parade. |
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Recommended reading: (Anything!),Ebert, Roger.
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Contemporary Short Stories New Series!
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Required reading: The Best American Short Stories 2008, Salman Rushdie.
This brilliant collection, edited by the award-winning and perennially provocative Salman Rushdie, boasts a “magnificent array” (Library Journal) of voices both new and recognized.With Rushdie at the helm, the 2008 edition “reflects the variety of substance and style and the consistent quality that readers have come to expect” (Publishers Weekly). |
From Pearl Harbor & Midway to Tokyo Bay: Critical Decisions
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Required reading: Victory at Sea; World War II in the Pacific, James Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi.
Victory at Sea brings together in one encyclopedic volume all the facts, figures, and details of the Pacific theater of World War II, containing much information that is unfamiliar or new. Here, acclaimed military historians James Dunnigan and Albert Nofi examine both the massive campaigns launched by all the combatants, including the famous battles for places like Midway, Guadalcanal, and Okinawa, and some of the lesser-known confrontations that were sometimes more strategically important. |
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Recommended reading: At Dawn We Slept, Gordon Prange.
Together, these tomes comprise an exhaustive study of the day that will live in infamy. Prange takes a long, hard look at President Roosevelt's relationship with Japan and implies that FDR all but goaded the empire into bombing the Hawaiian base. With the 60th anniversary of the attack past, there no doubt will be many volumes released and rereleased, but these are among the best. |
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Recommended reading: The Pacific War, John Costello.
John Costello's The Pacific War has now established itself as the standard one-volume account of World War II in the Pacific. Never before have the separate stories of fighting in China, Malaya, Burma, the East Indies, the Phillipines, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Aleutians been so brilliantly woven together to provide a clear account of one of the most massive movements of men and arms in history. |
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Recommended reading: Combined Fleet Decoded, John Prados.
The most authoritative and revealing examination yet of the way intelligence--of all kinds--was instrumental in defeating Japan. Prados gives a new picture of the war in the Pacific, one which will challenge many previous conceptions about that conflict, and one which will be irresistible to those readers who find histories of that period fascinating. |
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Recommended reading: Kimmel, Short and Pearl Harbor, Fred Borch and Daniel Martinez.
This book is a must read book if you wanting to learn more about Pearl Harbor. The reader will have to decide if Kimmel and Short were treated fairly. |
How Successful Cultures Get That Way
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Recommended reading: Migrations and Cultures: a World View, Thomas Sowell.
Sowell (Race and Culture), senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, takes a sweeping look at major world migrations, his aim being to "provide revealing glimpses of the enormous role of cultural heritages and their far-reaching implications." Focusing on the Germans, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Jews and Indians (why not the Irish, too?), he traces the migratory pattern of each group and examines how it has affected the countries where its members settled, as well as the effects of migration on the immigrants themselves over time. |
Human Behavior & Neurobiology: Are We Hardwired? Part 2
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Recommended reading: The Ethical Brain, Michel S. Gazzaniga.
The rapid advance of scientific knowledge has raised ethical dilemmas that humankind has never before had to address. Questions about the moment when life technically begins and ends or about the morality of genetically designing babies are now relevant and timely. |
Impressionism, Part Deux
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Recommended reading: A Fuller Understanding of the Paintings at Orsay , Francoise Bayle.
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Recommended reading: Impressionism, Robert L. Herbert.
In this "provocative study," Herbert explains how Paris's architecture became raw material for the impressionists and analyzes the social forces that shaped individual painters. According to PW , "Picture after picture is given a fresh, often unexpected reading, and the more than 300 plates (two-thirds in color) are deftly interwoven with the sprightly narrative." |
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Recommended reading: Impressionism, Editors of Réalités.
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Legacy of the Crusades
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Recommended reading: The New Concise History of the Crusades (Updated Student Edition), Thomas F. Madden.
How have the crusades contributed to Islamist rage and terrorism today? Were the crusades the Christian equivalent of modern jihad? In this sweeping yet crisp history, Thomas F. Madden offers a brilliant and compelling narrative of the crusades and their contemporary relevance. Placing all the major crusades within their medieval social, economic, religious, and intellectual environments, Madden explores the uniquely medieval world that led untold thousands to leave their homes, family, and friends to march in Christ's name to distant lands. |
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Recommended viewing: The Kingdom of Heaven, DVD.
Kingdom of Heaven is greater than the sum of its parts, delivering a vital, mostly engrossing tale following Balian (Orlando Bloom), a lonely French blacksmith who discovers he's a noble heir and takes his father's (Liam Neeson) place in the center of the universe circa 1184: Jerusalem. Here, grand battles and backdoor politics are key as Scott and first-time screenwriter William Monahan fashion an excellent storyline to tackle the centuries-long conflict. |
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Recommended viewing: The History Channel presentation of "the Crusades", DVD.
The Christian invaders were regarded as infidels. The Arabs were scorned as lawless pagans. The Westerners saw their quest as literally a sanctified crusade, while the Muslims launched their own holy war, called a jihad, in retaliation. Sound familiar? It should, because although the events depicted in the History Channel's The Crusades - Crescent & The Cross took place nearly a thousand years ago, they are but a distant mirror to what's going on in the Middle East right now.
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Recommended reading: The Crusades: Idea and Reality, 1095-1274, Riley-Smith, Louise, and Jonathan Riley-Smith.
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Recommended reading: The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam, Riley-Smith, Louise, and Jonathan Riley-Smith.
This slender volume provides an interesting insight into the way in which contemporary history has had an impact on studies of the crusades.
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Recommended reading: The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, Hillenbrand, Carole.
This is ground-breaking work, and its value lies not only in the detailed reportage, but also in the way Carole Hillenbrand gives western historians a guide to source material, either unknown to them or available only in partial translation, and introduces her readers to the mindset of medieval Muslims, providing an entirely different angle from which to look at the crusading movement. By putting modern ideas into context the book will enable readers in both the western and Islamic worlds to understand better events which to some extent are shaping the present.
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Pathways to Spirituality
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Recommended reading: Alchemy of the Heart, Michael Brown.
During our early years, we are imprinted by the emotional condition of those responsible for us. This journey is about allowing ourselves to feel life--to be present and awake in each moment, so that we really experience everything. It is the chance to participate actively, responsibly, and creatively in our lives. |
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Recommended reading: A Return to Love, Marianne Williamson.
This book is based on Williamson's discovery of A Course in Miracles , a self-help guide whose provenance she doesn't explain. Age 26 at the time and feeling lost and desperate after indulging in the excesses of the 1960s, the Jewish author had no real hope for inspiration from the course because of its Christian terminology. |
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Recommended reading: The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle.
Eckhart Tolle's message is simple: living in the now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. And while this message may not seem stunningly original or fresh, Tolle's clear writing, supportive voice, and enthusiasm make this an excellent manual for anyone who's ever wondered what exactly "living in the now" means. Foremost, Tolle is a world-class teacher, able to explain complicated concepts in concrete language. |
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Recommended reading: Conversations With God, Neale Donald Walsch.
Blasphemy! Heresy! Who does this man think he is, claiming to speak directly to God?! Jesus did it, Muhammad did it, the Jewish prophets did it, but none of their Gods had the sardonic wit or raw verve of Prophet Walsch's God. Neale Donald Walsch isn't claiming to be the Messiah of a new religion, just a frustrated man who sat down one day with pen in his hand and some tough questions in his heart. |
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Recommended reading: You Can Heal Your Life, Louise Hay.
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Recommended reading: Way of the Wizard, Deepok Chopra.
Chopra is big. His message about attaining joy and fulfillment by recognizing the mind-body connection has struck a chord that's reverberated beyond New Agers into the general public. Still, he basically has only one message, leaving him no choice but to try to jazz it up with each successive book. Recently, Chopra ventured into the world of fiction with mixed results. This time, he blends a bit of folklore into his "lessons" about 20 principles for reintroducing magic into one's life. |
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Recommended viewing: There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem (DVD), Dr. Wayne Dyer.
Chopra is big. His message about attaining joy and fulfillment by recognizing the mind-body connection has struck a chord that's reverberated beyond New Agers into the general public. Still, he basically has only one message, leaving him no choice but to try to jazz it up with each successive book. Recently, Chopra ventured into the world of fiction with mixed results. This time, he blends a bit of folklore into his "lessons" about 20 principles for reintroducing magic into one's life. |
Poetry Workshop: Challenging Your Muse
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Recommended reading: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Poetry, Nikki Moustaki.
Is writing poetry alive and well beyond the ivory walls of academia? Yes, and it always has been. With The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry, aspiring poets-those who write for their own pleasure and those who dream of publication--will have the world of poetry opened wide. |
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Recommended reading: The Practice of Poetry, Edited by Robin Behen and Chase Twichell.
Behn and Twichell bring us literally dozens of writing exercises from established poets like Maxine Kumin, Rita Dove, Donald Justice and many more. The chapters in the book are separated according to the poetry writing skill they are designed to sharpen. There are chapters on image and metaphor, self and subject, topic, structure, sound and rhythm, and on revision and writer's block. |
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Recommended reading: The Pushcart Prize XXXIII, 2009 edition, Bill Henderson and The Pushcart Prize Editors.
Despite claims that reading is in decline, there is certainly no downswing in the need to write. Literature remains vital, if underappreciated, as the range of expression, the spectrum of ideas, and the depth of feeling in contemporary writing grows and blossoms. Open the latest Pushcart gathering of the best of the small presses, and enter a cosmos of candor, humor, conviction, and lyricism. |
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Recommended reading: The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets, Ted Kooser.
The work of Kooser, America's new poet laureate, will be receiving more attention now, attention that is amply deserved. As this collection of essays shows, he is a generous presence in the poetic world, one who feels that poets' "job description" (which he discusses in the book's first essay) is not to make money or even fame, but to "serve the poems we write." |
Relationships: Your Challenges & Effective Problem Solving
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Required reading: The Little Book of Conflict Transformation, John Paul Lederach.
Conflict Transformation is an idea with a deep reach. Its practice, says Lederach, requires "both solutions and social change." It asks not simply "How do we end something not desired?", but "How do we end something destructive and build something desired?" How do we deal with the immediate crisis, as well as the long-term situation? What disciplines make such thinking and practices possible? |
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Recommended reading: Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher and William Ury.
The book really gives a great launching point for those who wish to carry out successful win-win negotiations in every facet of their lives, be it at home, with suppliers, at your favourite shop or at work or even at national and international level. |
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Recommended reading: The Joy of Conflict Resolution: Transforming Victims, Villains and Heroes in the Workplace an at Home, Gary Harper.
The Joy of Conflict Resolution helps readers understand conflict and why it arises through the lens of the “drama triangle” of victims, villains and heroes. In an accessible, engaging and lighthearted style that uses stories and humor to explore potentially emotionally charged situations, it provides proven and practical skills to move beyond confrontation to resolve conflicts collaboratively. |
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Recommended reading: The Magic of Conflict: Turning a Life of Work into a Work of Art, Thomas F. Crum.
This set of simple techniques, including meditation, breathing exercises, openness, and play--Aiki--leads gently to a reordered state of mind. From overcoming apathy to understanding how conflict doesn't have to mean contest, Aiki turns mind-body integration principles into powerful tools. |
Shakespeare for Everyone!
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Recommended reading: Hamlet, William Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is arguably the most famous play ever written in the English language; it presents the world with questions and characters that have been the subject of thespian and scholarly debate ever since the Prince of Denmark's first appearance on the stage of London's Globe Theatre. |
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Recommended reading: Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet will hold listeners spellbound as they become involved in the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues and in Romeo and Juliet's plight of love. |
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Recommended reading: A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare.
This is Shakespearean comedy at its best. Wordplay and physical comedy abound, and timeless aspects of human nature are shown at their most sublime and ridiculous. |
The Wealth & Poverty of Nations
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Required reading: The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, David S. Landes.
Professor David S. Landes takes a historic approach to the analysis of the distribution of wealth in this landmark study of world economics. Landes argues that the key to today's disparity between the rich and poor nations of the world stems directly from the industrial revolution, in which some countries made the leap to industrialization and became fabulously rich, while other countries failed to adapt and remained poor. |
Western Concepts of God through Time
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Required reading: Finding God: Selected Responses, Rifat Sonsino & Daniel B. Syme.
What is God anyway? First published in 1986, Finding God contains essays on significant Jewish thinkers attempting to answer the question looming above us all: Is there more than one way to perceive of God? How can we know God? What does God "want" from us? |
Winning Wars in the 21st Century
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Recommended reading: “The Sling and the Stone” On War in the 21st Century, Colonel Thomas.
“The Sling and the Stone” was written to appeal to a vast and diverse audience. It provides numerous jewels of information for the general reader as well as senior military leaders, military operational planners and supporters, interagency personnel, and U.S. political leaders who are looking for a provocative read to aid them in making informed decisions in support of U.S. national security.
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Write to Save Your Life: Beginning Memoir Writing
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Recommended reading: Writing Your Life, Lou W. Stanek.
We all have stories to tell -- of a rapturous first kiss, a life-altering moment of choice, or the shocking revelation of a long-guarded secret. And these stories are often as distinctive, fascinating, exciting and entertaining as those found in the memoirs and autobiographies that currently top the nation's bestseller lists. We just need to know how to tell them best. |
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Recommended reading: Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg.
Wherein we discover that many of the "rules" for good writing and good sex are the same: Keep your hand moving, lose control, and don't think. Goldberg brings a touch of both Zen and well... *eroticism* to her writing practice, the latter in exercises and anecdotes designed to ease you into your body, your whole spirit, while you create, the former in being where you are, working with what you have, and writing from the moment. |
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Recommended reading: Your Life As Story, Tristine Rainer.
Every person's life tells a story, but few of us dare to consider our own story worthy of being written. Tristine Rainer shows us how to apply the structure of story telling to an ordinary life to give it shape, meaning, and clarity. |
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Recommended reading: How to Write the Story of Your Life, Frank Thomas.
How to Write the Story of Your Life shows writers how to mine the depths of their experience to write an engaging and saleable memoir. Frank P. Thomas gives readers the instruction they need to write the stories of their lives, including: The five Rs essential to the completion and publishing of a life story; research, remembering, 'riting, reading and reproduction Hundreds of memory sparkers to get readers started Organizational techniques for developing a writing plan and how to work with photos and documents Memories and the author's expert guidance are all writers need to leave a legacy for generations to come. |
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Recommended reading: Old Friend Far Away, Natalie Goldberg.
Millions of Americans want to write about their lives. With Old Friend as the road map for getting started and following through, writers and readers will gain a deeper understanding of their own minds, learn to connect with their senses in order to find the detail and truth that give their written words power and authenticity, and unfold the natural structure of the stories they carry within. |
