<i>The Art of Teaching</i> by Gilbert Highet

I picked this book up after reading an ask.metafilter.com post about teaching methods. Overall, there was little new to me here, though there was much codification of what I knew intuitively. That was was helpful, as it says to me, yes, you are going about it the right way.

So, some of the guidance includes clarity and preparation: make sure you know your material, know how it will be split up and can present it in a clear manner. Another is patience with those who you are teaching, as all topics are not equally understandable to all students. A final one (though not of the complete list) is to lead the students to discovery and stimulate their curiosity by enjoying the subjects and the presentation and by staying dynamic in the class.

Highet present these pieces of advice in an appealing way, using personal anecdotes, some findings of studies and experiences of others (including well-known writers). It gave a dynamic presentation of the information, but caused me to lose the thread of the discussion in some cases.

This is a book to take notes from and is definitely not written int he modern self-help manner with the outline dominating. While such a structure might be helpful in this book to communicate the points, there would be much lost from the dynamism. The book would do well with a summary chapter that gives the details in an abridged form for later reference, as was done in How to Read a Book with much success.

While I won't look to own a copy of this book, I may come back to it again for reference.

<i>The Sphere</i> by Michael Crichton

I am fed up with Crichton. The plot lines are far too predictable: man escaptes everyday life to investigate some amazing new thing; something goes wrong; people die; time is spent figuring it out; more people die; problem is solved; es cape is made; everything is better---or is it?

Here the mystery was intriguing for a time---I was very curious about what the alien was saying ans was very disappointed to find out it wasn't really an alien speaking and they never really did figure everything out...plus, once everyone was trying to escape, the formula was far to obvious and I go really fed up with the book.

There is one more Crichton book I want to read---Andromada Strain---but I think I will have to wait quite some time before I'm ready to pick up another of his books.

3/10

<i>The Unbearable Lightness of Being </i> by Milan Kundera

I was surprised, though I suppose I really had to be, by how similar this book was to Immortality. The similarity is not so much in the content---though Kundera does address male-female relationships primarily here as well---but more in the style. One of the big things is the non-linear story telling; another is the commentary on the characters from the writer's perspective. I am a big fan of the former---driven primarily by my love of Kurt Vonnegut, I would say. Really in general, nonlinear story telling gives something outside the plot. One is no longer trying to figure out what happens next, but just how we got here. And with the story already presented before one, it is easier to focus on other aspects of the writing.

I am a bit annoyed by Kundera's habit of commenting as the writer of the story on the character's behavior. While it can be helpful or amusing to have the thoughts of the writer on the characters, it gets old pretty fast: I *know* you created this character; I know you have very particular thoughts on how the character interacts with the world. I *do not* need to have the entire rundown of how the personality was formed to understand why some one behaves as they do.

I was very interested in the historical events that shaped the plot of the book. I know very little about Czech history, so I found the story of the Soviet invasion, especially from the average Czech's perspective engrossing. And the thought of Tereza out in the street with her camera, taking photos of the Russian soldiers, taking advantage of living her one life to resist in a manner that made the most sense to her. It was all very dramatic, very interesting and will stick in my mind.

Kundera's larger point with the book and its title revolve around the idea of a human's life being only a single blip, one that makes little difference or influence on the future---the unbearable lightness of being. We don't like it, but human life is light and there is nothing to be done otherwise. Thomas says so much to Teresa regarding his medical practice---he didn't regret giving it up as it allowed him to lighten himself.

Excellent read overall, though I think I liked Immortality better.

7/10

<i>Angela's Ashes</i> by Frank McCourt

This book has a different reading history compared to most books I've read. I started it as a audio book and got through about half of it before I ran into broken tapes. The next quarter or so was read in two or three page bursts as a "car book" when I had to wait for 5 or 10 minutes before tutoring or kung fu. The remainder was read on my flight to Copenhagen for vacation.

The audio book was really the best way to read this book. McCourt read it and with his Irish accent brings more life and reality than I can in my head. Reading it a bit at a time was also good, as the anecdotes he tells are generally short and stick well. Reading it in large chunks, though, is not so good, as it is a rather depressing story.

So, McCourt gives us the story of his childhood. How his parents escaped Ireland for America, only to go back again, thinking there would be more chance to work there than in the US. Instead, resulting from a drunk father and a fertile mother, there is little more than death and poverty.

It is a good book for what it is. McCourt is a good story teller and is able to relate his life well. The poverty is overwhelming in many cases. I can understand---though not condone---why his father wouldn't come back.

7/10

<i>The Complete Persepolis</i> by Marjane Satrapi

Going into this book (or, rather, graphic novel), I knew little-to-nothing about Iran. Satrapi give an interesting description about how a more secular family dealt with the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq wars. I had a much better sense by the end of what had happened in Iran, how its people where affected and the breadth of cultures that existed in Iran during that time (for example, I was surprised to find out there was a Jewish population in Iran).

One thing that Jason pointed out after reading this book was there were plenty of Iranians who didn't agree with the Islamic rule---the idea of wearing a veil was just as foreign to them as to any Westerner. That point was very clear in what Strapi described: parties and drinking still went on, they just had to be very careful and ready to clear the men out at a moment's notice.

In the same vein, Strapi described how the veil was subverted. How hair could be shown or how a woman could indicate her figure by the way she wore it. I figured that any woman that would want to could get her point across even with a veil in the way.

One of the major themes of the book was the ability to fit-in, whether that be in Europe or back in Iran after Strapi completed high school. Since she had a secular education and was able to live outside the repressive regime, moving back would be difficult. But, living abroad was almost as bad: Iran was still her country and no one had any idea of the terror she had experienced as a child except her own countrymen.

This book is the first graphic novel I have read. I thought the form added to the experience of reading it. There were not only the words to guide you through Strapi's experience, but also the images she used to represent them. One particular part that exemplifies this is how she described how quickly she matured around age 15/16. She draws a pictures showing how she grew unevenly---"first one eye, then the other"---giving a graphic representation of just how awkward she felt.

An excellent read that I couldn't put down. Highly recommended.

10/10

<i>Structures: or Why Things Don't Fall Down</i> By J.E. Gordon

Sheila gave me this book a number of years ago as a birthday gift. It was suggested reading for one of her classes and she was impressed enough to pass it along.

The beginning of the book is very good. It gives an excellent background and an intuitive explanation of the equations that are fundamental to engineering design. Gordon spends much of the book explaining things that we see in every day life and how an engineer might look at them by giving a history of common designs and context for engineering materials and decisions.

This, though, is not a book that ages well as far as engineering science goes. One of teh difficulties I has was that sine Gordon reference modern (at the time) research, some sections of the book were painfully out of date. As such, current analysis methods (such as life cycle analysis), which are now expected when doing energy comparisons, are missing. I can't, truly, hold that lack of foresight against a book written in 1979.

The last chapter was more perplexing. Gordon sees two forces at work in design: efficiency and aesthetics:

The mechanical, that is to say the functional parts of any mass-produced car are not attractive, being made largely of wire and bent metal which we find it hard to admire, however useful they may be.

It seems to me that much of the point in understanding structural design and other engineering elements is to appreciate the elegance and details of the design---why the engineer made the decision, whether good or bad. The aesthetic value may not be instantly evident, but having the engineering literacy that this book is intended to impart, give purpose and thereby value to the bits of "wire and bent metal".

As an example, artwork is not always easy to understand. Looking at a Pollack or a Picasso does impart to every person who look at it an aesthetic value. Once, though, they are put into context of other artists of the time, one can learn to appreciate the aesthetics by understanding the structure it is built on.

A good read. Doesn't cover the latest research, but is good for those who have been away from structures for a while. I learned about thrust lines and why statues sit on top of buttresses. Do yourself a favor, though, and skip the last chapter. There have been better things written on engineering aesthetics.

6/10

<i>Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them</i> by David Anderegg, PhD.

Jason and I read this book together. Anderegg's argument is that our cultural understanding of nerds---as obsessed with science, focused on things other than human relationships, wearing glasses, being bad dressers and having no sex---while less harmful on an adult level---as adults understand irony and sarcasm---is extremely dangerous to children since they take what adults say as the truth (no developed sense of irony). This, as a result, turns kids away from science, math and intense curiosity at a young age as nerds are seen as bad (since adults make fun of them) and therefore undesirable to be. While some kids overcome this in high school, some do not and as these kids become adults, it only deepens the anti-intellectualism in the US.

Anderegg makes a compelling argument for this based on a few studies, his own experiences as a child psychologist and the development of the idea of a nerd in American culture (all the way back to Bram Bones and Ichabod Crane). I definitely agree the cultural idea of a nerd is damaging to America, in that it stigmatizes knowledge, thereby affecting the competitive of our country in science, technology and economic areas. It also brings about a general science and math illiteracy, causing the general public to not understand the intricacies of the debates on global warming, IVF and stem cell research, thereby making the public more susceptible to positions based on slogans (drill, baby, drill) and knee-jerk ideology.

Anderegg finishes by offering some prescriptions to parents on how to get their young kids to understand that being a nerd is not bad or that nerd is not a real idea. I was sorry to see that he did not offer ideas for those of us currently in science and engineering fields on how to improve the perception in American culture.

Overall, an interesting read with insightful assessments of American culture.

7/10