You might want to consider The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within, by Stephen Fry. It's written as a guide to understanding poetry by writing it yourself, but you could skip those writing-it-yourself bits if you wanted. He starts with one element of poetry at a time, with the most common metre, then rhyme schemes, etc.. The glossary of poetic terms is one of the most comprehensive I've seen. (And there's a dash of British humour, too...) Anne

Thanks very much for this! Anne

I was 15 when I read it. What disturbed me most was his loss of faith. It's a short book and I second the recommendations to preview it first since you know your child best. Anne

In addition to the ones already mentioned, here are a few I have read: Elie Wiesel, Night, Dawn, and Day (trilogy of Wiesel's experiences of the Holocaust. Night is quite a classic Holocaust memoir) Evelyn Waugh, Sword of Honour trilogy (set in the Mediterranean and originally published in separate volumes as Officers and Gentlemen, Men at Arms, and Unconditional Surrender, but intended by Waugh to be read in a single volume) Paul Watkins, The Forger (about an American art student in Paris pressed into service for the French resistance to forge artworks) These are more thriller-type books than classic literature: Alistair MacLean, The Guns of Navarone and its sequel, Force Ten from Navarone (there is a movie too) Jack Higgins, The Eagle Has Landed and Sheba Hope these are helpful :001_smile: Anne

Congratulations on discovering the right instrument! :thumbup: Isn't it wonderful when it just clicks? I believe there's a lot of truth in the view that instruments are an extension of personalities -- they have to match! Anne

How exciting -- this is exactly what I'm planning to do for my own self-education! In fact I have Richard II and 1 Henry IV on order. On books that explain this period of history, I'm currently reading Peter Saccio's Shakespeare's English Kings (OUP, 2nd edition 2000) which is a great resource. It explains what really happened in history during the periods covered by each of the history plays, and then points out what Shakespeare changed, whether for dramatic purposes or because his sources were flawed. Anne

I second the suggestion to preview it. I would also make sure my child understood the difference between satire and real life portrayals. For what it's worth, I enjoyed it when we studied it at 18 but had classmates who didn't seem to know how to react to the satire because they took it seriously, if you know what I mean. Anne

This is interesting -- I recently finished reading Peter Ackroyd's biography of Thomas More and More's Utopia, and was planning to read something by Erasmus next, since they were friends. I find the introductions and footnotes in some editions quite helpful in understanding the background to the books and the context in which they were written. The Penguin Classics editions, for instance, have pretty good introductions and footnotes in general -- and they do have an edition of In Praise of Folly. Another well-established series I relied on both in college and after is the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Unfortunately they do not have an edition of In Praise of Folly, but they do have The Education of a Christian Prince by Erasmus, which is on my 'to read' list.:001_smile: I'm not sure if this is worth checking out if you are looking for more general background on Erasmus. (Fwiw, the edition of More's Utopia that I read is part of this series.) This is such a fascinating period of history! Anne

New Ideas from Dead Economists, by Todd G. Buchholz. He explains in chronological order how major economists contributed to the development of economic thought and shows how their ideas are still relevant today. Kind of in the same vein as The Worldly Philosophers by Heilbroner that someone mentioned earlier. It's also entertaining because he throws in odd facts and trivia about the economists' lives. :001_smile: Anne

I like to read chronologically so I can immerse myself in the 'voice' of the period, rather than trying to understand a different historical period every time I start a new book, if that makes sense. Or at least, read works from the same period together. I also find that too much of certain genres all at the same time (in my case, drama) can be a little tiring. Anne

I have to say that book jackets used to really bug me -- they can't seem to stay on when the book is open! This is one reason I tend to buy paperbacks over hardbacks (apart from the fact that paperbacks take up less space). But for those occasional books that I have to get in hardback, wrapping the book in clear plastic solves the problem and makes the jacket stay put. It also helps to protect the book from dust, stains, and other such nasty stuff. Anne

You could also consider working it into other subjects. Sections requiring such skills are part of A level curricula (British system; roughly equivalent to grades 11-12) for some subjects. For instance, in history, two sources might be given and a series of questions asked based on them, including the main message of each source, line of reasoning, whether there is enough evidence to support a particular point of view, etc.. In economics, a table of data or an article might be given. This will probably involve a lot more work than if you are able to find a dedicated curriculum, though. I hope this is helpful in some way :) Anne

This is such a civilised and pleasant forum compared to so many others on the internet :001_smile: That is funny. It's true that many Singapore parents send their children for tutoring on top of regular schoolwork, largely because they want their children to have a competitive edge. I'm not sure that it has much to do with whether parents think the curricula are good or bad and I'm pretty sure it would continue regardless of the curricula used! Anne

I studied pol sci and economics in the UK, but was also considering several US colleges and have a few friends who ended up doing economics at US colleges. As far as grad school is concerned, I understand that the name school for undergrad helps not just in the name, but also if there are highly regarded profs in the field there, because they could very well end up writing recommendations on grad sch applications. I agree with the previous poster that research interests may very well change through undergrad study. Also, this field is similar to the sciences in that the undergrad degree is really about establishing a foundation (and lots of maths) and then the real research is done at the postgrad level. U Chicago is very well regarded indeed for economics, although it has a reputation for being hard-nosed and 'monetarist'. I do know several people who graduated from U Chicago in economics, so if you have specific questions about that I might be able to get you some answers. Hope this is helpful in some way Anne

Hello from a newbie :001_smile: I have been lurking for a few months, mainly because I don't have children yet, but decided to join since I am self-educating in between work and life in general. I have to say, that as someone from Singapore, I have been absolutely astounded at the widespread use of our maths curriculum halfway around the world! Looking forward to interacting with everyone :001_smile: Anne