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I saw the following documentary on YouTube and found it to be very interesting. The documentary discusses not just Carnegie's life but also America's Gilded Age. Might be useful as part of a history or economics lesson, and it seems impartial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OktRUbrw_Xo

I second this recommendation. Love and Respect seems like a really great book.

I highly recommend Shaunti Feldhahn's For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men. Feldhahn also wrote another book for men on understanding women.

Are schools really getting rid of research librarians? I hadn't heard of that

Having book lists and references are great. But do you do not think that being able to search inside the individual pages of millions of books simultaneously makes more books more visible/accessible to you? Let's say that you're searching for information about an obscure medical ailment or a relatively obscure historical figure. How will you know which books contain this information? There's only so much that a book list/reference can tell about what's contained therein.

How would you even know that the book exists in the first place? How would you find it?

No, I don't work for Google. I'm just very passionate about certain causes (especially open access to information). I think that information should be easily accessible to the masses. To this end, there are other entities that I adore, such as the Internet Archive, Worldcat, and Goodreads, among others.

Depending on the book's copyright status and/or any author's directives, Internet users can see the entire book, a preview, snippets, or no preview at all. Google now allows users to purchase many of the books (a la Kindle). The authors receive a cut of the sales. I imagine that this would be most beneficial to authors whose books are no longer in print.

In order to cure a disease or do something else beneficial, it helps to have information/knowledge readily available--especially if there are no universities/learned people near you.

If a book was written before 1923, you can usually read the full text on Google books for free. Here are a few such books (and they're all free): Men Who Are Making America Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie Paradise Regained by John Milton

Exercise

Right now, Google is trying to digitize all the books (and many of the magazines) that have ever been written and make these texts searchable. So far, Google has digitized roughly a quarter of the world's books, and plans to finish by the end of this decade. I think that the Google Books project is absolutely, positively revolutionary. It makes knowledge readily accessible to anyone--from any part of the world. It also helps preserve rare texts--in case of a fire (Library of Alexandria), flood, or natural disaster. Yet, when I tell others about this, they give me a blank stare and seem so nonchalant. Many of them have not even heard of the project. In addition, relatively little national attention/news coverage has been given to this project. Why do you suppose that's so? Why aren't more people excited about this?

Do you suppose that the cheating epidemic partly related to the fact that few students have developed a sincere love of learning. Rather, many students consider school as a means to an end--the ends being graduation and earning a comfortable living. The student then focuses on the easiest/shortest possible way to get from A to B. In addition, does our purported culture of instant gratification also play a role--the fact that many are concerned with the product (wealth, social standing, looks, material things) rather than the journey/process? Below (in purple) is an excerpt from an article in Psychology Today: I wish I could say that I was one of those rare students who never cheated in their lives, but I can't. I can remember two instances somewhere between 7th-10th grade in which I tried to get other students' answers during exams. To my knowledge, I never cheated again. I am fortunate that I encountered a newspaper article while in high school that helped me internalize a reason for not cheating. The article made the point that one would not want to be treated by a doctor who had cheated his or her way through medical school and was incompetent. For whatever reason, that article really stuck with me. Teachers and professors' efforts to combat student cheating are heavily based on deterrence. Deterrence, through proctoring and other means, should be supplemented, in my view, with attempts to convey reasons to students why they should not cheat. My concern with a heavy deterrence focus is that some students may feel that if they can avoid getting caught, then there is nothing more to think about. Read more here: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-campus/201202/academic-dishonesty-prevalent-preventable What do you think? What do you make of all this?

Jean in Newcastle, The mother is Korean, but the father is Japanese. So, the kids are half-Korean and half-Japanese.

Why did her uh-huhs make you uncomfortable?

I've seen some highly intelligent discussions/posts on WellTrainedMind, and there are a lot of very bright people on this forum. In real life, are you able to have such conversations--at this level--with those around you? Or, is this your go-to place for self-improvement advice and thoughtful dialogue. Why or why not? I'll bite: For me, I wish that I could say that I had people around me who were like-minded. But, alas, most of my family & friends have little interest in intellectual endeavors--unless there's an accompanying immediate reward.

YouTube has a ton of educational/highbrow documentaries, movies, talks, lectures, debates, etc. It is truly amazing. I was wondering if anyone here frequently incorporates any of that into the homeschooling/self-education lessons? If so, what types of programs do you include, and how often?

This guy is such an inspiration.

I wish that I could meet people like that

I found this site through Google's discussion search feature(see link below). Google Discussion search is very similar to boardreader.com though more comprehensive.. https://www.google.com/webhp?tbm=dsc It will search through only forums and discussion pages for your terms. I think that I was searching for information about some books and keep coming across WellTrainedMind's forum. Eventually, I decided to check out this place---and voila! I joined shortly thereafter What about you? How did you find WellTrainedMind's forum?

You all are going to love this one. Sho Yano finished high school at the age of 9, scored a 1500/1600 on the SAT, and graduated from college summa cum laude at the age of 12. He received his MD/PhD from the University of Chicago at the age of 21. In the video below, he describes his upbringing, life challenges, and future ambitions:

The following (in green) is an excerpt from a letter written by Alexander Hamilton to his father: "It began about dusk, at North, and raged violently till ten o'clock. Then ensued a sudden and unexpected interval, which lasted about an hour. Meanwhile the wind was shifted round to the South West point, from whence it returned with redoubled fury and continued so 'till near three o'clock in the morning. Good God! what horror and destruction. It's impossible for me to describe or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place…… Thus did I reflect, and thus at every gust of wind 'till it pleased the Almighty to allay it. Nor did my emotions proceed either from the suggestions of too much natural fear, or a conscience over-burdened with crimes of an uncommon cast. I thank God, this was not the case. The scenes of horror exhibited around us, naturally awakened such ideas in every thinking breast, and aggravated the deformity of every failing of our lives. It were a lamentable insensibility indeed, not to have had such feelings, and I think inconsistent with human nature. Our distressed, helpless condition taught us humility and contempt of ourselves. The horrors of the night, the prospect of an immediate, cruel death – or, as one may say, of being crushed by the Almighty in his anger—filled us with terror. And every thing that had tended o weaken our interest with him, upbraided us in the strongest colours, with our baseness and folly. That which, in a calm unruffled temper, we call a natural cause, seemed then like the correction of the Deity. Our imagination represented him as an incensed master, executing vengeance on the crimes of his servants. The father and benefactor were forgot, an in that view, a consciousness of our guilt filled us with despair." This passage is so emotional and introspective, and the language is remarkably florid and compelling. Now, don't get me wrong--I don't think that modern writing is necessarily bad. But I do think that, in a sense, it is missing something and that is often too matter-of-fact. It just doesn't connect with me--emotionally and intellectually--as much as older works. I also think that modern writings don't explore the human condition as deeply as older writings. I made these observations after reading dozens of older works over the past few years---and not just the above passage. What about you? Do you think that--in any sense--writing has declined?

I want to turn off my router---though not because of migraines. But because my router is now acting up. Not sure what's up with it

You're very lucky. There are many people who can't say this about their local schools.