Walking-Iris Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Just a random discussion Dh and I were having, and I thought I'd ask here since I have been thinking about it today. What books would you really like your teen to read or be familiar with (even if you don't yet have teens--I don't) that are not usually on the regular lists of books for that age group (whatever resource you use to determine high school reading lists)? Ours in no particular order: Guns, Germs, and Steel Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee The Ramayana Team of Rivals Krakatoa Atlas Shrugged The Hero With A Thousand Faces Silent Spring A History of God These are just some we thought of today. So what books have really made such an impact on you that you would want (or hope) that your kid will one day read them too? Something not usually curriculum typical? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy The Cost of Discipleship by D. Bonhoeffer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJ. Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 I haven't thought a whole lot about this since my boys are still so young but recently I read a book series that really made an impact on me, I immediately thought that I want my boys to read them. It is The Last Survivors series by Beth Pfeffer. Life As We Knew It The Dead and Gone This World We Live In Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJ. Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 DP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Aside from many traditional classics and Great Books, I have a few random books on the list: Lincoln on Leadership - I haven't read it in years, but it would be good for anyone wanting to have their own business or interested in management. Ds is interested in having his own gaming company. The Elegant Universe - I started reading this a few years ago and made it a few chapters before it went over my head. Ds wants us to read it together. How to have Power and Confidence in Dealing with People - again a classic for those going into business or management Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 There was a thread on this same idea before that had a great list going. I could not find it through the search engine here, but I did find it on google. Unfortunately, the link no longer works. Frustrating! I did find a cached version, however. The formatting is difficult to read, but at least the content is there: Creating a high school non-fiction reading list [Archive] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKim Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 There was a thread on this same idea before that had a great list going. I could not find it through the search engine here, but I did find it on google. Unfortunately, the link no longer works. Frustrating! I did find a cached version, however. The formatting is difficult to read, but at least the content is there: Creating a high school non-fiction reading list [Archive] Off topic, but just wanted to say, that if you click on the link beside "view full version," (at the top) it will pull up the regular looking thread. I always do so because the cached version is really hard on the eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 There was a thread on this same idea before that had a great list going. I could not find it through the search engine here, but I did find it on google. Unfortunately, the link no longer works. Frustrating! I did find a cached version, however. The formatting is difficult to read, but at least the content is there: Creating a high school non-fiction reading list [Archive] Here's the thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/354049-creating-a-high-school-non-fiction-reading-list/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Off topic, but just wanted to say, that if you click on the link beside "view full version," (at the top) it will pull up the regular looking thread. I always do so because the cached version is really hard on the eyes. Hey, that's good to know. Thanks! Here's the thread: http://forums.welltr...n-reading-list/ Cool! Any tips on how you found it? I searched, using the search function at the top of the forums, for terms I knew were in my post, like "Rybczynski" (no results found) and "Cuckoo's Egg" (two results but neither was that thread). I am finding it very difficult to find the threads I know are out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 I can only list some books I love, and some I've already read with or assigned to my teens that have been successful: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Smoot Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Daczyzyn Big History-Teaching Company course I know the last one is unconventional, to say the least. I list it because it greatly influenced my thinking, and helped me to figure out how to approach money as a tool, at a time in my life when I really needed it. All of these strongly influenced me at one time or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Sherlock Holmes The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 My list is pretty liberal. lol. I'm not sure they're on *any* hs list, but here are some: Underworld by Graham Hancock The Dark Tower series (maybe college level-fairly profane) American Gods (ditto) Cold Mountain Anything by Robert Fulghum The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle The Red Tent The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Spiritual Midwifery (for someday. ;) ) Herodotus Women Who Run With the Wolves Protecting the Gift The Gift of Fear Beauty Bites Beast The Big Questions by Lama Surya Das Herman Hesse Poems The Scent of Water by Goudge Total Money Makeover I can't think of others off the top of my head... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 Hey, that's good to know. Thanks! Cool! Any tips on how you found it? I searched, using the search function at the top of the forums, for terms I knew were in my post, like "Rybczynski" (no results found) and "Cuckoo's Egg" (two results but neither was that thread). I am finding it very difficult to find the threads I know are out there. I wish I was clever ;) It was the "view full version" link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kubiac Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 Don't have a teenager, but have long thought of having a "self-improvement" reading program for teenagers. I wish I'd started reading books like this much, much sooner! * The Millionaire Next Door * Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 A Tale of Two Cities David Copperfield Cry the Beloved Country Last of the Mohicans To Kill a Mockingbird I know there are many others! Those are just the ones that first come to mind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted November 26, 2012 Author Share Posted November 26, 2012 Thanks everyone for playing. I do have the 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People and Families and Teens books. Spiritual Midwifery is a great idea, as would be The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I remember reading that and thinking "why didn't anyone teach me what my body could do when I was a teen." Charles Frazier is a wonderful author---so yes I'd add Cold Mountain to my list. I also want my kids to be familiar with all religious texts. I'd like them to read Diet For a New America. I'd also like them to read more philosophy than is usually introduced in HS. Also Lies My teacher Told Me and People's History of the US. I'd like them to read Jon Krakauer--Into The Wild and Into Thin Air. I'd like them to read Half The Sky and Backlash The writings of CS Lewis and Thomas Merton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 I was going to mention Lies My Teacher Told Me-that book really opened my adult eyes. If your kid is interested in philosophy, they might like "Action Philosophers"-comic books with short, pithy entries for each important philosopher-more a 14-16 yo book-ds loved it and wore out his copy. Also Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrich. A little logic, a little rhetoric-he loved that too when he was 14. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kateincali Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Till We Have Faces by C S Lewis Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Your Money or Your Life- Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin. It's on our shelf now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Our kids are all required to read Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity before they move out. Since you want more philosophy, if you are a Christian, you might look into Peter Kreeft's "Socrates Meets....." series. This yr my 11th grader is reading Socrates Meets Descartes/Hume/Kant/Marx and Christianity for Modern Pagans (which is about Pascal's Pensees.) There are lots of other titles, but I sort of pick and choose amg them based on the individual child and their specific needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 I was just starting a list like this yesterday! For the must-reads that don't seem to fit into an obvious or specific class we already have planned. Here is what I came up with, can't wait to add more from this thread! The Demon-Haunted World - Sagan Guns, Germs & Steel - Diamond The Blank Slate - Pinker Science Matters - Hazen & Trefil The Omnivore's Dilemna - Michael Pollan The Art of Simple Food - Alice Waters A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson A Briefer History of Time - Stephen Hawking I'm hoping she won't need Lies My Teacher Told Me ;) but that one had a big impact on me, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 The Michael Pollen books are a great idea too. I don't think I'll teach my kids "lies" but I find that somuch of the deeper issues in Lies My Teacher Told Me are better addressed in the more mature years. When they're little I try not to scare them with history too much, and also not to glorify certain events/ figures either. Some Sagan definitely. I read Broca's Brain in high school. We have nearly every Bryson book on the shelf. Good idea. Hawking---yes, maybe. If I can get through it first in my lifetime.... The only thing my dh cares about is that they read Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Well okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I don't have a lot of specific titles, but many of these, like Guns, Germs, Steel are on my list for high school as well. Mostly I just want my kids to read interesting non-fiction written for a wide audience by the time they're in high school. I remember a teaching giving me A Distant Mirror in high school and it was like a revelation. Non-fiction can be awesome like this? Who knew! But then there wasn't any more and I had to go out and find it. I hope to keep my kids supplied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 A cookbook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Many of the books listed above, like Unbroken and Into Thin Air. I particularly loved a Tale of Two Cities and To Kill a Mockingbird. I read TKAM in eighth grade and after re-reading it as an adult, I think it was a book wasted on youth. A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson Les Miserables by Victor Hugo The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Atonement by Ian McEwan The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk (War and Remembrance or The Winds of War are also good) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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