Community Reading List: 2014 Complete List

Particularly as I try and wrap my head around what is going on in Syria I find the first book which is now a classic by the recently appointed American ambassador to the UN to be a good reminder of the dangers of mass violence, while the next two on a deeply personal and more global scale remind us that violence need not be inevitable.

The translation in English is also called Nada, and the translator is Edith Grossman. It's a bleak but beautifully written portrait of postwar Spain. It's also often called a bildungsroman.

If you know a little bit about stars, this is a lovely book to learn more about their astounding variety and complexity. It hits a level in between the usual pop science books, and actual physics textbooks.

This is another book that hits a level above the generalities of pop science, but not requiring special physics or mathematics knowledge. If you read this, you will really understand something about general relativity and the curvature of space.

The author is an objectionable human being, so don't buy this book. But you should borrow or steal it, for its rich mix of historical narrative and fascinating mathematical detail.

Changed my life. Recommended to me by Marilyn LaFay.

Read it slowly.

A memoir dealing with history, racism, poverty, and the haunting deaths of young black men, all before the age of 30, in southern Mississippi, told by a woman who had to speak to this loss.

The 2013 National Book Award winner narrated by an escaped slave boy disguised as a girl.

A graphic novel about history's greatest thinkers. (with apologies to your philosophy professors)

Barbara Tuchman’s classic about the first World War, Pulitzer Prize winner. JFK was a fan, and allegedly considered the book important enough to give copies to his cabinet and military advisers.

I got hooked on these books of practical Appalachian folklore years ago. Great reading for sitting by the wood stove.

If you liked the Foxfire books, Eric Sloane's stuff is pretty great too. A friend turned me on to his simple studies of New England country life. Illustrated and a quick read.