Wiki+Response+Feb.+22

=== Adam Sage is awesome! Thank you so much for doing this Adam. The discussion under Lifelong Learning is now up and running...if you could all copy and paste your great work from here into that forum that would be fantastic becuase then we can all post our reflections/replies there next week. ===
 * === Post your book title and author's name. ===
 * === Explain how your book "enriches, enlightens and edifies" - i.e. What is the author teaching? What themes and ideas are explored in the text? ===

Ellora Jones- Night by Elie Wiesel

This memoir tells the tale of a young boy and his family after they are taken from their home and placed in Auschwitz. It focuses on the different behaviors of the people he encounters within the concentration camp and especially on the cruelty that all of these humans are capable of. It examines flaws in human nature such as the inability of most people to resist the temptation to do anything they can to get further ahead. The narrator discovers that even he himself is guilty of this when he watches his father cry for his help while he’s being beaten to death. Instead of helping his father he instead feels anger towards him for trying to get him to risk his own life to save him. This memoir was written with the intention of providing a witness account of the unimaginable atrocities committed against humans by their fellow humans in the holocaust, while simultaneously providing insight into the true nature of humans.

Bailey Dalton, The Romance Of Risk: Why Teenagers Do The Things They Do, Lynn Ponton

In my novel Ponton explores the teenage mind and why they do the things they do. This book is focused on how to deal with them and their risk taking. She tells that weather your teen is involved in drugs, unprotected sex or involved in a bad crowd, it is only a way of finding themselves. She tries to explain that this is a positive thing and something that all kids have to go through in order to find themselves. After meeting a couple of teens, one teen run away and one privileged anorexic girl, she explains that the reason for this goes beneath not liking their life at home, or not being happy with their body. It is about everything going on in their life that adds to their troubles. Although she admits that this is a normal thing, for kids to struggle, there is a way to work your teens to help them move past this. She shows that a teens brain is not developed fully therefor when a teacher or parent says "why would you do that" or "what were you thinking", it is not always false when the teen replies, "I don't know" or "I wasn't." Overall Porton tries to tell parents that teen rebellion or dangerous action is normal and their are positive ways that it can be dealt with.

// Branded, // ALLISSA QUART

Quart takes us on a tour of the dangers of marketing and its triger at teens. The novel is blunt and provovcative in sharing the research on the savvy advertisers who point their tactic at teens. She seethingly reveals the most troubling results of contemporary business and culture to the fore... talking about the taking advantage of teens by some of the largest coorporations. The novel dissects teen movies and hgow they create the teenage lifestyle with fancy SUV's, hokey parents, and rediculous high school partys. She englightens the reader with inside information from the reasearch analists to the adult "trendspotters" that poke their way into the lives of teens telling them what is cool and finding the next big thing, before the other one gets to mainstream. The novel enriches the minds of parents getting them to understand the mass media culture of today and how the watering hole is getting low. The teens will either sink or swim depending on how much they can "brand" themselves. The novel explores, also, brands pushed on my parents. An example of this is the name brand college of choice ansd how teens will obsess about getting into these schools. Media is a deadly case of TUG- OF-WAR where the teenagers are constantly buying in to take steps into the cool pool that stands between them.

Adam Sage: //Musicophilia//, By: Oliver Sacks

Somewhere at the crossroads of the disciplines of music and neurology, you will find the novel // Musicophilia //, by Oliver Sacks. The book enriches the reader with numerous examples of people that have been truly influenced by music. It gives the reader insight into the profound nature of music. The reader can immediately see that music is a much greater influence in our lives than we may have previously thought. Sacks shows that music persuades us, music moves us, and music surrounds us. He is teaching us to use music for more than just leisure. Through his stories he shows us that music can instil hope, when it seems that nothing else possibly can. Take for example the patient held motionless by Parkinson’s disease that through music is able to move. Or the person left speechless from a stroke that with music is able to speak. It provides insight into how music stretches beyond the ordinary, to the extraordinary. // Musicophilia // teaches us not only to appreciate music, but to use it to its full potential. One can only begin to imagine the widespread effects that music could have on the entire world. The reader can discover that the way in which music changes the human experience is anything but // minor. (Music Joke!) //

Faith McQueen: //The Power of Now// by Eckhart Tolle //The Power of Now// is all about enriching one’s life by removing your ego driven “self”. Tolle begins by explaining to the reader his experience battling with depression and suicidal thoughts, explaining that the day he realized that he “couldn’t live with [him]self” he realized that in order for that to work, he would have to have two selves. One of them could not live with the other, so he rid himself of the other self with which he could not live with – the self which was driven by his ego. Tolle hopes to enrich the life of the reader by trying to show them how to find the state of Being, how to find one’s true self, the self that is basic human nature. However, it is not just Being that needs to be achieved. Being, Tolle says, goes hand in hand with Now. Just as the title suggests, Tolle is trying to help enrich your life by making you stop //thinking// (what most would consider an absurd concept) and start living here and now in the present. It is explained that there is no past or future, that everything that happens to you or will happen to you happens in the Now, and all negative thinking and suffering is for those who dwell in their past or fear their present, and very few negative people dwell in Now. Tolle goes as far as to acknowledge and even ask himself all of the questions the skeptical reader would have, and he rebuts them. He references Christian and Buddhist teachings, not to preach, but to show reasons behind them and the lessons to be learned from the stories themselves (not necessarily the deities of either religion). One constant reference he has is to Enlightenment – something that Buddhists strive to achieve through meditation – and that once you have become Enlightened then you can finally be at one with your true self.

Hannah Beckett: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin Three Cups of Tea is the story of a man, Greg Mortenson, combating terrorism and poverty in Central Asia. The book shows this incredible journey of his from being a registered nurse and just another climber trying to reach the summit of K-2, to an incredible humanitarian, hell bent on combating terrorism and poverty, as well as providing education for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This journey started after his failed climb and he arrived in the little village of Korphe, after getting lost on the mountain. From simply bonding with these people, he began to realize how much they needed a school; these children were trying to teach themselves, out in the cold, without a teacher who could only come a few days a week. Mortenson was determined to repay these people for their hospitality by building them a school. Relin, in conjunction with Mortenson, has written this incredibly enlightening and inspirational story. These two men are teaching that anything is possible if you dedicate enough passion to it. They are also teaching the importance of education and how much education is worth, particularly in terms of terrorism. Relin and Mortenson are painting a new picture of the people of these regions, who are stereotyped beyond belief, and revealing to the world that they are people just like us, in need. It has taught me that one person can start a revolution. It took one man to work to save the money, to give countless lectures, hoping for a donation just because he cared for others. It has taught me that it only takes one voice to stand alone and make an enormous difference. Though many do not know Mortenson's name, the impact he has had in Central Asia is so incredible, with the help of a diverse group of people along the way. Mortenson has proven throughout the book that passion and determination can change the world.

Madison Brown: //Life: The Odds (And How to Improve Them)// by Gregory Baer Life: The Odds (And How to Improve Them) by Gregory Baer is a fun, interesting book which, as the title says, describes various events in life and the odds of them actually happening to someone. Baer uses math that can typically be found in a data management course, such as the one taught at BCI. The book is purely fun and informative if one wants to know their odds of dating a supermodel, winning an academy award, or even getting away with murder. Although this book is mainly entertaining, Baer is able to help more paranoid individuals to not be so afraid when they know the odds of getting struck by lightning, or being killed by their doctor, or the next plague. When it comes down to it, Life: The Odd, though amusing, is really not enriching at all. It is essentially only a fact book with math thrown in there for various life scenarios. Fun to read, but I don’t necessarily feel inspired or enriched yet.

Pearse Flynn: //We Did Nothing//, by Linda Polman In the novel //We Did Nothing// Linda Polman explores the truth behind the international organization known as the United Nations. Polman opens the eyes of the reader to the petty and destructive political structure inside the U.N. Readers begin to realise that the societies view of the U.N does not come close to the socially recognized view that many people have. The novel not only explores the politics behind the U.N but also the effects on the ground in countries where U.N troops are deployed. The reality of what actually goes on is truly disheartening. In reading the novel //We Did Nothing// it becomes clear that countries developed countries of the world do not strive to support the U.N in the quest for world peace, but to use it for their own ends. This novel shakes the social perceptions that we have held for onto for so many years.

Caleb Bray: //The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature// by Daniel J. Levitin //The World in Six Songs// by Daniel J. Levitin explores his theory that music shapes human nature rather than the other way around. Levitin categorizes music using six ideas of song: friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion, and love. Under these categories he shows the connections between human behavior and each of the song types. //The World in Six Songs// explains how music been a main factor in building civilizations and discusses the effect music has within the psychological realm. The book posits that ancient human beings developed musical ability before any other and that it ultimately led to development in language and community. It also explains the inherent musical side of human beings, bringing in scientific studies which reveal how chemicals released during certain musical expression affects thought process and feeling. Levitin uses examples from recent history, investigates other cultures -- reinforcing that these ideas are universal as opposed to culturally influenced -- and pulls from personal experience to communicate his thesis and connect with the reader. The affect that music has and has had on cultural and individual development is astounding and the book talks about where and why music has made an impact.

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Barbie and Ruth, by Robin Gerber is an inspiring story about how a woman and an 11 inch doll created one of the world’s largest toy company. In the 50s- 60s it wasn't easy for a women to make something of herself in the male dominated business world, but Ruth defeated the odds and created the most well known doll in the world. This book emphasises the theme of perseverance, keeping your mind on your goals you are striving for. Gerber told the story of Ruth’s family and childhood, not just her struggles in the business world. This makes the book even more inspiring because you can see what she had to overcome to get to the place she wanted to be. Although the book was inspiring, it became dull at times when explaining all the small details of how Barbie came to be.=====


 * Abigail Davis – Creating Minds, by Howard Gardner**

This book takes a look into what goes into making creative thinkers. The author, Howard Gardner, analyzes six different “creative minds” that all excelled in their artistry. Short biographies and analysis of the work of; Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham and Gandhi help Gardner prove his point. Gardner believes that a creative mind is something that is created over time through nurturing and development. Through looking at their upbringing, education, and the process in which they create, Gardner shows the development of creativity.