"If you could recommend just one book that a new Muir College freshman might read over the summer, what would it be?"
This is the question I recently asked Muir College faculty, and they responded with the list that follows. (Notice that restricting themselves to "just one book" proved just too challenging for some respondents!) Their choices are informative, provocative, and in some cases, just plain enjoyable. Try dipping into their suggestions this summer and remember the words of Groucho Marx: "Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read."
Susan Smith, Provost
ERIC BAKOVIC, Department of Linguistics
The Night Is Large: Collected Essays 1938-1995, by Martin Gardner. The first line from the review of the book linked below perfectly summarizes my reasons for recommending this book: "For anyone wanting their mind to be stretched, their wits simultaneously tickled, Martin Gardner has always been essential reading." http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/writing/NewSci/gardner.htm
ED BENDER, Department of Mathematics
Perhaps the best overall recent book is Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner since it shows "thinking outside the box" and measuring what appears to be unmeasurable; in other words, being creative. The issues dealt with are of interest and the material is not technical. Malcolm Gladwell (author of Blink and the Tipping Point) praises it. Gladwell's books are good to read, but they don't showcase creativity to the extent Levitt's book does. If I'm going to mention Gladwell's books, I should also mention Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs & Steel and Collapse, but they don't measure up to Freakonomics for a college student who's going to read just one book.
RON BERMAN, Department of Literature
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville.
JODY BLANCO, Department of Literature
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. That was one of my favorite books as a college student. Oh, and one more: The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Inspiring.
BOATEMA BOATENG, Department of Communication
I recommend T.C. Boyle's Tortilla Curtain. It introduces students to a world that is very close to theirs but invisible to most of them, and is a thought-provoking entry point into the immigration debate.
DAVID BRINK, Department of Philosophy
Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The story of a devout Indian boy shipwrecked while he and his family (and the animals from their zoo) are emigrating from India to North America and his attempt to survive in a lifeboat populated with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a Bengal tiger. The novel works on so many levels --- adventure, allegory, the power of stories, the resources and limits of faith, and the fine line between good narrative and self-deception.
Or try Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison or Liars Club by Mary Karr.
STEVE BUCKLEY, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
The West’s Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations? by Tony Blankley. Many would have us believe that cultural relativism and postmodern thinking have been a complete triumph. On some points, I might disagree. Blankley paints the picture of a Europe in which radical Islam is triumphant—which if it happened, would mean big changes for the West. This is a very thought-provoking book.
Exodus: Why Americans are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity, by Dave Schifflet. For students interested either in the dynamics of the Christian Church in the U.S., or more broadly in the social phenomena of conservative Christianity, this book is fascinating reading. It explains clearly a lot of the dynamics that we see in the U.S. churches, and a lot of what makes a particular church community successful. Based on the study of “what makes a church successful,” one could extrapolate some conclusions of “what is Church good for”…of course this is the question many college students face as they are on their own for the first time!
CRAIG CALLENDER, Department of Philosophy
An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter and The Mind's I by Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett.
These are the books that got me interested in philosophy.
Also Quantum Non-locality and Relativity by Tim Maudlin. This is a super-clear introduction to one of the most puzzling aspects of quantum mechanics and one of the best works in the philosophical foundations of physics.
And Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. This is a fantastic pop sci book -- very deep, fascinating and funny.
LAKSHMI CHILUKURI, Division of Biological Sciences
Collapse, by Jared Diamond. This is a surprisingly readable book for such a heavy topic. By examining the rise and fall of several civilizations, we get a deeper understanding of the fctors that play into the collapse of those cultures, factors under our control and factors outside our control but within our capacity to react to.
A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. This is just a fun book that looks at “almost everything” and provides a reasonable amount of detail. Bryson is an easy writer to read as he mixes in a good dose of humor. The book is not really meant to go into a lot of detail on one topic but it provides a surprising amount of information. A good way to learn about things you might or might not have been interested in already, and also a good introduction to subjects you weren’t really exposed to before. Good book for freshmen/people who haven’t yet figured out what they are passionate about.
ALAIN COHEN, Department of Literature
One book: Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons. The XVIIIth century epistolary novel masterpiece. Letter exchange as a battlefield, (Note: There are four film versions of the novel, not to mention two recent “Cruel Intentions.”)
Or, Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents. (Note: Adventurous students may also wish to look at the late UCSD Prof. Herbert Marcuse’s reading of Freud in his renowned Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud.)
And one film: Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange or David Lynch’s Lost Highway.
JAIME CONCHA, Department of Literature
I would suggest either Pablo Neruda: Memoirs (from 1974) or Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Chronicle of a death foretold (from 1981).
JULIE CULLEN, Department of Economics
I would recommend Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Many view economics as a dry discipline, and this book (which summarizes the research of Levitt) demonstrates how economic principles can be applied to very interesting social issues. It is an enjoyable and eye-opening read.
DAN DUBIN, Department of Physics
There are many excellent choices on the list. Here’s one of my favorites from an under-represented genre: Dylan Thomas, Selected Poems 1934-1952. Read one poem per day (90 poems total). Or just read the same one every day. You may find something new to appreciate each time.
EBBE EBBESEN, Department of Psychology
Walden Two, by B.F. Skinner.
EDMUND FANTINO, Department of Psychology
I recommend Walden Two by B.F. Skinner, a novel in which Skinner applies behavioral principles to the task of creating an experimental utopian community. The novel is still thought-provoking after 58 years. In fact, I assign it in my course “The Control and Analysis of Human Behavior” (PSYCH 143).
CLARK GIBSON, Department of Political Science
Selfishly, Clark Gibson, Politicians and Poachers. A good foundation for understanding conservation in Africa.
Not selfish: Fate of the Forest, Susanna Hecht. The book that started all the fuss about Amazonian deforestation.
African Wildlife and Livelihoods by Hulme & Murphree. A good up to date edited volume about African conservation, more program oriented, less political than the Gibson book.
The Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson. The basis of most modern political science.
Any novel by Chinua Achebe to understand African politics, especially Man of the People or Anthills on the Savannah, or Markets and States in Tropical Africa by Robert H. Bates.
BEN GRINSTEIN, Department of Physics
Life of Pi. A quick and engaging read.
BENETTA JULES-ROSETTE, Department of Sociology
C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination. I recommend this book because it exposes students to an interesting and refreshing way of looking at society and may open their minds to see the value of the social sciences as a source of information and creativity.
NAVIN KARTIK, Department of Economics
I would recommend Thinking Strategically by Avinash Sixit and Barry Nalebuff. It is a non-technical but insightful introduction to game theory, replete with anecdotes and real-world examples, making it a very enjoyable read, appropriate for incoming freshmen.
VLADIMIR KONECNI, Department of Psychology
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Simply the greatest novel ever written. It will not make the students laugh, but it will make them think and feel, or think with feeling. Perhaps not the kind of thing you had in mind, but the students I have recommended the book to, over the years, in my "Psychology and the Arts" (PSYCH 175) course (enrollment hovers around 100), have had wonderful responses.
THAD KOUSSER, Department of Political Science
I’d recommend Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See by Mike Davis, Kelly Mayhew, and Jim Miller.
JIM LIN, Department of Mathematics
I enjoyed reading Synchronicity by Joseph Jaworski. Synchronicity is an interesting book because it talks about inspiring different groups that would not ordinarily work together to come together to reach a common goal. I am always interested in building coalitions from seemingly disparate groups for everyone’s mutual benefit.
LISA LOWE, Department of Literature
Through the Arc of the Rainforest, by Karen Tei Yamashita. Complex, prophetic, and amusing, this contemporary novel weaves together the adventures of an immigrant from Japan, the inhabitants of São Paolo and the Amazon Basin, and U.S. American corporate capitalism in a story that thematizes the excesses and contradictions of globalization.
DON MacLEOD, Department of Psychology
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. It's surprising how much of life, including human life, can be illuminated by taking the perspective that people (and chickens) are the means employed by genes to replicate themselves. This book expresses that idea with unsurpassed brilliance and clarity. For a gentler introduction to Darwinian ideas, Dawkins’ River out of Eden or The Blind Watchmaker are also good.
JÁNOS NÉGYESY, Department of Music
Here are my suggestions of two giant Hungarian writers: Sándor Márai, Embers; Imre Kertész, Liquidation (winter of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature).
RAFAEL NUNEZ, Department of Cognitive Science
The Tree of Knowledge by Humberto Maturana, and Francisco Varela. A readable and eye-opening view of the human mind, human culture, and human beings’ biological nature. It deals with some basic scientific facts as well as with deep philosophical issues. It has illustrations that help in understanding the main arguments.
WILLIAM ARCTANDER O’BRIEN, Department of Literature
Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. A delightful and short summer read. Hesse’s imaginative, moving, and very human account of the youthful Siddhartha’s growth into the legendary Buddha has charmed and inspired generations of readers.
STANLEY OPELLA, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
RFK: A Memoir by Jack Newfield. I doubt that many of our incoming students can even imagine that there was once a political campaign in California where the winner was deeply sympathetic to poor whites and blacks, and immigrants. “And he thought about what it might be like to live in a bus and pick celery for $1 per hour.” (pg. 83). June 4, 1968: “...on this day, fourteen of every fifteen of California’s Mexicans would vote for Robert Kennedy.” (pg. 289), and then the Ambassador Hotel. At the Village Voice, the thirty year old Jack Newfield was approaching the peak of his career as a journalist-advocate (or was it the other way around).
The Eighth Day of Creation by Horace Freeland Judson. This is nominally a history of Molecular Biology – in other words, where UCSD and the surrounding institutions on the mesa came from, and why stem cells and anti-viral drugs are on the front pages of the newspapers. “ ‘DNA, you know, is Midas’ gold’, Maurice Wilkins told me. ‘Everyone who touches it goes mad’.” (pg. 9). Originally published as a series of articles in the New Yorker, it is among the most readable science books ever written. I use it as supplemental reading in an introductory biochemistry course, Chem 114A, but our students really should know this story long before then.
MICHAEL PARRISH, Department of History
I recommend Herman Melville’s short novel Billy Budd. Billy Budd is a profound meditation on the difference between law and justice. Captain Vere represents the latter when he makes the decision about the fate of Billy Budd, one of the sailors on his ship in time of war.
DAVID PELLOW, Department of Ethnic Studies
I would recommend any novel by Walter Mosley, but particularly Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned.
DAVID PHILLIPS, Department of Sociology
I would recommend two books, both written in the eighteenth century by thoughtful, impressive people with great literary and personal gifts: Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography (This is very short, thoughtful, humorous and very clearly written.) Samuel Johnson’s Essays. (He writes long, complex sentences, but they are perfectly under control.)
PAUL PICKOWITZ, Department of History
I'd strongly recommend Peter Hessler's new book, Oracle Bones. It's gotten rave reviews and it gets students ready to deal with east-west cultural issues and life on the Pacific Rim.
Also, Sang Ye, China Candid: The People on the People’s Republic.
REBECCA PLANT, Department of History
Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal. This book is a riveting expose of the fast food industry—and more. It offers fascinating glimpses into the history of southern California and sheds new light on a whole range of pressing social issues, such as illegal immigration, environmental degradation, and the effects of de-industrialization on American workers. Finally, it raises provocative philosophical questions about the nature of free will in our contemporary, consumer-oriented society.
BILL PROPP, Department of History
From Dawn to Decadence, 500 Years of Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present by Jacques Barzun. A rather sour history of Western Civilization, gorgeously written.
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. An intriguing way at looking at history and societies; highly readable.
Collapse by Jared Diamond. Shows the relevance of history and archaeology for controlling our own destiny -- highly readable.
I picked these because I wish students had better models for writing non-fiction. Barzun writes so well even I don't aspire to emulate him; Diamond has a simple ease that all can learn from.
MILTON SAIER, Division of Biological Sciences
I suggest The Splendid Feast of Reason by S. Jon Singer.
Some might like my book of essays: Our Precarious Earth and its Biosphere: a set of essays proposing population reduction for earth preservation by Milton H Saier Jr., MS Press, 2007 (available on the web (www-biology.ucsd.edu/~msaier/earthessays/) and through me).
GEERT SCHMID-SCHONBEIN, Department of Bioengineering
I suggest Stephen Hawkins, The Universe in A Nutshell, Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, and James D. Watson and Francis Crick, The Double Helix. All three books are for written for non-experts and in a fresh style. Hawkins’ book stimulates thinking about physics by application to astrophysics. Heisenberg’s book shows the interaction between science and politics in a tragic period of history. Watson and Crick is witty and biographical, but it shows the struggle to identify an important problem and then make great discoveries.
KATHRYN SHEVELOW, Department of Literature
Ian McEwan’s Atonement – a brilliant and unsettling novel.
And Peter Singer and Jim Mason’s The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter – even more unsettling…
SUSAN SMITH, Department of Visual Arts and Muir College Provost
John Muir’s My First Summer in the Sierra – what else? A wonderfully readable account of Muir’s first encounter with the mountains of California and a great introduction to his thinking about nature, wilderness, and the human spirit.
HAIM STEINBACH, Department of Visual Arts
John Berger, Ways of Seeing. In Western culture the world of images, photographs, films, and advertising has multiplied ad infinitum. The power they have over us in terms of their conception and ideology is enormous. The book traces the political and sociological history of image making in Western culture in terms of the history of painting, sculpture and photography. It demonstrates how image making is directly connected to the dominant institutions of power through the ages and up to the present day.
LISA SUN-HEE PARK, Department of Ethnic Studies
Patricia Williams’ The Alchemy of Race and Rights is one of those books that I re-read almost every year. It is a brilliant and poignant book about race and academia that is written so personally and thoughtfully that I find something new each time. It reminds me that I’m not insane and there is a reason why I work so hard at this crazy job.
I assigned Andrew Pham’s Catfish and Mandala in one of my courses (Contemporary Asian American History) this year, and my students loved it as much as I did. It is a memoir of a roadtrip on a bicycle through Vietnam from California by a Vietnamese young man. It’s funny, sad, and honest in a way that touches students as they negotiate their own family, future, and personal identity.
MIKE TODD, Department of Structural Engineering
Making a New Science by James Gleick. Read the book in 1990 in college, and it completely initiated my intellectual career.
NICOLE TONKOVICH, Department of Literature
I’d recommend John Irving’s The World According to Garp. In addition to being brilliantly structured (stories within stories), it offers a superb bit of guidance for life: watch out for the under-toad.
DON WAYNE, Department of Literature
It is, of course, difficult to be limited to just one book to recommend. But I’ve found in my teaching that one book undergraduates find especially illuminating is James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son, written during the early years of the Civil Rights movement. It is a complex book for freshmen to engage with, but it carries an important theme about the dependency of American identity on conditions of uprootedness from one’s forebears, not only for blacks but for all Americans. It also carries a strong message about the dangers inherent in our cultural habit as Americans of ignoring our history, a cultural habit leading to what Baldwin described as “the American confusion…based on the nearly unconscious assumption that it is possible to consider the person apart from the forces which have produced him [or her].” In our own time when the Civil Rights movement has receded from the historical memory of young Americans, this book is a wake-up call that my students find relevant not only for an understanding of Baldwin’s historical context but of our own.
ROBERT WESTMAN, Department of History
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn. First published in 1962, revised in 1970. Although much criticized, The Structure became one of the most important books of the 20th century. In a short compass, it frames a picture of science that challenges readers to think about what they already believe, more broadly, about knowledge and, in particular, about scientific knowledge. It is very clearly written and relatively short. Kuhn was trained as a physicist but discovered that he was most attracted by philosophical questions about science and that such questions could best be approached historically.
ELANA ZILBERG, Department of Communication
Naomi Klein, No Logo. I used this book in my course on globalization and consumption this quarter, and students responded very well. Freshmen might benefit from reading about the politics of production behind the designer goods that they buy at the mall.
