Grove City College Book List for WRIT 101

 Paul Among the People        https://amzn.to/2o7w6wc

Deep linguistic and classical cultural scholarship helps us consider the character of Paul and the context of familiar passages from the Bible.

"To show sympathy and sincere deference to those with power over me, to trust them with my life as if on a battlefield and forgive the very costly mistakes they make, is . . . like managing to love my damn parents." (144)

Theology, classical civilization, personal ethics, biography

Washed and Waiting       https://amzn.to/2wd0hGI

How does one reconcile his sexual attractions and his faith commitments, seeking the deep human connection we were all made for?

"Admitting this to myself ... was like an awareness that steals up on you one day out of the blue. It was there all along, but you saw it just then." (29)

Theology, personal ethics, sexuality   (Option: Spiritual Friendship)

 Father and Son       https://amzn.to/2MPfiIr

Heartbreaking account of the faith struggle of a scientist.

"This book is the record of a struggle between two temperaments, two consciences and almost two epochs. It ended, as was inevitable, in disruption. ... One was born to fly backward, the other could not help being carried forward." (35)

Biography, history, evolution, theology, science

 Modern Art and the Death of a Culture    https://amzn.to/2MM6pzs

This mentor of Francis Schaeffer revolutionized my worldview with his study of how art and theology and philosophy intertwine.

"Could it be that the false ideas many people ... have of Christ as a sentimental, rather effeminate man, ... never really of this world, are the result of the preaching inherent in the pictures given to children?" (75)

Theology, philosophy, art, history

The Greek Way       https://amzn.to/2PyP8rZ

A classic treatise "on the culture of the ancient world." 

"The temper of mind that made them carve their statues and paint their pictures from the living human beings around them, that kept their poetry within the sober limits of the possible, made them hard-headed men in the world of every-day affairs. They were not tempted to evade facts." (67)

History, classical civilization, philosophy, art        (Option:The Roman Way)

 Three Negro Classics    https://amzn.to/2P3kkhX

Choose from Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery or his rival W.E.B. DuBois's The Souls of Black Folk or James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man for one man's experience.

"I was awakened by my mother kneeling over her children and fervently praying that Lincoln and his armies might be successful, and that one day she and her children might be free." (Washington, 32)

History, race issues, politics, work, business, education, autobiography

 America Goes to War       https://amzn.to/2o7yZNy

Classic mid-20th-century exploration of how Americans responded to the challenges of this definitive war. 

"I will always consider it one of the privileges of my life that I was born into a generation which still knew the Civil War veterans personally. ... They taught me, for instance, what patriotism is." (68-69)

History, warfare, American culture

Ripples of Battle       https://amzn.to/2o7Oaqf 

"How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think"

"This sudden sobriety ushered in on September 11 also reminded us of the vast differences between freedom and tyranny in a supposedly uniform global culture at 'the end of history.'" (252)

History, warfare, culture         (Option: Carnage and Culture)

 The Children's Blizzard       https://amzn.to/2Puhfsl

Eloquent journalism recounting a great storm of 1888 with historical and meteorological records and first-person accounts. If you choose this book I will give you a free copy of my short story "Blizzard," though it is not to be included in the assignment. 

"The blizzard literally froze a single day in time. It sent a clean, fine blade through the history of the prairie." (7)

American history, weather, journalism

Braiding Sweetgrass       https://amzn.to/2o6xeAg

 A botanist and Native American "takes us on a journey ... every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise." Elizabeth Gilbert

"When we braid sweetgrass we are braiding the hair of Mother Earth, showing her our loving attention ... in gratitude for all she has given us." (5)

Botany, Native American culture, spirituality 

 Planted       https://amzn.to/2o7Ozcf

Christian conservationists strive to make a sustainable community in British Columbia.

"Is this worth it? Quitting a secure job, begging for money, selling our house and moving from our beloved community - for what? Seaweed!?!" (5)

Theology, conservation, agriculture, community, personal ethics

Fields Without Dreams       https://amzn.to/2OZoW8P

"Bad governmental policies and the struggle of the farmer." Glenn Marsch

"Agriculturists who still prefer to produce food at a loss have been singed, scorched by the agricultural inferno, but not yet altogether blackened." (220)

Agriculture, corporate ethics, government policy

 How We Do Harm       https://amzn.to/2Lqxrrg

An oncologist's view of medical treatment in America, using many anecdotes and studies to illustrate its "famine" and its "gluttony."

"Let's focus on not doing harm, refraining from peddling snake oil and false hope." (24)

Medicine, health care policy, bioethics 

 Physician       https://amzn.to/2P2UwlZ

 An overview of the history of medicine, detailing how we've lost some of the understanding of the integration of mind, body, and spirit.

"As long as the human body was viewed as the 'divine temple,' doctors could not cut, probe, or maim our mortal parts in the way required for adequate study. If only . . . there [could] be a chance to unravel the mysteries. But how?" (7% of Kindle version)

Medicine, health care policy, bioethics

 The Glass Cage        https://amzn.to/2PAxbcr

A follow-up to Carr's popular title The Shallows, this volume appreciates but warns about our changing technology.

"Google's car ... tells us that our idea of the limits of automation has always been something of a fiction. We're not as special as we think we are." (10)

Business, computer science, physiology, psychology

 Reality is Broken       https://amzn.to/2LoKbP5

Recommended by my son-in-law Garrett Kimball (GCC '11, Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center '13), now with SimCoach Games.  

"Virtual experience ... can teach you about your true self - what your core strengths are, what really motivates you, and what makes you happiest. ... These crucial twenty-first-century skills can help all of us find new ways to make a deep and lasting impact on the world around us." (Introduction)

Computers, culture, leisure

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child       https://amzn.to/2MKRm96

Addressed to parents and educators, an examination of how so much we take for granted hinders children's best development. (Hardcover only)

"For the first time in human history, most people are doing things that could never interest a child enough to make him want to tag along. ... The bigger the school, the more dangerous and upsetting a single act of imagination can be." ("Introduction: A Bad Day for Grendel")

Education, child development, culture, philosophy

 Evicted       https://amzn.to/2w7Dhcq

. . . transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of 21st-century America's most devastating problems.

"Her face had that look. The movers and the deputies knew it well. It was the look of someone realizing that her family would be homeless in a matter of hours. . . . It was the face of a mother who climbs out of the cellar to find the tornado has leveled the house." (29% of Kindle version)

Social concerns, government, culture, economics

 The Right Stuff       https://amzn.to/2PBL1eI

"Gives an engaging description of the astronauts' lives and what it took beyond winning the genetic lottery. Inspirational and sometimes humorous account of America beginning to conquer space." (Glenn Marsch, Professor of Physics, GCC)

"The Right Stuff. It's the quality beyond bravery, beyond courage. It's men like Chuck Yeager, the greatest test pilot of all and the fastest man on earth. Pete Conrad, who almost laughed himself out of the running. Gus Grissom, who almost lost it when his capsule sank. John Glenn, the only space traveler whose apple-pie image wasn't a lie." (From the inside flap)

Science, military, government, culture, psychology, history

The Boys in the Boat       https://amzn.to/2P3lQ3D

"This riveting tale of beating the odds (and the Germans) at the 1936 Olympics is a rousing story of American ca-do-ism. It's also a portrait of the nine boys . . . and of the one in particular who made the sport his family and his home." (Parade)

"With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington's eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler." (From the Amazon book description)

Exercise science, culture, history  (Option: Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken)