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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/23/2014 5:36 PM, Rosemary Huskey
wrote:<br>
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<h1><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-weight:normal">I
admire Neil deGrasse Tyson enormously so I was interested in
his reading list. I don’t agree with all of his choices,
and although I find his one-liners funny I don’t necessarily
agree with some of them either. I am curious what V2020
members would recommend as the five books every intelligent
person should read.</span></h1>
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<br>
{[ Luke! Luke! Don't! It's a trap! It's a trap!
-- Princess Leia Organa, Star Wars V, The Empire Strikes Back, 1980
]}<br>
<br>
As the Princess correctly suggests, questions of this combination of
specificity applied to such a wide range of recipients are traps for
the unwary. The problems with it are multifaceted. "Every
intelligent person" suggests a large number of people, from many
cultures, speaking many languages. Not only are not all books
available in all languages, but it may be the case that not all of
the selected books are available in all languages. Beyond language
abilities, different people likely are differently receptive. Some
people don't do various kinds of, or perhaps any kind of, logic.
Other people are emotionally challenged, and may not be able to
understand, interpret or respond to moral and ethical discussions,
even if they are aware of the norms of their local culture.
Different cultures in different geographic areas suggests the same
book recommendations may not be optimal.<br>
<br>
Another reason the question is a trap is that recommending specific
books fixes the content of the books to the past, and, depending on
the selection, perhaps the distant past, while the needs of the
readers are for the present and the future. Even classics of the
past can be, and often have been, updated yielding more satisfactory
effects than would their predecessors. A modern comprehensive
geometry book may well teach the subject better today than Euclid's
venerable Elements. A more up-to-date handful of books likely would
serve contemporary readers better than Darwin's Origin of Species
would do for the same range of subject matter. And so on, through
the various subjects. Newer books are quite likely going to be
better books.<br>
<br>
Because of the variability of the readers' characteristics, some
flexibility in the recommendations is appropriate. Rather than
specific titles, several subject matter areas will be suggested,
each of which may require more than one title to cover not only a
suggested range of content, but also prerequisites necessary for its
comprehension. For example, recommending a text covering partial
differential equations of the type found in many science books might
well require reading and mastering several prerequisite math books.
Suggesting a contemporary volume of ethics readings might entail
reading a variety of historical precedent setters by way of
comparison and contrast. Etc, etc.<br>
<br>
In terms of ranges of subject matter, I am inclined to suggest
slight generalizations of up-to-date secondary school graduation
requirements. The reader's native language and rhetoric, including
grammar and literature, natural science including physics, chemistry
and biology, mathematics of various descriptions, social sciences
including psychology, anthropology, and history, and music theory
and performance instruction for piano and another instrument of
choice (guitar if none other chosen). Mastery of at least one
foreign language chosen via Arguellesian suggestion if the reader is
not otherwise well-motivated to learn another language would yield
suggestions of Spanish, French, Italian, and German, in that order,
for native English speakers in English-speaking cultures, and other
language lists in other cultures. Not included in most high school
curricula, but included here, are readings in the history of
philosophy, moral and ethical theory, political science, and
economics, with at least some attention to contemporary writings
focused on actual activities and events in these areas of concern.<br>
<br>
<br>
Ken<br>
<br>
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