Books.

Lots and lots of books.

Teaching

I’m trying to fulfil a promise I made to myself a while back, that each half-term I would buy a new book relevant to teaching as professional development. This has occasionally turned into an excuse to buy science books, as if I need one.

Teaching Children to Think by Robert Fisher; This is pretty relevant to L2L, if that’s something you’re into. Even if not the idea that students should be able to engage criticially with what you tell them is one most teachers should be able to get on board with. Useful ideas and the theoretical underpinning for a range of activities.

Science Non-Fiction

The Unnatural Nature of Science by Lewis Wolpert

A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is accessible, interesting and funny. This is too often in short supply with popular science books. Anecdotes and odd facts that I use in my teaching.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre should possibly be in the teaching section – it’s been very useful as well as often funny. Of course, then you realise that how many people take so many claims seriously and the impact on them is not funny at all…

How To Dunk A Doughnut by Len Fisher is good fun, orgaised in chapters examining the application of science to everyday life. The sequel is good too.

I like Richard Dawkins’ books about evolution a lot, The Blind Watchmaker and his latest hardback in particular. I’m not a biologist by training but I do enjoy teaching it. Some of this may be because after years of first aid training (and a previous job as a care assistant) I know all kinds of icky stuff that disgusts and impresses kids all at once. Yes, I know he can tend to go off on rants about atheism, but the biology is great.

Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos is short, easy to read and fascinating in terms of explaining – and suggesting solutions to – our everyday problems with understanding numbers, probability and risk.

Snake Oil by John Diamond should be required reading for any student who tells you, sincerely and honestly, that of course Bach flower remedies will help them with exam stress, or that their aromatherapist says that rosemary helps the brain work better so they don’t need to revise. Heartbreaking if you know the full story about John’s life and death, especially those parts described in his book C.

Fiction (this will be a long list if I’m not careful)

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is hard to beat. Many sequels and companion novels these days, although so far Ender’s Shadow is the only one I think matches up to the original.

Orbital Resonance by John Barnes is another novel with a  strong, young protaganist in some rather unusual situations. A great one to recommend.

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, despite the movie, is a very good, thoughtful read with a relatively small amount of gung-ho stupidity. Give it a chance and you may be surprised. I’ve been a fan of his books since I was a kid and although some now seem immature, there’s still plenty to think about too. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is also very good.

Pretty much anything by Neil Gaiman. American Gods is probably one of my favourites, following the same themes as his Sandman series.

Mike Carey worked with Neil and his recent solo sequence about an exorcist, Felix Castor, is very good. I’ve not read his graphic novels but they’re on the list.

I like Cory Doctorow’s work, even more so as it’s available online for free from his website.

Robin McKinley’s Sunshine is a fantastic antidote to the awful Twilight books. This is another one that gets loaned out a lot.

Kate Griffin is a new author (as far as books for adults are concerned) and I’ve really enjoyed A Madness of Angels and The Midnight Mayor. London, but not quite as we know it, with sorcerers behind every shadow. Great if you like Neil Gaiman.

I like most of the early books by Simon Green, but recently I’m not so sure. Shadows’ Fall was great and the Deathstalker sequence was fun, if a little repetitive after nine books.

Links

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