Be More Bookish - Week 8

Week 8 - Assignment 3

Biography narrative nonfiction - can be found in Children's & Adult Biography section however if it was part of the dewy decimal system at the branches they would be in the 920 section.

Recommended biography genre: Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris.

History narrative nonfiction - can be found in several places around a branch using Dewy decimal system however mostly can be found in the following non-ficiton areas in both children's and adult sections: 940's to the end of Dewy, scattered through 300's-400's dependent on the topic, and scattered among 600's.

Recommended history genre: Devil in the White City, The Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson.

Science narrative nonfiction - can be found in children's and adult section from 500's - 530's.

Recommended science genre: Cosmos a personal journey, by Carl Sagan

Faith narrative nonfiction - can be found mostly through children's and adult sections 200's - 300 in dewy decimal.

Recommendation faith genre: Going clear : Scientology, Hollywood, and the prison of belief by Lawrence Wright,

Week 8 - Assignment 4

Cosmos by Carl Sagan - If you would ask any living american what their perception to high school education was like towards that math and sciences you might get answers like,"I didn't understand it" or,"it was boring". And unless you had a really good math or science teacher your own experience may have been the same. Increasingly local school board vote to defund educational innovations to math and science programs that engage active learning. Leaving students to fall to historical passive learning techniques, such as lectures, which fails to engage most children. To break the passive trend of learning Cosmos was made to actively engage a wide range of audience members and included a wide perspective of math, history, religion, culture, economics, and creativity.

Cosmos was created to actively engage the viewers for it's TV broadcasts in the 1980's and invited viewers aboard the "star ship of the imagination" to learn about how societies have come to understand our modern observations of the universe and our place in it. A book of the same name was published that could be read as a companion to the TV broadcast or read independently. Sagan guides the reader through cultural histories like how did we come to have the perspectives of religion versus science? He also engages in thought experiments like how time-space is a 4th dimension and why would it become a physical flat circle if one could travel at the speed of light? Sagan ponders that notion of does a god or gods exist and are our own highly-creative intelligent species alone in the galaxy? Finally, he helps readers to understand their place in the universe and where humans as a species could end up in the future. In a very thoughtful and well presented argument for why humans need to engage science on all levels of life and economic status (not just leaving it up to the classically trained scientist, governments, and corporations) and be authors of our own destiny in the galaxy. Though this book could be recommended to anyone, I would emphasis it to secondary education students to engage multi-perspective thinking where they may not be receiving it in their science education classes.

Going Clear by Lawerence Wright - Who can say that they founded their own world wide religion in one lifetime. Ray Bradbury can say that without question, for better or worse. Bradbury had a variety of life experience growing up and embellished other experiences that may not have happened. Additionally aided by his creativity Bradbury was a prolific writer who had a charismatic personality that enabled others to be persuaded by his ideology written in his book Dianetics. However as the Scientology movement got bigger and money was no longer an issue Bradbury began to demand more loyalty from his faithfuls, who followed his devotions of auditing their psyche, in hopes of reaching enlightenment. Eventually governments became hostile towards the group of Bradbury's followers as their numbers and influence increased. In particular Bradbury was caught red handed with plans to infiltrate the US government to crush his critics in what Bradbury called Operation Snow White. The US took note and on allegations of espionage increased FBI investigations into Scientology compounds and members. Eventually Bradbury became paranoid enough to gather his most faithful called the SeaOrg, bought a derelict cruise ship, packed up his followers and left the US to live in the ocean as a religion without a nation. And this is only the beginning of the history of the Church of Scientology.

This narrative non-fiction is such a compelling read that it is almost seemingly impossible to put down. And there is so much evidence provided by the author of the churches' activities, that even if only half of it was presented, it would still be a compelling example of what happens when to many people give one person to much power. Why are groups of people persuaded to engage in horrific voluntary acts of depravity thinking they are saving themselves and the world calling it faith? How is it that those who want out, when they don't believe what their ideology teaches anymore, are either ostracized, humiliated, or disappeared by the same group who welcomed them with open arms? Be prepared to ride an emotional cringe-inducing roller coaster ride that looks into the leaders, faith, and followers of Scientology. This non-fiction title would be recommended to anyone interested in crime, religion, human perspective to culture, and cults.