As You Leave

This Place
A Gift from the Faculty of
Hillsdale College for the
Lifelong Pursuit of Learning
2
 Acknowledgements:
Editor:
Sam Branchaw

My team of volunteers:
Aubrey Annis Andrew Odell
Bonnie Cofer Dino Petrov
Rebecca Duberstein Thomas Roe
Elizabeth Essley Kahryn Rombach
Emily Fisher Michael Smith
Dakota Fuller Brooke Tonne
Chuck Grimmett Jayme Weber
Paul Myers Sarah Wright

Graphic Design and Layout:

Bonnie Cofer

Special thanks to Dr. Richard Gamble for not just advising us about the project,
but being genuinely excited about it and giving lots of good, helpful advice.

And to all the faculty members who contributed (and even those who did not):
Thank you for your commitment to helping us, your students, become liberally-
educated people, rising to self-government both inside and outside of the class-
room. You have shaped us for life, and we believe it has been very much for the
better. We are forever indebted to you.

3
 Introduction
During my four years at Hillsdale College I have had the pleasure
of sitting under the tutelage many amazing professors. My interest is al-
ways piqued by the statement, One of the best books on this topic is,
because it reminds me just how many books the professors have actually
read, many more books than I will probably read in my lifetime. I also
love the experience of reading a book and realizing that the language
which my professor has been using all semester has come straight out
of this work, for every professor has certain works that have shaped the
way they view the world.
Even more intriguing to me are those times when I am interacting
with a professor outside of class and they mention a novel that they have
recently finished, or a treatise that they enjoyed about a topic far outside
of their own area of expertise, or even their general discipline. History
professors discussing agriculture, English professors discussing econom-
ics, chemistry professors discussing religionI am suddenly reminded
that these professors are people, not just academics who sit in their of-
fices and grade papers, and that they have many interests not necessarily
confined by their chosen field of study.
Those two realizations form the basis for this project. I wanted to
begin to plumb the depths of Hillsdales facultys reading, and bring it
into a convenient, referencable form. I, and a team of wonderful volun-
teers, contacted the entire faculty and key figures of the administration
here at Hillsdale College and asked them the following question:
What are three books that you think every Hillsdale graduate
should read once they leave Hillsdale? These could be books that are al-
ready taught here but not universally, books that teach crucial life skills,
books that develop the soul, or anything else you think is important. If
possible, please make at least one of them a work of fiction.
Often the works that we learn the most from are those works that
are not first and foremost seeking to teach. There is a need for the appre-

4
ciation of great art as much as for great thinking, and the best works epito-
mize both. Hence the work of fiction request. Asking for fiction gives the
list a chance to branch out, especially for those non-English professors who
do not normally get the opportunity to recommend fiction.
Knowing both the busyness of our faculty and the difficulty of the
question, I was very pleased with the almost 50% response rate across all
the departments. Included in this booklet are all the responses we received,
along with justifications for the choices, apologies for cheating by adding a
fourth book (or more), and other various comments as given by the respon-
dents.
Although most directly meant for the class of 2011, only a week away
from graduation and the so-called real world, this list is meant to benefit
everyone at this school, including underclassmen and even other professors.
I believe everyone has something to take away from these recommendations,
and if somebody reads and benefits from just one book given here, I believe
all the hard work will have been worth it.
Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped make this project possible,
especially Bonnie Cofer, who did all the design and made it readable and
fun to look at. Most importantly, thanks to all the faculty who contributed:
without you, this project would not exist, and, more importantly, would not
be worth compiling.

Keep reading,
Sam Branchaw, 11
Editor

P.S. In case you were wondering, the most recommended books were the
Bible, C.S. Lewiss Mere Christianity and Platos Republic, followed by Augus-
tines Confessions, Bill Brysons A Short History of Nearly Everything, and Fy-
odor Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov. The most recommended author
by far was C.S. Lewis.

5
 George Angell
T h e a t e r

Zen Mind, Beginner Mind: Informal Talks on Zen

Meditation and Practice by Shunryu Suzuki
Pentecost by David Edgar
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Patricia Bart
h

Patrick OBrians Aubrey-Maturin novelsa proof

s

against psychological fragility in oneself and a

i

litmus test for prudery and hypocrisy in others.

l

The Royal Horticultural Societys Encyclopedia of

g

Gardeninga guide to the greatest lifetime sport.

n

Shackletons account of the Endeavor expeditionof

e

which little need be said, once it has been read.

RELIGION

Michael Bauman
The Gift of Fire, Richard Mitchell,
Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke
Beyond the Dreams of Avarice, Russell Kirk

6
 Robert Blackstock

b u s i n e s s
Coolidge: An American Enigma, Robert Sobel
When Character was King: A Story of Ronald
Reagan, Peggy Noonan
Washingtons Crossing, David Hackett Fischer
Perelandra, C.S. Lewis

David Bobb
and whip
Politics

The First Circle, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Confessions, Augustine
All the Kings Men, Robert Penn Warren

James Brandon
T h e at e r

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discource in the

Age of Show Business, Neil Postman
Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to
Emily Dickinson, Camille Paglia

Christopher Busch
English

Mans Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl

Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner
Walden, Henry David Thoreau

7
 Barbara Bushey
ART

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, by Matthew B.

Crawford. For many students, the life of the mind is so consuming that
they forget we live in a physical world. Crawford is a PhD in political
philosophy who now runs a motorcycle repair shop. His views of the
importance of making things with our hands are very compelling.
Returning to Earth, by Jim Harrison. Ive lived in Michigan my entire life,
and Harrison, a Michigan native, writes beautifully about the state. The
main character of this novel dictates his life story to his wife as he succumbs
to Lou Gehrigs disease.
Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison, by Ted Kooser. These
poems were written as Kooser was recuperating from cancer. They are a
great reminder of the importance of creating beauty no matter how difficult
our circumstances.

Ok, I am cheating! But I couldnt choose between

Kooser and Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and
Culture, by Makoto Fujimura, a Christian artist who
works very abstractly. I think it might be good reading
for those who reject abstraction out of hand, as well as
for anyone who struggles to understand how we might
make art in a world wracked by terrorism.

8
 Allan Carlson
HISTORY

Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset. (A trilogy: The Bridal

Wreath, The Mistress of Husaby and The Cross): a novel set in 14th
Century Norway, it provides a rich portrait of a Chrsitian social
and cultural order.
After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory , Alasdair MacIntyre. A
clarifying analysis of Western philosophical conundrums during
the last four centuries.
The Quest for Community: A Study in the Ethics of Order and
Freedom, Robert Nisbet. A conservative classic that too few
conservatives have read.
Those are my top three. If you would
accept a fourth, it is: The Education of Little
Tree, Forrest Carter. Both hilarious and
deeply moving, this short novel also gives a
splendid defense of familial liberty.... and it
is a Native American classic, to boot.
basketball

Claudette Charney
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines

9
 E n g l i s h
Brent Cline
Les Misrables, Victor Hugo
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, James Agee
and Walker Evans
The Arena : An Offering to Contemporary
Monasticism, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

Tom Conner
history

Imitatio Christi (The Imitation of Christ), Thomas Kempis. Its

a Christian classic, and a book that has been continuously in
print longer than any other book, I believe, save the Bible itself.
It is a beautiful, practical primer for Christian living whose title
reminds all individuals of the Christian faith what their chief
purpose in life should be.
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque. A novel
about the First World War, from the German perspective, but in
fact, from the human perspective. I read it as a college junior, and
it has permanently affected not only my attitude toward war, but
also about manly friendship and the comradeship of arms.
A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt. Actually, this is a play,
but an unusually moving, instructive, and important one that
could just as well be a book. Its about Thomas More, the 16th
century Englishman who was put to death by King Henry VIII
for refusing to swear to the Kings headship of the Church in
England. It is, to steal a phrase of someone elses invention, a
profile in courage, and a story well worth knowing. The movie
of the same title, which happens to be my favorite movie of all
time, is closely based upon Bolts play.

10
 Kathy Connor

education
Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism
to Decode Animal Behavior, Temple Grandin
Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving

Daniel Coupland
education

The Bible
Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

Micky Craig
p o l i t i c s

Natural Right and History, Leo Strauss

A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and
the Coming of the Civil War, Harry Jaffa
Coriolanus, Caesar, Henry IV parts I and II, Henry V,
Hamlet, and Measure for Measure, Shakespeare
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

11
 n Jon Fennell
It occurs to me that ones education at Hillsdale is incomplete to the
o

degree he has not read (and thought about) the following:

i

Republic, Apology, Crito, and the close of Phaedo, Plato

t

Confessions, Augustine
a

Natural Right and History, Leo Strauss preceded by a serious encounter

c

with Nietzsche (Genealogy of Morals and Beyond Good and Evil)

The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
u

A thorough acquaintance with the major plays of Shakespeare

d

A deep grounding in the Bible

e

Exposure to the novels of Dostoevsky, especially Brothers Karamazov

Also of great importance if one is to understand the

world in which we live are:
The Quran
Philosophical Investigations, Ludwig Wittgenstein
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud
(or equivalent work)
Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among
Men, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (often known as the
Second Discourse)
A serious encounter with Darwin and Marx (followed by
a full range of responses to them)
A major work by Dewey (Experience and Nature,
Democracy and Education, etc.) followed by an
appropriate dose of Richard Rorty

By the way, while acquaintance with a number of different

perspectives is probably a good thing, what is truly important
is arriving at the truth (or, since that is a tall order, becoming
increasingly familiar with it). Some perspectives can and do
stand in the way of that objective.

12
 Burt Folsom
h i s t o r y

Economics in One Lesson : The Shortest and Surest Way to

Understand Basic Economics, Henry Hazlitt
A Conflict of Visions : Ideological Origins of Political Struggles,
Thomas Sowell
Up from Slavery : An Autobiography, Booker T. Washington

Richard Gamble
h i s t o ry

On Duties (De Officiis), Cicero

The Present Age: Progress and Anarchy in Modern
America , Robert Nisbet
Sword of Honor trilogy, Evelyn Waugh

13
 classics
Joseph Garnjobst
If in the simplest terms, a liberal arts education is supposed to
teach you not what to think but rather how to think, then asking for
a reading list is, in a way, asking us what to read rather than how to
read. Its in this regard that Ill offer my suggestions.
First of all, try reading a book when the author or the main
character is your age. All things being equal, you ought to have
some similar life experiences, and it is interesting to see the world
that the author creates and see how that compares to the way that
you see the world at the same point in your life. The same goes for
characters in the works (I missed my window of opportunity on
Catcher in the RyeI read it when I was out of college, and Holden
Caufield came across as a spoiled little rich kid, rather than some
iconoclastic representation of teenage angst). I think students should
reread the Odyssey in twenty years, presumably after they have put
some years behind them, gotten married, had children etc. I think
that the dynamic between Odysseus and Penelope will take on an
entirely new meaning afterwards.
Not that this is the best devotional exercise, but I have found it
interesting to read each day the psalm corresponding to the number
of years you have under your belt, so at 22, read the 22nd psalm. The
23rd psalm is especially appropriate for recent graduates who are out
on their own for the first time as well. There is also a lot of wisdom
to be learned in your 30s.
Although dont have a universal suggestion, people should
always read poetry. Personally I enjoy the modern Greek poets
(Cavafy and Seferis), but as long as people are reading poetry, Ill be
happy.
Finally, in reference to the request for fiction, that is the hardest

14
question to answer. Instead, what Ill suggest is how to find good
recommendations for fiction: read various book reviewsthe London
 Review of Books, the NYTimes Review of Books, the London Times, whatever
your source. Read about what the critics are reading. Find a critic whose
judgment you trust, and see what he says about new things coming out.
Also, have a good number of friends and family who are readers, and
periodically ask them for suggestions about what they are reading (for
that matter, ask those same people what the top 25 songs are on their
ipod or mp3 player are every few months for music suggestions).

John Grant
economics

Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas

Salammbo, Gustave Flaubert
The First Circle, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Chris Hamilton
c h e m i s t r y

I do not know if the Bible (THE Book) was listed

by many or if it is assumed people would know the
importance. If it not it supersedes the list below (further
Id recommend for devotional reading the ESV, for
historic and literature value the KJV)
The Republic, Plato
Momo, Michael Ende. Best in the Original German but
there is a 1985 English Translation
The Foundation, Isaac Asimov

15
 Mike Harner
a d m i n i s t r at i o n
The Art of War, Sun Tzu, preferably the Griffith,
Liddell-Hart edition
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War,
Robert Coram
As a follow on read Science, Strategy and War: The
Strategic Theory of John Boyd by Frans P. B. Osinga

Darryl Hart
history

The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, Wendell Berry

Christianity and Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen
The Goldin Boys, Joseph Epstein

Kenneth Hayes
p h y s i c s

All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life, Loren Eiseley

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupry
Storms of my Grandchildren: : The Truth About the
Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to
Save Humanity, James Hansen

16
 Lorna Holmes
classics

Here are three works of fiction which I recommend for reading

sometime after graduation.
Before I give my list, I would like to comment on the word
important, which has been rather overworked around the College
lately. It is not important, in any cosmic sense of the word, that
everyone read all the same books. That will never happen, anyway, so
perhaps it is good that it is not important. What IS important is that
each person read books which have significance for him at the time he
reads them. No one can tell you what is important to you, and I am
not going to try.
That said, I have chosen three works which are significant for me,
which have repaid my rereading, and which have some qualities
which may at times be deficient in Hillsdales education, as good as
that can be. The qualities are humor, and a broad and realistic view of
human life.
Symposium, Plato. This also deals with life as a spiritual journey.
The Horses Mouth, Joyce Cary. This views life through the artistic or
creative mind.
The Good Soldier Svejk: and His Fortunes in the World War, Jaroslav
Hasek. This also has World War I in it.
Keep reading, everyone.

17
 Eric Hutchinson
classics

The Bible
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
Right Ho, Jeeves, P. G. Wodehouse

journalism
Ingrid Jacques
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene

Charles and Madelyn Johnson

s o c i o l o g y

Relationships That Work (And Those That Dont), H. Norman Wright

(Note: in my 20+ years of counseling Hillsdale students, I firmly believe
this book should be read by every student BEFORE they graduate--
preferably as freshmen!)
Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am? Insights into Personal
Growth, John Powell (especially the chapter on levels of
communication)
The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts, Gary Chapman

There are many other valuable books on marriage and

family. Ill leave the fiction books to others. I heard
once that 92% of Hillsdale grads will marry. We dont
want them to be among the many in the general popu-
lation who marry now and then divorce within a few
years!

18
 Michael Jordan
e n g l i s h
Albions Seed: Four British Folkways in America, David H. Fischer
Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices (A New Version,
1979), Robert Penn Warren
Hannah Coulter, Wendell Berry

Ellen Justice-Templeton
french

Tartuffe, Molire
Thrse Desqueyroux, Francois Mauriac
The Plague (La Peste), Albert Camus

Mark Kalthoff
history

The Confessions, St. Augustine

Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky

Deborah Kent
m at h e m at i c s

Were you Raised by Wolves? Clues to the Mysteries of

Adulthood, Christie Mellor
Food Rules: An Eaters Manuel, Michael Pollan
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster (recommend recording
read by David Hyde Pierce)
Bonus novel: Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner

19
 Susan King

business
Letitia Baldriges New Complete Guide to Executive Manners, Letitia Baldrige
How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,
Malcolm Gladwell

Walter Lewke
E D U C AT I O N

Common Sense 101: Lessons From G.K. Chesterton, Dale Ahlquist

On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs: : Teaching, Writing, Playing,
Believing, Lecturing, Philosophizing, Singing, Dancing, James V. Schall, S.J.
Island of the World, Michael D. OBrien

Terrence Moore
h i s t o r y

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of

Nations, Adam Smith
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War, William Manchester

Marie-Claire Morellec
french

Wind, Sand, and Stars (Terre des homes), Antoine de Saint-Exupry.

La symphonie pastorale (The Pastoral Symphony), Andr Gide.
But number one on my list is: Night, Elie Wiesel

William Morrisey
politics

The Intellectual Life, Philip Gilbert Hamerton

The Dawn: Political Teachings in the Book of Esther,
Yoram Hazony
Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers

20
 Olga Muiz
s p a n i s h
Platero y yo (Platero and I), Juan Ramn Jimnez (Spain, Nobel
Prize in Literature 1956)
The works of Fray Luis de Len
The works of Octavio Paz (Mxico, Nobel Prize in Literature 1990)
The works of Gabriela Mistral (Chile, First--and only--Latin
American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1945)
The works of de Pablo Neruda (Chile, Nobel Prize in Literature, 1970)

David Murphy
m at h e m at i c s

Euclids Elements: This is an classic book that is ignored

or overlooked by too many. It is one of the most widely read
books in history, second only to the Bible, and has been studied
for nearly 2500 years. There are multiple English translations, of
which Sir Thomas L. Heaths translation has been the standard
for more than the last 100 years, but I might recommend also
looking at Oliver Byrnes The First Six Books of the Elements of
Euclid, which is available in hardcover from Taschen Books and
online at: http://www.math.ubc.ca/~cass/euclid/byrne.html
Also visit David Joyces online edition with Java applets for
the figures at: http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/
elements.html
Lewis Carrolls two Alice books, Alices Adventures in
Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found
There: Both are fun stories and remind me that reading can be for
pleasure. In addition, though, the books have more depth than
mere childrens tales, and so deserve reading again as an adult to
better appreciate not only the nonsense on the surface, but also
the deeper questions about logic and reasoning that are equally
present if one is paying attention.

21
 baseball
Paul Noce
Coach Woodens Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a
Better Life , John Wooden

Mark Nussbaum
chemistry Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents
Evidence for Belief, Francis Collins

Melissa Osmond
c

Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair
i

that Changed America, Eric Larsen

s

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey

u

1776, David McCullough

m

The Help, Katherine Stockett

Keith Otterbein
f o o t b a l l

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of

Thermopylae, Steven Pressfield
Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and
Priorities of a Winning Life,Tony Dungy
Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to
Manhood, Jeffrey Marx

22
 Aaron Petersen

Dean of men
Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales
Mere Christianity, CS Lewis
Love and Responsibility, Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II)

Diane Philipp
Dean of WOmen

Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

Witness, Whittaker Chambers

The Chosen, Chaim Potok

Angie Pytel
Y

Your Inner Fishz: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year

G

History of the Human Body, Neil Shubin. Shubins book is

O

a great into/summary of modern evolutionary thought

L

Born To Run : A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the

O

Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, Christopher

McDougall. McDougalls book changed my views on the
I

culture and validity of the running human.

B

Paul Rahe
HISTORY

The Republic, Plato

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides
The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu

23
french
Maria Rebbert
Germinal, Emile Zola. An effort to describe a late 19th
century miners strike from a variety of perspectives, it still
has much to say to us today about human nature and the
organization of society. It is also a great read, hard to put down
once one gets into it.
The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux,
Theresa Martin (St. Theresa of Lisieux). Theresas own account
of her relationship with God through the ordinary events of
daily life from childhood to her death of tuberculosis at age
24. Her style is a little sweet for modern tastes, especially in
English translation (She lived in late 19th century France), but
there is steel in her character. A great example of the meaning
of the gospel in concrete terms and in some ways an interesting
complement to Germinal.
To End All Wars, Ernest Gordon. The authors account of the
transformation of his life by his internment in a Japanese prison
camp during WWII. There is a fairly recent movie version, but the
book offers much more. This is the true story of the building of
the Bridge Over the River Kwai and is very different to the fictional
account.

Jack Reinoehl
m at h e m at i c s

St. Nicholas of Myra, Bari and Manhattan: Biography of a

Legend, Charles W. Jones. A unique scholarly book
Complete Short Stories, Joseph Conrad. The story
Youth is a particular favorite.
The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the
Aegean and the Near East, Robert Drews

24
 philosophy
Nathan Schlueter
The Republic, Plato
Summa Theologiae , Thomas Aquinas
All the Kings Men, Robert Penn Warren

Stephen Smith,
h

The Intellectual Life: : Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods, A.G .Sertillanges

s

On Hope , Josef Pieper

i

Shakespeares Late Romances: Pericles, Cymbeline, Winters Tale,

l

and The Tempest

g

Thomas Aquinas, The Second Part of the Second Part of the

Summa Theologica, or everything you ever wanted to
n

know about the person, the virtues, the beatitudes, the

e

gifts of the Holy Spirit -- the whole consort dancing together

John Somerville
e n g l i s h

Salvation on Sand Mountain: Salvation on Sand Mountain:

Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia,
Dennis Covington
The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, Jonathan Spence
Supernatural Love: Poems 1976-1992, Gjertrud Schnackenberg

Dan Sundahl
english

The Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius

Purgatorio, Dante
Murder in the Cathedral, T. S. Eliot

25
 economics
Charles Steele
Never Too Late: My Musical Life Story, John Holt
The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine
Anthem, Ayn Rand

Frank Steiner
b i o l o g y

Your Inner Fishz: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of

the Human Body, Neil Shubin.
Finding Darwins God: A Scientists Search for Common
Ground Between God and Evolution, Kenneth Miller
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa . E.B. Sledge

Jim Stephens
philosophy

After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Alasdair MacIntyre

The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans (tr. Kun
Yamada), Wumen Hukai
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Michael Sweeney
b u s i n e s s

When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold Kushner

The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology,
Ray Kurzweil
Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy,
Thomas Sowell

26
 Tony Swinehart

y
Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and

g
Its Return to Roots, Rod Dreher

o
The Seashell on the Mountaintop: How Nicolaus Steno
l
Solved an Ancient Mystery and Created a Science of
o

the Earth, Alan Cutler

Emily Posts Book of Etiquette, Peggy and Emily Post
i

(everyone should own a copy of this book)

b
chemistry

Chris VanOrman
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for
Belief, Francis Collins

Jeffrey VanZant
BIOLOGY

A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and

There, Aldo Leopold
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

27
 Gavin Weaire
classics

Ive not found it easy to come up with three books in particular, and
the more I think about it, the more I think that I have a (big and pompous)
reason for this. So, if you like, I will give you a dissent, instead of three
books. Feel free, if you would like, to pass this dissent on to your fellow
students.
The challenge for your generation is to pursue your intellectual life in
a world in which it is easier than it ever has been to produce and disseminate
texts. It is also easier than it ever has been to have access to old works that
have fallen out of print. You live in a flood of alphabetic literacy to an extent
unprecedented in history.
So you will never run out of worthwhile things to read - if you are
prepared to look and especially if you are prepared to be an intellectually
generous reader. Also, you will never read more than a fraction of what you
might.
This has two consequences. One, you will have to make harder choices
than others have had to between reading widely to broaden your horizons,
and reading deeply and reflecting upon what you read. Two, no matter how
widely you read, it will always have to be a hard choice to read one thing and
so consign something else to the dustbin of things that you will never read.
You are at the opposite end of the spectrum of human literary experience
from a figure like Bede, who had very few books at his disposal and could
therefore know them all and know them thoroughly. We are accustomed
to think of the information revolution as an unequivocally good thing, but
in this sense (not in, for instance, the sense of having access to hot running
water), Bede was lucky and you are not.
So, hard choices. Does suggesting three books help? No - because any
choice of three books would be arbitrary and, more importantly, not help you
to make your own choices, which is what you have to be able to do. If you
believe in self-government - and if you dont you will make Dr. Rahe cry -
well, gouverner, cest choisir.

28
 Samuel Webster

m at h e m at i c s
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany,
William Shirer
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Different Seasons, Stephen King (the movies Stand by Me
and The Shawshank Redemption are based on two of the
four novellas contained in Different Seasons

Nikolai Wenzel
economics

The Constitution of Liberty, Friedrich Hayek

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Captain Corellis Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres

AHHHH. IT HURTS. I HAVE TO CHOSE AMONG

MY ALL-TIME FAVORITES... If I can add three more
(e.g. if you have a low response rate), here they are:
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
The Intellectual Life, A.G. Sertillanges

Don Westblade
religion

Gods Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan

Edwards, John Piper
Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

David Whalen
p r o v o s t

Leisure, the Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper

A Soldier of the Great War, Mark Helprin

29
Come Hither: A Collection of Rhymes and Poems for the Young of All
Ages, Walter de la Mare
 GaryWolfram

economics
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, Ludwig von Mises
The Constitution of Liberty , Friedrich Hayek
1984, George Orwell

Jennifer Wolter
french

Germinal, mile Zola

Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupry

Debbi Wyse
c

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver.

i

Practical wisdom about sustainability, cycles of life, healthy

lifestyle.
s

The Source, James Michener. Ive read about a dozen

u

Micheners and this is my all-time fave!

The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts, Gary
m

Chapman. Great for gaining understanding of others needs.

Fred Yaniga
G E R M A N

Faust I and II , Wolfgang von Goethe

Nathan the Wise, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
The White Rose: : Munich, 1942-1943, Inge Scholl. (Two films on this topic are
also excellent: Die Weie Rose and The Last Days of Sophie Scholl)

Dan York
BIOLOGY

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson

The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins
Watership Down, Richard Adams

30
Index by Author
Adams, Richard
Watership Down (D. Turner, D. York)
Agee, James and Walker Evans
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (B. Cline)
Ahlquist, Dale
Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton (W. Lewke)
Kempis, Thomas
The Imitation of Christ (Imitatio Christi) (T. Conner)
Albom, Mitch
The Five People You Meet in Heaven (C. Charney)
Aquinas, Thomas
Summa Theologica (J. Grant, N. Schlueter, S. Smith)
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation (C. Hamilton)
St. Augustine
Confessions (D. Bobb, J. Fennell, M. Kalthoff)
Austen, Jane
Pride and Prejudice (T. Moore)
Baldridge, Letitia
New Complete Guide to Executive Manners(S. King)
de Bernieres, Louis
Captain Corellis Mandolin (N. Wenzel)
Berry, Wendell
Hannah Coulter (M. Jordan)
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture (D. Hart)
The Bible (C. Coupland, J. Fennell, C. Hamilton, E. Hutchinson)
Bolt, Robert
A Man for All Seasons (T. Conner)
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich
The Cost of Discipleship (D. Westblade)
Brianchaninov, Ignatius
The Arena: An Offering to Contemporary Monasticism (B. Cline)
Brown, Dee
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (J. VanZant)
Bryson, Bill
A Short History of Nearly Everything (G. Angell, C. Van Orman, D. York)
Burke, Edmund
Reflections on the Revolution in France (M. Bauman)
Camus, Albert
The Plague (La Peste) (E. Justice-Templeton)
Card, Orson Scott
Enders Game (D. Turner)
Carnegie, Dale
How to Win Friends and Influence People (S. King)
Carroll, Lewis
Alices Adventures in Wonderland (D. Murphey)
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (D. Murphey)
Carter, Forrest
The Education of Little Tree (A. Carlson)
Cary, Joyce
The Horses Mouth (L. Holmes)
Chambers, Whittaker

31
Witness (D. Philipp)
 Chapman, Gary
The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts (C. Johnson, D. Wyse)
Chesterton, G.K.
Orthodoxy (M. Kalthoff, D. Westblade)
Cicero, Marcus Tullius
On Duties (De Officiis) (R. Gamble)
Collins, Francis
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (M. Nussbaum, C.
Van Orman)
Conan Doyle, Arthur
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (S. Webster)
Conrad, Joseph
Heart of Darkness (M. Harner)
Short Stories (J. Reinoehl)
Coram, Robert
Boyd: The Figher Pilot Who Changed the Art of War (M. Harner)
Covey, Steven
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (M. Osmond)
Covington, Dennis
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern
Appalachia (J. Somerville)
Crawford, Matthew B.
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work (B. Bushey)
Cutler, Alan
The Seashell on the Mountaintop: How Nicolaus Steno Solved an Ancient Mystery
and Created a Science of the Earth (T. Swinehart)
Dante Alighieri
Purgatorio (D. Sundahl)
Dawkins, Richard
The Selfish Gene (D. York)
Dewey, John
Democracy and Education (J. Fennell)
Experience and Nature (J. Fennell)
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
The Brothers Karamazov (J. Fennell, M. Kalthoff, J. Stephens)
Dreher, Rod
Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots (T.
Swinehart)
Drews, Robert
The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East
(J. Reinoehl)
Dungy, Tony
Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life (K.
Otterbein)
Edgar, David
Pentecost (G. Angell)
Eiseley, Loren
All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life (K. Hayes)
Eliot, T.S.
Murder in the Cathedral (D. Sundahl)
Ende, Michael
Momo (C. Hamilton)
Epstein, Joseph
The Goldin Boys (D. Hart)

32
Euclid
Elements(tr. by Thomas Heath or Oliver Byrne) (D. Murphey)
Fischer, David Hackett
Albions Seed: Four British Folkways in America (M. Jordan)
Washingtons Crossing (B. Blackstock)
Flaubert, Gustave
Madame Bovary (J. Wolter)
Salammbo (J. Grant)
St. Francis de Sales
Introduction to the Devout Life (A. Petersen)
Frankl, Viktor E.
Mans Search for Meaning (C. Busch)
Freud, Sigmund
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (J. Fennell)
Fujimura, Makoto
Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture (B. Bushey)
Gaiman, Neil
The Sandman (D. Turner)
Gaines, Ernest
A Lesson Before Dying (C. Charney)
Gide, Andr
La symphonie pastorale (The Pastoral Symphony) (M. Morellec)
Gladwell, Malcolm
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (S. King)
Goethe, Wolfgang von
Faust, Parts I and II (F. Yaniga)
Gogol, Nikolai
Dead Souls (J. Brandon)
Gordon, Ernest
To End All Wars (M. Rebbert)
Grahame, Kenneth
The Wind in the Willows (D. Coupland)
Grandin, Temple
Animals in Translation : Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior (K.
Connor)
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair (I. Jacques)
The Power and the Glory (N. Wenzel)
Hamerton, Philip Gilbert
The Intellectual Life (W. Morrisey)
Hansen, James
Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last
Chance to Save Humanity (K. Hayes)
Harrison, Jim
Returning to Earth (B. Bushey)
Hasek, Jaroslav
The Good Soldier Svejk: and His Fortunes in the World War (L. Holmes)
Hayek, Friedrich
The Constitution of Liberty (N. Wenzel, G. Wolfram)
Hazlitt, Henry
Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics (B.
Folsom)
Hazony, Yoram
The Dawn: Political Teachings of the Book of Esther (W. Morrisey)
Helprin, Mark

33
A Soldier of the Great War (D. Whalen)
 Hemingway, Ernest
For Whom the Bell Tolls (N. Wenzel)
A Moveable Feast (I. Jacques)
Hillenbrand, Laura
Seabiscuit: An American Legend (K. Connor)
Holt, John
Never Too Late: My Musical Life Story (C. Steele)
Hugo, Victor
Les Misrables (B. Cline)
Huikai, Wumen
The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans (tr. Koun Yamada) (J. Stephens)
St. Ignatius of Loyola
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (D. Sundahl)
Irvin, John
A Prayer for Owen Meany (K. Connor)
Jaffa, Harry
A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War (M. Craig)
Jimnez, Juan Ramn
Platero and I (Platero y yo) (O. Muiz)
Jones, Charles W.
St. Nicholas of Myra, Bari and Manhattan: Biography of a Legend (J. Reinoehl)
Juster, Norton
The Phantom Tollbooth (D. Kent)
King, Stephen
Different Seasons (S. Webster)
Kingsolver, Barbara
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (D. Wyse)
Kirk, Russell
Beyond the Dreams of Avarice: Essays of a Social Critic (M. Bauman)
Kooser, Ted
Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison (B. Bushey)
Kurzweil, Ray
The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (M. Sweeney)
Kushner, Harold
When Bad Things Happen to Good People (M. Sweeney)
Larsen, Eric
Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
(M. Osmond)
Lee, Harper
To Kill a Mockingbird (J. VanZant)
Len, Luis de
The Works of Fray Luis de Len (O. Muiz)
Leopold, Aldo
A Sand County Almanac: and Sketches Here and There (J. VanZant)
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim
Nathan the Wise (F. Yaniga)
Lewis, C.S.
The Abolition of Man (J. Fennell)
Mere Christianity (D. Coupland, M. Nussbaum, A. Petersen, D. Philipp)
Perelandra (B. Blackstock)
Machen, J. Gresham
Christianity and Liberalism (D. Hart)

34
MacIntyre, Alasdair
After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (A. Carlson, J. Stephens)
Manchester, William
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War (T. Moore)
de la Mare, Walter, ed.
Come Hither: A Collection of Rhymes and Poems for the Young of All Ages (D. Whalen)
Marx, Jeffrey
Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood (K. Otterbein)
McCullough, David
1776 (M. Osmond)
McDougall, Christopher
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
(A. Pytel)
Mellor, Christie
Were You Raised by Wolves? Clues to the Mysteries of Adulthood (D. Kent)
Mitchell, Richard
The Gift of Fire (M. Bauman)
Mauriac, Franois
Thrse Desqueyroux (E. Justice-Templeton)
Michener, James
The Source (D. Wyse)
Miller, Kenneth
Finding Darwins God: A Scientists Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution
(F. Steiner)
Mises, Ludwig von
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (G. Wolfram)
Mistral, Gabriela
The Works of Gabriela Mistral (O. Muiz)
Molire
Tartuffe (E. Justice-Templeton)
Montesquieu, Charles de
The Spirit of the Laws (P. Rahe)
Neruda, Pablo
The Works of Pablo Neruda (O. Muiz)
Nietzsche, Friedrich
Beyond Good and Evil (J. Fennell)
Genealogy of Morals (J. Fennell)
Nisbet, Robert
The Present Age: Progress and Anarchy in Modern America (R. Gamble)
The Quest for Community: A Study in the Ethics of Order and Freedom (A. Carlson)
Noonan, Peggy
When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan (B. Blackstock)
OBrian, Patrick
The Aubrey-Maturin Series (P. Bart)
OBrien, Michael D.
Island of the World (W. Lewke)
Orwell, George
1984 (G. Wolfram)
Osinga, Frans P.B.
Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd (M. Harner)
Paglia, Camille
Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (J. Brandon)
Paine, Thomas
The Age of Reason (C. Steele)
Paz, Octavio

35
The Works of Octavio Paz (O. Muiz)
 Plato
Apology (J. Fennell)
Crito (J. Fennell)
Phaedo (J. Fennell)
Republic (J. Fennell, C. Hamilton, P. Rahe, N. Schlueter)
Symposium (L. Holmes)
Pieper, Josef
Leisure, the Basis of Culture (D. Whalen)
On Hope (S. Smith)
Piper, John
Gods Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards (D. Westblade)
Pollan, Michael
Food Rules: An Eaters Manual (D. Kent)
Powell, John
Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am? Insights into Personal Growth (C. Johnson)
Post, Peggy, and Emily Post
Emily Posts Guide to Etiquette (T. Swinehart)
Postman, Neil
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (J. Brandon)
Potok, Chaim
The Chosen (D. Philipp)
Pressfield, Steven
Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae (K. Otterbein)
The Quran (J. Fennell)
Rand, Ayn
Anthem (C. Steele)
Remarque, Erich Maria
All Quiet on the Western Front (T. Conner)
Robinson, Marilynne
Gilead (E. Hutchinson)
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men (The Second Discourse)
(J. Fennell)
Royal Horticultural Society
Encyclopedia of Gardening (P. Bart)
de Saint-Expry, Antoine
The Little Prince (K. Hayes, J. Wolter)
Wind, Sand and Stars (Terre des hommes) (M. Morellec)
Sayers, Dorothy
Gaudy Night (W. Morrisey)
Schall, James V.
On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs: Teaching, Writing, Playing, Believing, Lecturing,
Philosophizing, Singing, Dancing (W. Lewke)
Schnackenberg, Gjertrud
Supernatural Love: Poems 1976-1992 (J. Somerville)
Scholl, Inge
The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943 (F. Yaniga)
Sertillanges, A.G.
The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods (S. Smith, N. Wenzel)
Shackleton, Ernest
South: The Story of Shackletons 1914-17 Expedition (P. Bart)

36
Shakespeare, William
Coriolanus (M. Craig)
Cymbeline (S. Smith)
Hamlet (M. Craig)
Henry IV, Pts. I and II (M. Craig)
Henry V (M. Craig)
Julius Caesar (M. Craig)
Measure for Measure (M. Craig)
Pericles (S. Smith)
The Tempest (S. Smith)
A Winters Tale (S. Smith)
Shirer, William
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (S. Webster)
Shubin, Neil
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (A. Pytel, F.
Steiner)
Sledge, E.B.
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (F. Steiner)
Smith, Adam
An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (T. Moore)
Sobel, Robert
Coolidge: An American Enigma (B. Blackstock)
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (Aleksandr)
The First Circle (D. Bobb, J. Grant)
Sowell, Thomas
Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (M. Sweeney)
A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles (B. Folsom)
Spence, Jonathan D.
The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (J. Somerville)
Stegner, Wallace
Crossing to Safety (C. Busch, D. Kent)
Stockett, Katherine
The Help (M. Osmond)
Strauss, Leo
Natural Right and History (M. Craig, J. Fennell)
Sun Tzu
The Art of War (tr. Samuel B. Griffith) (M. Harner)
Suzuki, Shunryu
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice (G. Angell)
St. Therese of Lisieux
The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (M. Rebbert)
Thoreau, Henry David
Walden (C. Busch)
Thucydides
The History of the Peloponnesian War (P. Rahe)
Tolstoy, Leo
Anna Karenina (I. Jacques)
Twain, Mark
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (M. Craig)
Undset, Sigrid
Kristin Lavransdatter (A. Carlson)
Warren, Robert Penn
All the Kings Men (D. Bobb, N. Schlueter)
Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices A New Version (M. Jordan)

37
 Washington, Booker T.
Up from Slavery: An Autobiography (B. Folsom)
Waugh, Evelyn
Brideshead Revisited (N. Wenzel)
The Sword of Honor Trilogy (R. Gamble)
Wiesel, Elie
Night (M. Morellec)
Wittgenstein, Ludwig
Philosophical Investigations (J. Fennell)
Wodehouse, P.G.
Right Ho, Jeeves (E. Hutchinson)
Wojtyla, Karol (Pope John Paul II)
Love and Responsibility (A. Petersen)
Wooden, John
Coach Woodens Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life (P. Noce)
Wright, H. Norman
Relationships That Work (And Those That Dont) (C. Johnson)
Zola, Emile
Germinal (M. Rebbert, J. Wolter)

38
39