<p>oh, now esquared is an adjective.</p>
<p>I like it. Kind of like "Kafka-esqe." That's a real word, so why shouldn't one including the craziness of Eric be?</p>
<p>can it be a verb?</p>
<p>oh, eric, esquare me.</p>
<p>Katharos, if Oedipus is a name, than it's not really Greek, it's a just a Greek name. It's not quite Greek and Latin in the same title. If that were true, wouldn't Oedipus the King give us Greek and English in the same title? And isn't that equally as weird?</p>
<p>Sophie's World really turned me onto philosophy when I was little. I'd read that.</p>
<p>i want to read erasmus or pico.</p>
<p>I'd like to read Eric Egan's autobiography</p>
<p>A pretty interesting book is "How the Mind Works" by Steven Pinker, or Paul Bloom's "Descartes' Baby".</p>
<p>If you wanna do some philosophy, I think either Descartes or Plato would be a good place to start.</p>
<p>For those interested in neurobiology there is an excellent book published this year that is very reader friendly, "Towards an Evolutionary Biology of Language" by Philip Lieberman (Brown University). It pretty much puts to rest much of Pinker's claims. Also see "The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of 'Nature vs. Nurture'" by David Moore. These two books will set one up for some interesting times if one decides to take the "Mind" core sequence.</p>
<p>For those interested in philosophy, Libby's suggestion of "Sophie's Choice" is a good one, which can be followed up Saul Kripke's "Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language: An Elementary Exposition." The argument here is fascinating.</p>
<p>And for those interested in the mix of neurobiology & philosophy take a look at Paul Griffith's: "What Emotions Really Are: The Problem of Psychological Categories."</p>
<p>I read a lot the summer before. One book was by Thomas Mann- it was Doctor Faustus (recommended by a friend who was a serious German student). Didn't really like it, but it would definitely improve one's critical reading ability. Another one was Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. I actually like it. No need to read anything you don't like, but read something fairly challenging. Avoid starting in the fall in slow gear.</p>
<p>How about the feminine mystique?</p>
<p>As a very, very, very smart person I would suggest that you don't bother trying to read something big, important, and boring (let's say, a Critique of Pure Reason) and instead just read what you like. Don't worry about great books so much, because if you force that sort of stuff down your throat, all that will happen is you'll sound like some psuedo-intellectual drone who doesn't really know what he's talking about. Remember, so many of our great thinkers were terribly ambiguous, verbose, and downright bad writers (I'll use the example of Kant again). So stick with some less stressful.</p>
<p>Personal reccomendations of things that are interesting and educating:</p>
<p>Elegant Universe
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Arthur Schopenhauer: Essays and Aphorisms (available through Penguin classics...read his essay "On Women" if you want a counterbalance to the Feminine Mystique)
Best American Science Writing of (Insert year here). Lots of quick, quirky essays on the fun and exciting things scientists are doing.</p>
<p>And ever consider just getting a basic background in perhaps the most important book in western literature ever, aka, The Bible? If you know the Bible...man does it make Lit and Art History classes a hell of alot easier. One thing I'm grateful to Catholic school for.</p>
<p>Reading a few feminist books actually helped me with the social science core courses. I had no other background in sociological literature. But, I agree- never, ever read anthing that you don't absolutely enjoy reading, unless you are absolutely forced to.</p>
<p>My advice would be that you read anything on any subject you're passionate about. Satisfy your curiosity, learn new things. My son (who attended UofC) was passionate about sports and devoured books and news on that. But he also was so involved in high school debate he read all kinds of stuff for that. And one of the life-skills he picked up was how to read quickly for content. Just read, that's all.</p>