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The Lamont News-List lamref(a)fas.harvard.edu
May 25, 2005 http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont
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This is the 11th and last issue of the 2004-2005 Lamont News-List, which
will resume publication again in early October. Thanks for reading!
Very best wishes, from all of us here in Lamont, for a Summer vacation
that is restful, fun, full of adventure (especially if you're traveling),
and productive (if you're getting a head start on your thesis).
To our News-List subscribers who are graduating: congratulations,
farewell, and good luck. To everyone else: we'll be hoping to see you
back here in the Yard next Fall!
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THE SUMMER BOOKS ISSUE:
-- 12 Tempting Titles, Suggested by News-List Readers
Books to suit all kinds of Summer reading tastes
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** THE GINGER MAN, by J. P. Donleavy. (Grove Press, 1955).
First published in Paris in 1955 and originally banned in America, J. P.
Donleavy's first novel is now recognized the world over as a modern
classic of the highest order. Set in Ireland just after World War II, _The
Ginger Man_ recounts the misadventures of Sebastian Dangerfield, a young
American ne'er-do-well studying at Trinity College in Dublin.
Dangerfield's appetite for women, liquor, and general roguishness is
insatiable--and he satisfies it with endless charm. "The novel's hero,
writes sophomore Nitin Ahuja, "is an amazingly wrought character, his life
a constant spectacle. I read [_The Ginger Man_] last summer and loved
it."
** THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, Nelson Algren (1949; Four Walls Eight
Windows, 1990).
Algren won the very first National Book Award (1950) for this novel, which
was also nominated for a Pulitzer. Algren has been compared to Dreiser,
Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy, and yet inexplicably, he has passed into
literary obscurity. _The Man With the Golden Arm_ is a beautifully
written, moving, and often bruising depiction of life in the Polish slums
of postwar Chicago. It tells the story of Frankie "Machine" Majcinek, a
card dealer and amateur drummer, and his losing battle with a morphine
addiction. Though Algren's world is peopled by the damned and the
damaged, he manages to convey that world with extraordinary compassion.
Director Otto Preminger turned _The Man With the Golden Arm_ into a 1955
film, starring Frank Sinatra (in an Oscar-nominated performance). Algren,
however, never forgave Preminger for what he did to the book in adapting
it.
** FIRE UNDER THE SNOW: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A TIBETAN MONK, by Palden
Gyatso (Grove Press, 1997).
In 1959, along with thousands of other Buddhist monks, Palden Gyatso was
sent to prison and then to a forced labor camp for his opposition to the
Chinese occupation of Tibet. Thirty three years later, in 1992, Gyatso
was released from prison and fled Tibet for India, crossing the Himalayas
on foot. He brought with him a small pouch containing instruments of
torture, like those the Chinese had used against him. _Fire Under the
Snow_ details his experiences and, by extension, bears witness to the
suffering of the Tibetan people. "My story," he writes, "is not a
glamorous one of high lamas and exotic ritual, but of how a simple monk
succeeded in surviving the destructive forces of a totalitarian ideology."
Gyatso's autobiography--which contains a foreword by the Dalai Lama--is
banned in his homeland.
** THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD, by Zora Neale Hurston (1937; Perennial
Classics, 1998).
Hurston's book tells the story of Janie Crawford Killicks Starks Woods, a
thrice-married, twice-widowed woman who learns the hard way: through her
own experience. Granddaughter of a slave and daughter of a runaway mother,
Janie rises above her circumstances to find her identity as a woman and as
an African American. Eunpi Cho, of Winthrop House, writes: "I just
recently reread the book and rediscovered my love for it. The language is
so sharp and original, and the characters so alive. Hurston does an
amazing job in forcing the reader to live the thoughts and passions of the
characters. It's a short book, best read in one sitting, and it will be
an incredible experience."
** BALL FOUR, by Jim Bouton (1970; Macmillan, 1990).
Before there was BALCO, before there was the disgrace of Pete Rose, before
Richard Ben Cramer disillusioned us with his biography of DiMaggio, and
long before Jose Canseco penned _Juiced_, there was Jim Bouton's _Ball
Four_. Bouton, a knuckleball pitcher and one-time Yankee, forever changed
the public's image of baseball in his 1970 expose, which depicted players
as fan un-friendly pill-poppers and booze-swillers. _Ball Four_ shocked
and scandalized MLB executives, players and sportswriters; the controversy
it generated made front-page news. Bouton became an MLB pariah.
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to retract the allegations
he made; one team even burned a copy of _Ball Four_ in anger. Today,
however, it's a baseball classic, and comes recommended by a Harvard
sophomore.
** BORSTAL BOY, by Brendan Behan (1958; David Godine, 2000).
Freshman Aidan Kelly suggests you pick up this autobiographical memoir, by
one of Ireland's foremost playwrights and novelists, when you go looking
for some good summer reading. In 1939, 16 year-old Behan, an IRA
operative, was arrested in Liverpool with a suitcase full of explosives
and became a prisoner of the British crown. In England, juvenile
delinquents were sent to "borstal institutions," and Behan, for his
crimes, served two years in reform school. _Borstal Boy_, Aidan tells us,
"is wonderfully well written and funny," and Behan is a superb
storyteller, so "the pages just flew by."
** THE MAN WHO LOVED ONLY NUMBERS: THE STORY OF PAUL ERDOS AND THE SEARCH
FOR MATHEMATICAL TRUTH, by Paul Hoffman (Hyperion, 1998).
Though little known outside mathematical circles, Erdos, who died in 1996
at age 83, was a legend among his colleagues. In fact, Erdos was so
devoted to mathematics that he went without wife, children, steady job, or
even a home, preferring to exist as the wandering guest of fellow
mathematicians. He published more than 1,500 papers with at least 484
coauthors, who pride themselves on their "Erds number" (a figure
indicating one's degree of separation from the master). Rosamond Xiang, a
Quincy House junior, calls _The Man Who Loved Only Numbers_ a "witty bio"
that's also interesting and accessible to those who aren't very
mathematically inclined. In fact, says Rosamond, "Hoffman gives a lucid
catalogue of some great conundrums in math history, its personages, and so
on."
** SONS AND LOVERS, by D. H. Lawrence (1913; Signet Classics, 2000).
Set in a Nottinghamshire coal town, _Sons and Lovers_, published in 1913,
is the novel that established Lawrence's reputation. Intensely
autobiographical, it traces the emotional and artistic maturation of Paul
Morel. It is marvelously Freudian, too, in its depiction of the
complicated relationships between husbands and wives, mothers and sons,
and men and women. Kay Negishi '07 read _Sons and Lovers_ just recently.
"At first, it didn't seem to affect me that much, but it was one of those
things where you close the back cover and begin to reflect on what just
happened. And it starts hitting you. The brooding emotions, the subtle
temptations--it's all there."
** A HEART SO WHITE, by Javier Marias (New Directions, 2000).
The winner of several literary prizes in Spain and abroad, this novel
begins with an event that happened 40 years before the narrator's birth:
the suicide of an aunt--his mother's sister, and his father's first wife.
A _Washington Post_ review described the novel as many things: "a love
story, a murder mystery, a tale about the loss of innocence and the burden
of guilt, a study of the complicated, sometimes sinister negotiations
between fathers and sons or husbands and wives." Marias has been likened
to Proust, Henry James, and Laurence Sterne. _A Heart So White_ is the
pick of an Adams House junior.
** PONZI'S SCHEME: THE TRUE STORY OF A FINANCIAL LEGEND, by Mitchell
Zuckoff (Random House, 2005).
One late summer morning in 1920, Charles Ponzi coasted to work in Boston
in the back seat of his luxury convertible, showing no signs that his
financial empire, and his life, were near ruin. Indeed, by August 1920,
things were far worse than Ponzi--a confidence man and early master of
media "spin"--let everyone believe. Ponzi's company, the ironically named
Securities Exchange Commission, bilked investors of millions of dollars by
promising to double their money in 90 days. All these years later, the
phrase "Ponzi scheme" is still used to describe a "get rick quick" scam.
Lamont News-List reader Mark Benson believes Zuckoff's new book is worth
your time: "_Ponzi's Scheme_ will be an entertaining and informative read
for those who follow the financial markets"--as well as those who don't.
** FREAKONOMICS: A ROGUE ECONOMIST EXPLORES THE HIDDEN SIDE OF
EVERYTHING, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow,
2005).
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers
and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with
their mothers? These may not sound like typical questions for an
economist to ask, but Steven D. Levitt, a University of Chicago
award-winning scholar, regularly studies the stuff of everyday life--from
cheating to child naming patterns--and draws conclusions that turn
conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of
data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern
life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality (hence
the title of the book). Through forceful storytelling and wry insight,
Levitt and _New York Times_ co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that
economics is, at root, the study of incentives--how people get what they
want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.
** WIT, by Margaret Edson (Faber and Faber, 1999).
Edson won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for _Wit_, considered one of the "finest
plays of the decade," according to an early reviewer. In 2001, Mike
Nichols directed a film version for HBO, starring Emma Thompson, that also
received wide acclaim. Vivian Bearing, a professor of English whose life
has been spent studying the metaphysical poetry of John Donne, is
diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. She responds to her illness--at
least at first--with the same cool wit and rational intensity that she has
brought to Donne's Holy Sonnets. As her disease progresses and
chemotherapy further debilitates her, Vivian pushes toward an
understanding that is as brutal as it is moving. As Peter Marks commented
in his _New York Times_ review, at the end of _Wit_ "you will feel both
enlightened and, in a strange way, comforted."
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HAVE A TOPIC you'd like to see us cover in a future issue of the Lamont
News-List? All suggestions welcome! Send your questions, thoughts and
comments to sgilroy(a)fas.harvard.edu.
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Copyright 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard University
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The Lamont News-List lamref(a)fas.harvard.edu
May 16, 2005 http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont
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Congratulations to the winners of this year's Visiting Committee Prize for
Undergraduate Book Collecting! Have a look at their work, featured in the
exhibit cases on Level 5 or read about their passion for books of various
kinds here:
http://hcl.harvard.edu/news/stories/2005/ug_book_collecting.html
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IN THIS ISSUE:
-- Recommend A Summer Book--There's Still Time
Share your favorite titles with Lamont News-List readers and
you could win a **prize**!
-- Looking for old FAS exams?
Link to them right from Lamont's home page
-- The Harvard College Libraries Want to Hear from You!
Take our online survey
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RECOMMEND A SUMMER BOOK
Share your picks with Lamont News-List Readers--and win a prize!
It's an annual rite of Spring for Lamont News-List readers: our call for
summer reading suggestions. Perhaps you've read a book this term that was
so important, timely, or life-changing that you want other people to know
about it. Maybe you're a mystery or sci-fi fan with a favorite author to
share. Maybe you've happened upon a book that's unusual, eccentric,
visually interesting, or verbally stunning. Maybe you've recently re-read
or remembered a book that meant a lot to you at another point in your
life. Or maybe you've got a book on hand that you're simply dying to read
once you've gotten past papers and finals next month.
Tempt us! We're planning to publish the list of reader recommendations in
our May 25 final issue of the Lamont News-List--just before you head out
for vacation.
Send us author(s) and title(s) AND tell us why you've made this choice.
We'll enter your name in a raffle for one of our much-coveted Lamont
stainless steel travel mugs. Only a few are left--so aim to get one
before they're gone!
Each winner will get a $10.00 Starbucks coffee card, too.
Not a bad way to end the year!
Two mug-coffee card combos will be awarded
Deadline for entering is **'THURSDAY, MAY 19 .** Winners will be chosen
in a random drawing and notified by email after Friday, May 20.
Email your book suggestions to sgilroy(a)fas.harvard.edu
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LOOKING FOR OLD FAS EXAMS?
Link to them right from Lamont's home page
http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/resources/exams.html
Old FAS final exams (some dating back as far as Spring 1998) are available
online at the address above.
Although you'll find a generous selection of materials, not every
instructor or every course is represented here. Harvard faculty are not
obligated to post exams, and many do not participate in the program.
Remember, too, that much of the material on this page will be dated: exams
typically make their way online two full terms (or more) after they've
been administered. Courses can change drastically from year to year, even
when they're taught by the same instructor.
That said, there are also many good reasons to take a look at the page.
Understanding something about the parts of an exam or the general shape
that questions may take can help minimize pre-test anxiety by giving you
a sense of what might be expected of you and in how much time.
Lamont retains no paper copies of old FAS exams, but several other Harvard
libraries do. We've also listed these libraries, and what we know about
the FAS exams they have in print, at the web address above.
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The Havard College Libraries Want to Hear From You!
Take our online survey before May 26
What do you know about the kinds of reference services that Lamont,
Cabot, Widener, and other Harvard College libraries offer? What kinds of
reseach help would you like to see us offer? How often? At what time of
year?
Now's the time to tell us! The Libraries are conducting an online survey
through May 26. It's easy to fill out, it won't take you long, and we
really do want your input.
The survey is here: http://tinyurl.com/dypnz
Once you've answered the question, you can opt to enter your name in a
drawing for a $20 Harvard Bookstore gift certificate. Winners are
selected every day, so you have multiple chances to win.
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HAVE A TOPIC you'd like to see us cover in a future issue of the Lamont
News-List? A research question you need answered? A tip you want
to pass along to other Lamont News-List readers? All suggestions welcome!
Send your thoughts and comments to sgilroy(a)fas.harvard.edu.
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You received this email because you subscribed to the Lamont News-List.
If at any time you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, point your
browser to http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/lamontnews-list.
Directions for unsubscribing are at the bottom of the page.
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Copyright 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard University
