Colleges and Universities Books

Mr. Nelson is god. One should read everything that he writes. In two thousand years people will be awaiting the second coming of Mike Nelson. Rhodes is a wonderful college, and I wish that I had been wise enough ( in my college days) to shun Yale for such a personalized undergraduate education

Celebrating The Humanities: A Half-century Of The Search Course At Rhodes College is an intriguing look at the life-cycle of that college's renowned Humanities course, which has been in existence longer than at any other comparable liberal-arts institution. The book looks at the genesis for developing the course at Rhodes (then Southwestern) during the crucible of World War II and its evolution over the years. A number of individuals involved with "The Man Course" (as it was dubbed) contribute individual chapters that touch on their era of involvement touching on the curricula and the changes that came about. The course itself sounds utterly fascinating, incorporating some of the greatest literature of the modern world from the time of antiquity to the present, yet covering it in a colloquium style course setting. I would love to take this course, but to be honest the amount of reading that is covered in the short span of time is most daunting indeed!

Michael Nelson, the editor, does a good job of keeping the text coherent and cogent, which is frequently a problem with incorporating many different authors with varying styles of writing. The book is most gripping when covering the origins of the course and its early years but loses steam towards the middle. I had expected more dramatic tension when the book got into the era that encompassed the Civil Rights and Counter-Culture Revolution of the 1960s, but it was strangely unexciting, which is surprising considering the upheaval in Memphis during that era. It was again exciting towards the end when it gave a rather lively encapsulation of what it is like to take the course today that left me wondering why more universities aren't attempting the same thing. Celebrating the Humanities is a compelling argument for the bolstering of the Humanities at campuses everywhere and should be a rallying cry for this effort, yet my hunch is few outside of academia will ever read this, which is profoundly sad.

This is an outstanding book on the social and historical development of the New York Chinese community at the turn of the century. Liu begins with and focuses on the 1909 murder of Elsie Sigel - a White woman - whose dead body was found in a trunk in the apartment of one of her lovers Leon Ling. Ling, a Chinese male, and the primary suspect in the case - who was never caught. The narrative - a discourse analysis is based on careful and extensive research is really a critical examination of the social workings of 1900s New York and the looks at the way a society runs itself. Lui uses an extensive range of primary sources - in both English and Chinese. Lui's study is an analyses of the numerous issues spun around the case rather than the facts of the case itself.

The Chinatown Trunk Mystery is an actual case study that worked as an "I told you so" about all the fears and concerns which have roots in the "Yellow Peril" narrative. In the early 1900s, and this is old news, race did matter. Elsie Sigel was not what people painted her out to be. Was she even really a missionary? Contradictory stories abounded about Chinese men. On the one hand, Chinese men were seen as asexual but on the other hand the public and media accused Leon Ling are seen as predatory.

The Chinatown Trunk Mystery is a departure from the "conventional wisdom" or "conventional narrative" of Asian America. Adding complexity to a story that is usually told in a textual format that looks like a textbook, Lui destabilizes the conventional format - in this book, all the folks that you thought were good were not actually good. She takes care to bring us into the story so we understand the process of inventing narratives about people, places, and things that were not even part of the actual event. Careful attention to her note shows that the murder mystery began outside of Chinatown proper (Lui 53). It was in the interest of particular people with agendas to maintain the narrative - even if most of the data on the case was never really substantiated and stories seemed to contradict each other. In short, nothing really substantial was resolved about the case. Much of the evidence was hearsay and inconclusive but the narrative spun around what little was there was spurious at best. As mentioned previously, Lui uses an extensive range of primary documents and representations. An analysis of the discourse reveals that is less about the facts of the case but rather how societies run and how people manage themselves.

In effect, the book is all about the "invention" of Leon Ling, Elsie Sigel and a bevy of characters surrounding the two. Lui is not only a credible historian but also a narrative craftsperson. Lui spins a yarn no less impressive than the actual events themselves. Her writing style accommodates the uninitiated and non-academic and engages both audiences which is appreciated for its clarity and simplicity.

Miguel Llora

Lui has written a wonderful book that uses a murder in New York to examine the complexity of race and gender in New York at the turn of the nineteenth century. Her research is first rate and the narrative she shapes is enthralling. One highlight of the book is the discussion of the ways that the Chinese community mobilized to defend itself from the attacks on Chinese, and Asians in general, that followed the discovery of the body. Her narrative is crisp and her analysis sharp.

Dr. Sowell is a gem! His experience and intelligence make this book a necessary read for everyone wanting to see the big picture regarding college admissions. There IS a systematic way to find the BEST college for a particular student. "Choosing a College" lays groundwork for the necessary homework and personal introspection this process ultimately requires.

Every potential applicant should read this book. I would personally advise parents (who want to get both feet firmly planted on the ground before your student begins this important and expensive life-altering process) to start by reading Dr. Sowell's "Inside American Education". He reveals many painful truths regarding our educational system, which newspapers seldom print and TV stations never broadcast.

This is a precursor to the later National Review Guide, and the ISI Guide called Choosing the Right College. Sowell's book is the BEST FIRST THING for you and your kids to read as they are in 9th, 10th, or 11th grade and you are thinking about where to ship them off to. After Sowell, read NR and ISI, and you will be well-positioned to read between the lines of all the other propaganda that's out there!

Christianity In The Academy: Teaching At The Intersection Of Faith And Learning distills the wisdom of author Harry Lee Poe (Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture, Union University), who also serves as the program director for the C. S. Lewis Foundation's Summer Institutes, a training resource on faith and scholarship issues especially for Christian Faculty. Wrestling with serious issues confronting Christian educators in institutions of higher learning, Christianity In The Academy touches upon the Christian worldview, interdisciplinary dialogue, the religious spectrum that can be found in higher education, the repercussions of the postmodern age, and much more. Tackling difficult dilemmas of faith and academics seemingly at odds, Christianity In The Academy is an opinionated but thoughtful resource recommended for personal contemplation among college educators of all levels who share a common bond through faith in Jesus Christ.

I must confess that Harry Poe's book Christianity in the Academy was not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting this book to be about teaching in an academy where an integration of Christianity and other disciplines would be assumed, and was rather surprised to find that in actuality it was mostly about how to be a Christian professor while teaching in a setting where it was not assumed. Thus the main thrust of this book seemed to be that all disciplines are related to each other, and thus are related to Christianity. This means that no matter what we are teaching there is a way for it to be taught Christianly. There is a Christian view of mathematics, a Christian view of physics, a Christian view of anthropology, etc.

Poe outlines three views on how Christianity relates to "secular" disciplines. The first view is that Christianity has nothing to do with disciplines like biology or sociology. As one mathematics professor at a Christian university said, "There is no such thing as a Christian perspective of quadratic equations." Or, as Tertullian said, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" Those who hold this view separate their faith from the "real world." They (usually) accept the faith/reason dichotomy brought by Kant, and see faith as something that really does not have much to do with the physical world or the creative world. It has little involvement with either the sciences or humanities. Perhaps the only place it could make it in is in a religion class, and even then it is usually set aside in an attempt to be unbiased about other religions (as if that were a real possibility).

The second position on how Christianity interacts with other disciplines is that we must "add Christ" into them. This view holds that in order for one to have a Christian view of a discipline, you must first add something Christian into the discipline that you wish to have a Christian view on. In other words, you take a science and add religious overtones to it. Good examples of this would be many people in the young earth creationist movement (geology), the KJV only advocates (textual criticism), etc.

Finally, there is the position that you can have a Christian position in any discipline because the Christian worldview is something that seeks to explain literally everything in the universe, and some things outside of it. One person to hold such a position would be Francis Schaeffer, who taught that the Christian worldview is about reality, not the faith realm. Nothing needs to be added to disciplines for them to relate to Christianity, they simply already do by the very virtue of existing, for everything that exists relates to one's worldview.

Not only does this view support the idea that Christianity is related to all disciplines, but it also supports the view that all disciplines are related to each other. As Schaeffer noted, theology tends to reflect the general culture, culture tends to reflect the idea present in contemporary music and art, and all of them can usually be traced back to philosophical ideas which have simply been integrated by the other disciplines. The Interdisciplinary Studies program at my own school (Lincoln Christian College) was spawned by these two ideas, and it still attempts to show how some disciplines are related (unfortunately they usually only cover art, music, and literature in any given period), although its original emphasis on relating Christianity to all the disciples seems to have waned greatly in recent years.

Poe calls for Christian professors who realize the integration of Christianity and other disciplines to step forward and teach Christianly within their field. He does not say that a biologist should start preaching to his biology class. He simply says that the biologist should teach biology from a Christian perspective. As C. S. Lewis said, "What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects--with their Christianity latent."

Understanding the relatedness of disciplines is essential to properly understanding any field which one may aspire to teach in at any level of higher academics. If, say, one wanted to teach in the field of theology, being able to grasp how theology takes its themes from philosophical, scientific, etc. issues of the day is vital to properly understanding the theological views of people in cultures and times different than our own. To understand the classical liberalists' theology we must understand the philosophical and scientific issues that were being raised in their culture at that time -- issues like naturalism and the mechanistic model of the universe taken from Newton's scientific discoveries.

Then, in order to be able to really teach theology to students so that they can truly understand the history of theology, we must be able to tell them how differing theological ideas arose in different times and places, and be able to explain the extent to which other disciplines influenced the development of theology through the ages. When this idea of ties between disciplines is lost, a field such as theology becomes largely unintelligible. Great men of the past end up looking silly, until we begin to understand what in their world was driving them to come up with what appear to us today to be extremely odd views. In order to understand historical theology, and contemporary theology, we must be able to trace its roots, and its roots are hardly ever so shallow that they do not stray into other disciplines.

Overall grade: A

This book was recommened to me by a friend and I thank him all the time! Easy to read, this books calmly explains what parents need to do. Suggestions, checklists, humor and sound advice make this book a must for parents to read as soone as think COLLEGE!

Panicked parents no more! Sally Rubenstone eliminates the needless worry and confusion associated with the college admission process. A simple yet sophisticated approach to eliminate the anxiety of securing a spot for your child in college.With a bit of humor sprinkled throughout,"College Adsmissions" was fun to read and allowed me to sleep through the night. Thanks Sally.

This book has the statistics and brief explanations on about 3000 undergraduate programs. It is a very good reference for the hard facts on the programs that one is interested in. The SAT preparation software that comes with the book is not spectacular, but the book itself is worth buying.

"The College Board Handbook" is a great general guide that stands with the best of them. I will recommend this to those who come to me, along with a number of other college reviews, and my pet favorite for kids to learn about character and leadership education and the true value of education to America, "West Point: Character Leadership Education: Thomas Jefferson" by Norman Thomas Remick.

This book has explanations and anecdotes on 150 undergraduate majors; very useful reference book.

I find the College Board Guide to 150 Popular Majors valuable in my work with college bound high school students. The information on each major includes interests and skills a student might possess, which are associated with success in this major. It recommends high school courses, which would be beneficial to a student considering a specific major, lists the college courses commonly required for the major, and careers associated with the degree. Alternative majors in the area are also suggested. We use this resource as a first step in our college selection process.

This book has it all--clarity, brevity and humor. We originally found it in the local library and soon wanted to own it. We especially like the author's little boxed anecdotes of his conversations, experiences with students.

Many students are now going to college and the knowledge they have about college is based on their high school experience. In some instances the knowledge is flawed. This book clearly states the behaviors needed to get in and succeed in college. I have given the book to students preparing for and attending college and they report it was most helpful.

College Matters was founded by a Harvard student who have passed through the admission process and knew how difficult it was to find the right information about admissions to elite colleges. Motivated by the idea of helping other students who are in their admission process to elite colleges, she founded College Matters. College Matters is a non-profit organization composed of students who have been already admitted to elite colleges. These students are there to help you in your own admission process.

The College Matters Guide in Getting into the Elite College of your Dreams is the first book written by members of College Matters. Students from top colleges as Harvard, Brown, MIT, Stanford, Northwestern and Yale share their knowledge about the whole admission process and help you to build a strong application for the most selective colleges. It shows you how to make the most of your high school years by explaining you every part of the application and what matters the most. I was highly impressed about the book accuracy because, I am from Puerto Rico, and there were many things I didn't know about the admission process in United States colleges, but with this book, I could get to know everything I needed and it gave me a clear idea of how to use wisely these last High School years.

The books cover everything from acing the SAT and ACT (updated with information about the New SAT), and choosing the right classes on high school, to making an excellent essay and finding scholarships. Every chapter is written by an expert in the area; take the example of Evelyn Huang, from Stanford, who wrote the Financial Aid chapter, she won more than $110,000 on scholarships.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who will pass through the admission process. I just finished the admission process and, guess what? I got into MIT! Thanks a lot to College Matters because this book really helped me a lot during the process!!!!

This book is absolutely AMAZING! I just got my copy a couple of days ago, and have already read it from cover to cover. Fred Hargadon, former Admission Dean of Swarthmore, Princeton, and Stanford raves about the book in the forward, and rightly so. I've read a lot of the books on the market, but never one that was this thorough. It's packed full of info on everything from the new format SAT to winning scholarships and financial aid to advice just for parents. And the informatin is wonderfully thorgouh--the authors are obviously very knowledgeable and i'm just glad that they decided to share everything they've learned with us.

Plus, i was surprised at what frank and straightforward information that this book contained from admissions deans and experts, in special inserts that supplemented what the authors wrote. I was also impressed that it seems to address a diversity of concerns, without droning on and on. Best of all, it is a great, fun read. Like Dean Hargadon said in the forward, the authors were obviously serious about the work, without taking themselves too seriously. This is a book that even a kid who hates to read can pick up and enjoy and identify with, as it is written by young people.

The motivation behind the book is also amazing. It was written by students from an acclaimed student-run non-profit called College Matters that has helped thousands of students apply to college. All proceeds from the book are benefitting a scholarship fund for underserved students. So i know that not only did i get a great read; the little bit of money i spent on the book all went to a great cause.

Overall, i would say if you are a high school student--or the parent of one--this is a book that you cannot afford not to read. The information contained inside could easily make the difference between getting in and getting rejected from your dream school, or winning or not the money to pay for your education wherever you go (BTW, despite the title, the book talks about applying to a wide variety of colleges, not just so-called elite colleges, so even if your not considering the traditional "elite" colleges, it will still be super useful).

My about-to be 15 year old, only child grand-daughter is very very bright, but her parents have fairly minimal experience at college choice-making, and we all want for her to be able to leave no stone unturned in the continuingly more complex, but sometimes generous options available to the college-bound. I plan to send it to her for her June birthday. Not much glitz or teen appeal, but she has more than a modicum of tolerance for delayed gratification, and loves schools and achievement. I think this book is excellent in its approach, its readableness (neologism ?), and the broadness of its' scope. I have read a library copy and can't wait for her to own one.

I found the book to be very informative. It covers everything from what courses admission officers' like to see on transcripts, to tips on how to save money for college without having it deducted from, if your applying for it, financial aid.

The book doesn't contain anything about specific schools (like admissions, GPAs, etc..), it is more of a overview on things like deciding location, size, and other factors involved in choosing a college.

One thing I found really interesting was that the book gave all sorts of hints,tips, and facts on colleges. It also proved and disproved many myths surrounding college entrance.

Overall, being a highschool sophomore, I found it well worth the price. This book takes you from beginning to end on the ABCs of college and gives steps on how to prepare no matter what age or level you're at. It really helped me, and I would highly reccomend it to anyone who is planning to go to college and doesn't know where to start.