{"id":1473,"date":"2015-12-18T10:30:41","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T15:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/?p=1473"},"modified":"2015-12-18T10:30:41","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T15:30:41","slug":"ted-speakers-on-books-worth-sharing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/?p=1473","title":{"rendered":"TED Speakers on Books Worth Sharing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo

Photo by Christian Schnettelker (www.manoftaste.de)<\/p><\/div>\n

Looking for something to spark your imagination over the winter break? The following list showcases books in our collection that have ignited a spark in the minds of TED speakers. For more books, see the full list<\/a> at the TED site.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.\u00a0<\/strong> The Forsyte Saga<\/strong><\/a><\/em> by John Galsworthy
\n\u201cThis is cheating, because it\u2019s a series of novels! Like so many great novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries, very little actually happens, but the characters and their world are painted so well, and so truthfully, that every page becomes a thing of almost unbearable beauty.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Simon Anholt<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

2. <\/em><\/strong> All the Light We Cannot See<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Anthony Doerr
\n\u201cThis is one of those books where you feel like you have fallen deeply into someone else\u2019s dream. It\u2019s an epic World War II story, but it\u2019s the tenderness on every page that is haunting.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Rachel Botsman<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

3. <\/em><\/strong> Jane Eyre<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Charlotte Bront\u00eb
\n\u201cI read this when I was eight. And I\u2019ve read it a few times since, and watched it onscreen too. Nothing dulls it or stops me loving small, plain Jane, a Yorkshire lass like me, who had more spirit and fire in her 150 years ago than I probably do today, with all my modern freedoms and privilege. I love the story because it is a tale of a woman becoming free, while still being a classic love story. I mean, there\u2019s even a madwoman in the attic. But I love Jane because I love Charlotte too: a woman who triumphed in a deeply patriarchal world, getting published and getting famous, while living in a cold, glum vicarage on the edge of the moors. Emily Bront\u00eb\u2019s Wuthering Heights<\/em> is seen as a trickier, better book by many, because they are fooled by the romance of Jane Eyre<\/em>. Look behind that, and you find a character as complex and wonderful as any Cathy or Heathcliff, in little, plain Jane, who would always \u2018rather be happy than dignified.\u2019\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Rose George<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

4.<\/em><\/strong> Silence<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Shusaku Endo
\n\u201cSet in 17th-century Japan, this stark, impeccably structured novel revolves around a haunting question: How can God remain silent in the face of human suffering? Endo\u2019s work traces the journey of Sebastian Rodrigues, a Portuguese Jesuit sent to minister to local Christians under violent state persecution \u2014 and to investigate reports of another priest\u2019s apostasy. This deeply ambiguous work refuses to provide any easy answers to its central inquiry \u2014 it just raises another that readers, regardless of belief, will grapple with long after: How much are we willing to suffer to end the suffering of others?\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Noy Thrupkaew<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

5. <\/em><\/strong> Where Wizards Stay Up Late<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Katie Hafner
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the remarkable and rarely told story of the people who created the internet. For all its ubiquity and importance in the modern world, we tend to forget that the internet was the result of imagination, hard work and remarkable feats of engineering from a relatively small group of brilliant people. One day the people behind the first networked computing in the late 1960s and early 1970s might be held in the same regard as Fleming, Faraday or Edison. Where Wizards Stay Up Late<\/em> tells their story in meticulous (and occasionally quite funny \u2014 such as the very first word ever transmitted online, which was \u2018lo\u2019 before the system crashed) detail. Anyone who is interested in where the internet came from, and why it was designed like it was \u2014 which really should be all of us \u2014 must read this book.\u201d
\n\u2014\u00a0Recommended by <\/em>Jamie Bartlett<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

6. <\/em><\/strong> How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Steven Johnson
\n\u201cThis book really showed me the amazing pathways that led to innovations that make our lives work today. The stories are told almost like a dramatic mystery to make the history come to life with excitement and aha moments.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Bill Gross<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

7. <\/em><\/strong> Against Method<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by Paul Feyerabend
\n\u201cI love this book very much because it helped me reconsider how I think, how knowledge is produced, organized, what is science, what is belief and how the logic of play and chaos can be fertile grounds to a healthy living culture.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Cesar Harada<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

8. <\/em><\/strong> Batman: Year One<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great novel about urban crime that just happens to have Batman in it.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Chip Kidd<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

9. <\/em><\/strong> Wangari\u2019s Trees of Peace<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Jeanette Winter
\n\u201cThis is one of my daughter\u2019s favorite books. I like it too because it is never too early to teach children about protecting the environment, social activism and standing up for what is right.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Benedetta Berti<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

10.<\/strong><\/em> My Bondage and My Freedom<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Frederick Douglass
\n\u201c\u2018No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.\u2019 To me, this quote perfectly illustrates the effect that slavery had on those who were raised to uphold its tenets. That a system can be a detriment even to those that may benefit from it I find incredibly poignant even in today\u2019s society. It\u2019s so important that we recognize the implications of our beliefs both in how they affect ourselves as well as others. My Bondage and My Freedom<\/em> not only taught me about the cruel reality of slavery but also showed that in the most depraved systems humanity will seek to reach its potential no matter what obstacles are placed in its path.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Zak Ebrahim<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

11.<\/strong><\/em> Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Bryan Stevenson
\n\u201cThis book showed that you can tell the stories of the roughest, the most searing, the most inhumane parts of our world, and leave your audience feeling more human and more hopeful than before.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Jake Barton<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

12. <\/em><\/strong> Art as Experience<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by John Dewey
\n\u201cI love that he pulls the aesthetic out of the rarified and into the everyday. He makes the point of art as absolutely accessible and essential.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>BJ Miller<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

13.<\/strong><\/em> The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Steven Mithen
\n\u201cThis is a brilliant read for anyone who is passionately connected to music. Mithen brings together psychology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, archaeology and more to uncover just how deeply music is embedded in our species. Immensely readable, quirky and full of insight into our human condition, this book drops my jaw at least once per chapter.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Meklit Hadero<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get it<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n

14.<\/em> <\/strong>After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Alasdair MacIntyre
\nSpheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Michael Walzer
\n\u201cI\u2019d offer two books. They are masterful works of moral philosophy that have changed the way I think about justice, work and virtue. MacIntyre is not an easy read, but these two books changed my life.\u201d
\n\u2014 Recommended by <\/em>Barry Schwartz<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Get them here<\/strong> and<\/a><\/p>\n

here<\/strong><\/a> from Thomas Library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking for something to spark your imagination over the winter break? The following list showcases books in our collection that have ignited a spark in the minds of TED speakers. For more books, see the full list at the TED site.   1.\u00a0 The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy \u201cThis is cheating, because it\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-thomas-library"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1473"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1480,"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions\/1480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wittprojects.net\/library_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}