Brain Food

Radio Stations
If you'd like to keep up with current events but can't find the time to read the New York Times, try listening to NPR news radio. You have your choice of programs: Morning Edition 6:00 -- 8:30 mornings, or All Things Considered 5::00-7:30 . You can also listen on the web at www.npr.org Check the site for the station in your area.

Music
Tabula Rasa by Arvo Paert. A haunting collection of atmospheric tonal music.

Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. If you have only one jazz CD, this should be it. From "So What" to "All Blues" a milestone (if you'll pardon the pun) collection.

Bach's Cello Sonata's. Incredible music. Goes straight to your cerebral cortex and stuns you. I like the Pablo Casals rendition -- though the Yo-Yo Ma is quite good and much easier to find

Suggested Reading
Most available from OCC's library

Periodicals
The Nation: weekly information with a decidedly uncorporate view. It gives you the lowdown on how government and business are slowly eating away at our constitutional rights.

Harper's Magazine: monthly magazine which includes a mix of short excerpts from letters from insurance companies, internal memos from businesses, artwork, essays on contemporary issues and culture, and short stories.

The New York Times Book Review: Did you ever think to yourself "I don't know what to read?" This weekly magazine prints short reviews on recent books and is a great way to pick out your next book.

Smithsonian Magazine: Everything from art (great illustrations) to zoology, once a month. A fantastic way to painlessly gain the kind of cultural literacy that will make you a favorite at cocktail parties -- and sure to make your boss think "I knew I did good when I hired her/him."

The New York Review of Books: A liberal-arts degree in the pages of a magazine. Rich, engrossing book reviews and essays that are accessible yet scholarly.

Books

Guerin, Wilfred, et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 4 th Edition. New York : Oxford UP, 1999.
A must have for any student of literature (it's on my bookshelf), this book offers several different ways to read literary texts, along with specific examples.

The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Ed. Ed. Hirsch, Joseph Kett, and James Trefil.
This belongs on your reference shelf. Contains short entries and illustrations on items/phrases which often fall under the radar of encyclopedia.

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. A fascinating guide to America from the ground up. Instead of reading about George Washington's wooden teeth, you can read about the people who made his teeth, how much they were paid (or not paid), and why they kept rioting.

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. A, well, amusing look at how television, with its passive format, is slowly (quickly?) destroying our will. Dated, but still relevant.

Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
Review by Amazon.Com: An absolutely brilliant analysis of the ways in which individuals and organizations of the media are influenced to shape the social agendas of knowledge and, therefore, belief. Contrary to the popular conception of members of the press as hard-bitten realists doggedly pursuing unpopular truths, Herman and Chomsky prove conclusively that the free-market economics model of media leads inevitably to normative and narrow reporting. Whether or not you've seen the eye-opening movie, buy this book, and you will be a far more knowledgeable person and much less prone to having your beliefs manipulated as easily as the press.

Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman. A fantastic and graphic (literally and figuratively -- it's literally a graphic [i.e. cartoon panels] and figuratively gut-wrenching) look at the Holocaust through the eyes of a cartoonist who interviews his father -- who survived Auswich. By turns wickedly funny (the father is the kind of person who leaves the gas burner on at a summer house so he won't have to pay for matches to light it) and devastating (he also recounts walking over the bodies of concentration camp prisoners who had died of typhus), it puts a "human" face on a horrific event.

The Commissar Vanishes by David King. A fascinating collections of Stalin era fabricated photographs that illustrate the lengths to which a regime will go to protect its image.

Without Sanctuary. A collection of photographs and postcards of lynching in America. A haunting reminder of a past that is regularly ignored. You can also view a flash movie with highlights from the book and narrated by the collector.

Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler.
Do you like books that make you question reality? That make you pause and say "Hmmm, this sounds too false to be true . . ."? Do you like the reader's whiplash when you blink and suddenly realize it was true? Do you like that added dollop of suspense when you realize you can't tell for sure what's "real" and what's "not real"? If so, you'll like this book.

Great Artists by Michael Cummings. A short and accessible history of painting and painters. Great format: a major work by each artist with commentary on how that work connects to the overall work of the artist. A perfect intro to art history.

From Dawn to Decadence by Jacques Barzun. History told as one long story -- and made relevant today. A great antidote to the often rushed presentation of Western Civilization in college courses.

Jimmy Corrigan, or, The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware. One of the most touching graphic novels I've ever read. Funny, sad, moving -- and a comic book. Ya gotta' read this.

Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalist Expose the Myth of a Free Press edited by Krinstina Borjesson. Filled with specific examples of how the government, business, and other competing forces interfere with your first amendment right to know what's going on around with.

The Craft of Revision by Donald Murray. Filled with ideas on how to revise your prose, this book is perfect for those interested in improving their writing skills -- a group which includes everyone.

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. A classic book on writing that wears its age lightly. Available on the net, but it's a browser's delight and worth purchasing.