- Neill, Alexander Sutherland. 1960. Summerhill: a radical approach to child rearing. New York: Hart Pub. Co. [Although the author/school/book has been criticized on various accounts (as can be found in Hart 1970), most of the criticisms are based on misunderstanding. The author points out that if educators force students to do things against the students' will, the students will not only fail to learn but also develop resistance to the learning process itself. Analogous phenomena happen across our life span, e.g., forceful parenting resulting in insecure attachment..]
- Siegel, Ronald D. 2010. The mindfulness solution: everyday practices for everyday problems. New York: Guilford Press. [Excellent introduction. But the amazing thing is that basically all the main points in the book had already been laid by the Buddha some 2500 years ago.]
- Holt, John Caldwell. 1976. Instead of education: ways to help people do things better. New York: Dutton. [Although dated and with some limitations, I found the author's observation extremely sharp and his opinion really honest.]
- Weissbourd, Richard. 2009. The Parents We Mean to Be: How well-intentioned adults undermine children's moral and emotional development. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. [Later chapters are not as strong (e.g., I would rather turn to Kohn's No Contest on sports issues in Ch. 7). However, I share that the author's point that the most essential aspect of parenting is moral capacity and actions (not just moral literacy). In addition, I agree with the author's arugument about self-centered happiness and self-esteem as problematic.]
- Moffitt, Phillip. 2008. Dancing with life: Buddist insights for finding meaning and joy in the face of suffering. New York: Rodale. [An excellent introduction of the Buddha's most fundamental teachings in an accessible and non-religious manner, potentially useful for many readers.]
- Zinn, Howard. 2003. A people's history of the United States: 1492-present. New York: HarperCollins. [Why do we repeat the same problems, e.g., wars and bad economy, over and over? Even though the book doesn't provide an answer, it prominently addresses the question.]
- Price, Weston A. 2006. Nutrition and physical degeneration, 7th ed. La Mesa, CA: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. [The original edition published in 1939. Although some aspects of the book is dated, the author convincingly discusses how "primitive" people were free from cavities and maintained relatively good health while "modern" people fare much worse.]
- Wilkinson, Richard G. 2005. The impact of inequality: how to make sick societies healthier. New York: New Press. [Traces the role of inequality for health and psychosocial problems. Proposes an interesting link between competition and cooperation in connection to societal constraints.]
- Smuts, Jan Christiaan. 1961. Holism and evolution. New York: Viking Press (originally published in 1926; various other editions available). [In this book (1926), Smuts coined the word "holism" (and thus "holistic" as well ) He previews many of the current complex systems ideas. For example, he emphasizes "creativity," which encompasses "emergence," and discusses "personality" (integration of mind and body) leading to morality, mindfulness, and spirituality. I'm not sympathetic to his political position, though.]
- Kohn, Alfie. [Makes excellent arguments in many areas, challenging common but incorrect assumptions.]
- 1992. No contest: the case against competition, Rev. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
- 1993. Punished by rewards: the trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A's, praise, and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
- 2005. Unconditional parenting: moving from rewards and punishments to love and reason. Atria Books.
- 1990. The brighter side of human nature: altruism and empathy in everyday life. New York: Basic Books.
- Grolnick, Wendy S. 2003. The psychology of parental control: how well-meant parenting backfires. L. Erlbaum Associates. [Distinguishes "in control" or "structure" (good) and "controlling" (bad); many excellent points about parenting, also in line with Alfie Kohn's arguments.]
- Robertson, Brian C. 2003. Day care deception: what the child care establishment isn't telling us. Encounter Books. [Exposes the entanglement among academics, media, business, and government regarding day care thrives despite most parents' wish.]
- Varela, Francisco J., Thompson, Evan, and Rosch, Eleanor. 1991. The embodied mind: cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press. [An amazingly deep observation, connecting cognitive science (and other fields) with the Buddhist tradition of mindfulness meditation. The book critically examines many major Western thinkers. Another book of his (with Maturana) "The Tree of Knoledge" explores similar ideas (less mindfulness meditation) in an easier way.]
- Hoffman, Martin L. 2000. Empathy and moral development: implications for caring and justice. Cambridge University Press. [To my surprise, this became my "discipline" book (i.e., for parenting). It discusses how empathy can be the main source of moral development through disciplinary actions. The author is concerned about society if such a process would not be in place. Unfortunately, we may be living in such society.]
- Karen, Robert. 1998. Becoming attached: first relationships and how they shape our capacity to love. Oxford University Press. [An excellent introduction to child-caregiver attachment, with a lot of background and contextual information. Also available as a hardback with a slightly different title (1994).]
- Siegel, Daniel J. 1999. The developing mind: toward a neurobiology of interpersonal experience. Guilford Press. [A great integration of research related to child-caregiver attachment through a complex systems perspective.]
- Freeman, Walter J. 2000. How brains make up their minds. New York: Columbia University Press. [An eye-opening integration of neuroscience into intentionality and socio-cultural development based on complex systems ideas; it proposes "unlearning" (through trances, rituals, and sleep) as a core of human development.]
- Fogel, Alan. 1993. Developing through relationships: origins of communication, self, and culture. University of Chicago Press. [Explains the notions of relationship, self, and culture through co-regulated communication; offers a very principled way of looking at complex issues.]
- Karr-Morse, Robin and Wiley, Meredith S. 1997. Ghosts from the nursery: tracing the roots of violence. The Atlantic Monthly Press. [A really good summary of what is wrong with child rearing in this country. While many parenting books are so procedural and shallow, this reviews more meaningful principles for child rearing and fixing society. Some quotes: "Perhaps we need a little child to lead us. Perhaps our real challenge is to hold the face and the needs of the baby like a template over all of the decisions we make." "while we have put great effort toward protecting ourselves from external dangers, the greater threat is from internal deterioration of the soft tissue at our nation's core"]
- Greenspan, Stanley I. and Benderly, Beryl Lieff. 1997. The growth of the mind: and the endangered origins of intelligence. Addison-Wesley Pub. [Emphasizes the importance of emotional development as the basis of balanced human development including intelligence; also extends the discussion toward understanding social issues.]
- Wallace, B. Alan. 2000. The taboo of subjectivity: toward a new science of consciousness. Oxford University Press. [Sharp criticism of scientific materialism (not of science itself, though); many good points on the importance of taking subjectivity seriously; Some quotes: "Scientific materialism ... at least implicitly encourages satisfaction with merely adequate mental well-being while promoting the ideal of ever-increasing physical prosperity." "The value system that is implicit in the worldview of scientific materialism is consumerism.... Tragically, the overconsumption by the industrialized world, where scienific materialism is most dominant, together with its massive proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, is endangering our very survival as a species ...."]
- Solms, Mark and Turnbull, Oliver. 2002. The brain and the inner world: an introduction to the neuroscience of subjective experience. Other Press. [Accessible, yet highly illuminating treatment of subjectivity through the integration of psychoanalysis (subjective) and neuroscience (objective).]
- Engel, Susan. 2005. Real kids: creating meaning in everyday life. Harvard University Press. [Refreshing to see a book which points out the importance of phenomenologically observe "real" kids, not being filtered through researchers' lenses.]
- Moerman, Daniel E. 2002. Meaning, medicine, and the 'placebo effect'. Cambridge University Press. [This makes us think about the meaning of healing and also the meaning of life. His explanation of the placebo effect as meaning response (cf. conditioning, expectation) seems to make sense. ]
- Donald, Merlin. 1991. Origins of the modern mind: three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. Harvard University Press. [Although this work is not much cited recently, it is a very stimulating story of modern mind, including a lot of discussion about language evolution. Despite its date, the ideas are consistent with many more recent discoveries, e.g., "mirror neurons."]
- Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer. 1999. Mother nature: maternal instincts and how they shape the human species. Ballantine Books. [Important concepts such evolution are well discussed from a mother's point of view. But I still have questions about the author's position about the career vs. parenting issue.]
- Toft, Klaus. 2005. Killers in Eden. Australian Broadcasting Corp. [An amazing story about the interaction between killer whales and whalers in Australia; PBS link; another info page]
- Eberstadt, Mary. 2004. Home-alone America: the hidden toll of day care, behavioral drugs, and other parent substitutes. Sentinel. [Relates many today's problems with diminishing time spent by parents with their children; courageous work.]
- Shipler, David K. 2004. The working poor: invisible in America. Knopf. [The book is full of touching stories. In many places, it emphasizes the interdepencency among factors and the need of holistic approaches.]
- Corning, Peter A. 2003. Nature's magic: synergy in evolution and the fate of humankind. Cambridge University Press. [Currently, my favorite treatment of complex systems. It contains an impressive array of examples and mostly convincing list of involved factors. I still question the source of the purposefulness of living organisms (teleology), though.]
- Tenpenny, Sherri J. 2004. Vaccines: The Risks, the Benefits, the Choices (DVD). New Medical Awareness Seminars. [Contains a list of surprising research results. A must for all parents.]
- Newman, Katherine S. 2004. Rampage: the social roots of school shootings. Basic Books. [A very careful analysis of the complexity behind the tragic events. But could have emphasized more about the role of family and competition.]
- Perkins, John. 2004. Confessions of an economic hit man. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. [Extremely disturbing stories. Although I respect the courage of the author, I still question why he proudly repeated his "resume" multiple times in the book. Unfortunately, certain numbers the author repeats (e.g., 24,000 people die every day) did not reach me with real significance, as he "played" numbers all his life (even after leaving his EHM position).]
- Callahan, David. 2004. The cheating culture: why more Americans are doing wrong to get ahead. Harcourt. [Sickening array of cheating examples. Some very good suggestions, but I will most likely pursue a somewhat different approach. Chapter 1 available on-line]
- Poe, Edgar Allan. 1973. Eureka: a prose poem. Transcendental Books (originally published in 1848 by Putnam). [Amazing insight into logical thinking, science, and complex phenomena, for an essay written so long ago (available on-line).]
- Randolph, Theron G. and Moss, Ralph W. 1980. An alternative approach to allergies: the new field of clinical ecology unravels the environmental causes of mental and physical ills. Harper & Row. [Like reading an interesting detective story. Unfortunate to realize the history of clinical ecology being crushed by the conventional medicine. Also as paperback (1990).]
- Suzuki, David. 2003. The sacred balance. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. [A mind-opening TV series. Many examples of complex systems.]
- Rose, Mike. 2004. The mind at work: valuing the intelligence of the American worker. Viking. [An eye-opening analysis of various careers with truely open mind. Also an excellent comment about good teaching.]
- Warren, Elizabeth and Tyagi, Amelia Warren. 2003. The two-income trap: why middle-class mothers and fathers are going broke. Basic Books. [A very good analysis of the "middle-class" crisis. Their analysis will be especially relevant as the real estate bubble is destined to burst.]
- Gottman, John M., Murray, James D., Swanson, Catherine C., Tyson, Rebecca, and Swanson, Kristin. 2002. The mathematics of marriage: dynamic nonlinear models. MIT Press. [Very good examples of modeling a real-world phenomenon (but Ch. 11 is a bit pompous). Above all, the book has a lot of practical information for couples and those in love.]
- Folbre, Nancy. 2001. The invisible heart: economics and family values. New Press. [Discusses the impacts of caring on the society, from the view point of "social feminism."]
- Watts, Duncan J. 2003. Six degrees: the science of a connected age. Norton. [A nontechnical introduction to the idea of "small worlds," a class of networks which are heavily clustered (existence of groups) yet highly connected (every pair is relatively close). Also with many connections to related areas.]
- Camazine, Scott, et al. 2001. Self-organization in biological systems. Princeton University Press. [Collection of interesting comlex biological behaviors and their computer simulations.]
- Kennedy, James F., Eberhart, Russell C., and Shi, Yuhui. 2001. Swarm intelligence. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. [An interesting introduction to complex systems with engineering applications.]
- Loeckx, Jacques, Ehrich, Hans-Dieter, and Wolf, Markus. 1996. Specification of abstract data types. Wiley. [A good intro to the use of model-theoretic ideas to software specification.]
- Ebbinghaus, H. D., Flum, J., and Thomas, W. 1984. Mathematical Logic. Springer-Verlag. [Includes some model theory and advanced discussions; the second edition available.]
- Hintikka, Jaakko. 1996. The Principles of Mathematics Revisited. Cambridge Univ. Press [An eye-opening (game-theoretic) treatment of logic. Prerequisite: first-order logic.]
Last modified: June 13, 2010