Bibliography

This is a very incomplete list of some of the books in my life.
If they are on this page, it is because I recommend them.

School Text Books I Use With My Classes

Science & Nature Books

	The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin "A history of man's search to know his world and himself."		Five Kingdoms by Lynn Margulis and Karlene V. Schwartz "An illustrated guide to the phyla of life on Earth"
	Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology by Isaac Asimov "A history The lives and achievements of 1510 great scientists from ancient times to the present."		Mathematics and the Imagination by Edward Kasner and James Newman This book was recommended to me by one of my favorite professors at Boston University. It is a good book for anyone who would like to change their opinion of math from "Urgh!" to "Hmmm... interesting...".
	Understanding Nutrition by Eleanor Whitney and Eva Hamilton A university-level introductory text book about the study of nutrition.		How Sex Works by Elizabeth Fenwick and Richard Walker "A fully illustrated, authoritative, and completely up-to-date guide to every aspect of the adolescent mind and body."
	*Quel est donc cet oiseau ?* by W. Cerny and K Drchal An easy-to-use identification book with maps, illustrations, descriptions and the names of nearly 400 birds in several languages.

Practical Books

	*Paris et Banlieue L'Indispensable* I love maps and this book of maps of the Paris area is excellent. I never leave home without it.		Paris des enfants by Marylène Bellenger It's not easy finding worthwhile activities for my kids in a country I didn't grow up in - this book has been a big help finding zoos, museums, parks, and the like.
	Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen I enjoy cooking and this book is full of healthy, natural recipes.

Favorite Novels

Books Which Changed My Life

	The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mohandas K. Gandhi The autobiography of the man who freed India through nonviolent protest.		State of the World by Lester R. Brown and the Worldwatch Institute. "A report on progress toward a sustainable society." This book is published each year to explain the current situation of the world's environment and what we can do to help.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R.Covey, 1997. 389 pages.

After years of researching families who have overcome difficulties and found ways of solving their problems, Stephen Covey came up with a list of the seven things these people did to reunite their families and keep them on the right track.

This book is full of suggestions for building better relationships between family members, organizing time for the family to do fun things together and to discuss plans and problems. Mr. Covey is a father of nine children himself, and all the members of the family have passages that they contributed to the book.

The book has some interesting things to say about our society today and how it seems to be less and less oriented toward family. Television, films, popular music, and even legislation seem to promote everything but maintaining faithful marriages and families which stick together. Covey states several times that if we don't raise our children, society will. A chilling thought when we consider the role models that children see.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when we are reminded that one of the things that make humans so unique on this planet is that we have the capacity to do more than just react to our environment by reflex or instinct. He points out that between stimulus and response, there is a gap. In that gap, there is room to use your freedom to choose. In making your choice as to what you are going to do, you can use one of the four gifts you were given at birth: self awareness (the ability to step back and look at yourself), conscience (the ability to distinguish good from bad), imagination (the ability to visualize and plan things before they happen), and independent will (the ability to make a decision and stick to it because you believe that it is the right thing to do).

This book is full of realistic, concrete ideas, most which are not difficult at all to implement. Much of what is said in the book is common sense, but it is important to bring it to a conscious level. It's good to get reminded once in a while why we are here, what our purpose in life is. Over the millions of years of human development and the rise and fall of civilizations, the concept of family has remained fundamental. Build strong families and you have a strong society.

I highly recommend this book for everyone. Even if you are not raising a family or even if you think your children are "all grown up", this book deals with the family in a much larger sense - grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, cousins, etc.

Note that Mr. Covey's son has written a book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which is also available in French. The kind of book to leave around the house where a teen might see it and pick it up. It's the same 7 habits as above but written for a young people.

Mr. Damon's Library

School Text Books I Use With My Classes

Science & Nature Books

Practical Books

Favorite Novels

Books Which Changed My Life