My Reading List for Parents (and Non-Parents and Teachers, too) — Oldies, But Goodies and New Stuff, Too
There is no particular order to these. Meander through and pick ones that strike your fancy!
- Postman, Neil, & Weingartner, Charles. (1989). Teaching as a Subversive Activity. New York: Dell.
- Loewen, James W. (1995/2007). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.
- Marshall, J. Dan, Sears, James T., Anderson Allen, Louise, Roberts, Patrick A., & Schubert, William H. (2000/2007). Turning Points in Curriculum: A Contemporary American Memoir. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.
- Kozol, Jonathan. (1991). Savage Inequalities: Children In America' Schools. New York: Harper Perennial.
- Freire, Paulo. (1998). Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Gatto, John Taylor. (1992). Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Philadelphia: New Society.
- Goodman, Paul. (1962/1964). Compulsory Mis-education and The Community of Scholars. New York: Vingtage. — 2 books in 1
- Conroy, Pat. (1972). The Water is Wide. New York: Avon. — ALSO, SEE: the movie version, Conrak starring Jon Voigt, Paul Winfield, and others. Expensive on Amazon, but may be available in parts on YouTube.
- Gruwell, Erin, & 150 Teenagers. (1999). The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. New York: Broadway Books.
- Kohl, Herbert. (1967/1988). 36 Children. New York: Plume. — The book responsible for my diversion into teaching.
- Louv, Richard. (2006). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.
- Nachmanovich, Stephen. (1990). Free Play: IMPROVisATIOn in Life and Art. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam.
- Bateson, Nora. (2016). Small Arcs of Larger Circles: Framing Through Other Patterns. Axminster, England: Triarchy Press. (SEE below for more information.)
New Recommended Books
Nora Bateson's New Book: Small Arcs of Larger Circles: Framing Through Other Patterns — a scientific-psychological-social-poetic-artistic exploration of complexity, learning, life, and the big issues we're facing.
Available from Amazon
Also available from: Triarchy Press
Tyler Volk's New Book: Quarks to Culture: How We Came to Be — a further exploration of metapatterns
Available from Columbia University Press.
When ordering from the publisher (Columbia University Press), use QUARK to receive a 30% discount (until December, 2018).
Also available for a substantial savings from Amazon.
Books
Underlined text indicates links to the resources or information about the resources.
Teaching & Learning
- Bloom, J. W. (2011). The really useful elementary science book. New York: Routledge.
- Bloom, J. W. (2006). Creating a classroom community of young scientists (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
- Bloom, J. W. (1998). Creating a classroom community of young scientists: A teacher’s desktop companion. Concord, Ontario: Irwin Publishing.
- Cagliari, P., Castagnetti, M., Giudici, C., Rinaldi, C., Vecchi, V., & Moss, P. (eds.). (2016). Loris Malaguzzi and the schools of Reggio Emilia: A selection of his writings and speeches, 1945-1993. New York: Routledge.
- Fraser, S., & Gestwicki, C. (2001). Authentic childhood: Experiencing Reggio Emilia in the classroom. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
- Wein, C. A. (2008). Emergent curriculum in the primary classroom: Interpreting the Reggio Emilia approach in schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
Patterns
- Ball, P. (2009). Branches: Nature's patterns - a tapestry in three parts. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Ball, P. (2009). Flow: Nature's patterns - a tapestry in three parts. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Ball, P. (2009). Flow: Nature's patterns - a tapestry in three parts. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Barabási, A.-L. (2010). Bursts: The hidden pattern behind everything we do. New York: Dutton.
- Bateson, G. (1979/2002). Mind and nature: A necessary unity. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
- Bateson, G. (1991). A sacred unity: Further steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Cornelia & Michael Bessie Book/Harper Collins.
- Bateson, G., & Bateson, M. C. (2005, 1987). Angels fear: Towards an epistemology of the sacred. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
- Bateson, W. (1894). Materials for the study of variation treated with especial regard to discontinuity in the origin of species. London: Macmillan and Company.
- Bejan, A., & Peder Zane, J. (2012). Design in nature: How the construct law governs evolution in biology, physics, technology, and social organization. New York: Anchor Books.
- Burke, J. (1978). Connections. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
- Carroll, S. B. (2005). Endless forms most beautiful: The new science of evo dev. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
- Coward, L. A. (1990). Pattern thinking. New York: Praeger.
- Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row.
- Forsythe, A. (1989). The architecture of animals: The equinox guide to wildlife structures. Camden East, Ontario, Canada: Camden House.
- Gould, S. J. (1987). Time's arrow, Time's cycle: Myth and metaphor in the discovery of geological time. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Hall, E. T. (1966). The hidden dimension. New York: Doubleday Anchor.
- Kappraff, J. (1991). Connections: The geometric bridge between art and science. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Kelso, J. A. S., & Engstrøm, D. A. (2006). The complementary nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Koestler, A. (1967). The ghost in the machine. New York: Macmillan.
- Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- McHarg, I. L. (1971, 1969). Design with nature. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday & Company.
- Stevens, P. S. (1974). Patterns in nature. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
- Thompson, D'A. W. (1992, 1942). On growth and form: The complete revised edition. New York: Dover Publications.
- Volk, T. (1995). Metapatterns: Across space, time, and mind. New York: Columbia University Press.
Systems and Systems Thinking
- Harries-Jones, P. (2002). A recursive vision: Ecological understanding and Gregory Bateson. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.
- Weinberg, G. M. (2001, 1975). An introduction to general systems thinking (Silver Anniversary Edition). New York: Dorset House Publishing.
- Wilbur, K. (1996). A brief history of everything. Boston: Shambhala Publications.
- Wilder, C., & Weakland, J. H. (eds.). (1981). Rigor & imagination: Essays from the legacy of Gregory Bateson. New York: Praeger.