Summer Reading Fun

Yay! Finals Are Done!

The weather is beautiful and our minds are allowed to roam as free as a butterfly. So where do we begin? Why a good book of course. Let your mind be consumed with far off places, great adventures, mysterious occurrences, fact or fiction, the choices are limitless.

Where did I begin, you ask? Well, with my favorite author, Stephen King. I have read all of his books except one, The Stand. I was very excited to read a real novel after a long year of textbooks and study guides. I sat down and began to read the enormous 1,153-page book and was immediately enthralled. I had no idea what the book was about, only that it was really long. After the first few pages, I realized that it may not have been the best choice for someone with my easily excitable imagination. A super-flu, of our own making, wipes out almost all of mankind and the ensuing battle between Good and Evil is on. Frightening in the current crisis, yet completely captivating. I finished the book in less than a week and it was quite amazing!

As I went looking for my next great read I decided to reach out to our own SUNY Ulster faculty for their recommendations. I was elated to have received numerous responses. So,  I’ve done my best to categorize a small assortment into a summer reading list with something for everyone.

Christopher Seubert, Assistant Professor and Program Director for Fine Arts and Visual Arts at  SUNY Ulster said, “I find it important to take time to read. It activates, stimulates, and occupies my mind and creativity in an engaging way.”

So let’s dive in and stimulate our minds and imaginations!

Each selection can be clicked on to view a preview of the book. 

Non-Fiction/Slavery & Racism

What a truly relevant subject matter at this time in our nation’s history. Slavery and Racism have left a long and scathing wound in the history of this great country. Reading about it, understanding the plights of others, and opening your eyes to the past can help us in the present and aid in a brighter future.

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

This book explores the counterproductive reactions that white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

Slave in the White House by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor

Paul Jennings was an American personal servant, as a young slave, to President James Madison during and after his White House years. After buying his freedom in 1845 from Daniel Webster, Jennings is noted for publishing in 1865 the first White House memoir.

This is a biography of his life, but also an insight into many other forgotten slaves, abolitionists, and civil rights activists.

Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave
by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

A startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Never Caught is the powerful narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington’s runaway slave who risked everything to escape the nation’s capital and reach freedom.

The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
dictated by Sojourner Truth (ca. 1797-1883) edited by Olive Gilbert

“Remarkably, one of the most important accounts of American slavery takes place here in Ulster Country. It seems more essential than ever that we read it, in some sense as an act of witness to our local past. The story of enslavement, gradual emancipation, and abolition in the Hudson Valley is a complicated one. Don’t be deterred by the surface of the Victorian prose in Truth’s story. What lies within these pages is nothing short of a searing emotional account, full of indelible moments, which will change the way you see the region around you forever. “
-Matthew DelaMater,  SUNY Ulster Adjunct Faculty, Social Sciences

Non-Fiction/History

The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr

Prizewinning author Jonathan Harr embarks on a spellbinding journey to discover the long-lost painting known as The Taking of Christ. Its mysterious fate and the circumstances of its disappearance have captivated Caravaggio devotees for years. After Francesca Cappelletti stumbles across a clue in that dusty archive, she tracks the painting across a continent and hundreds of years of history. But it is not until she meets Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer working in Ireland, that she finally manages to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle.

The Island at the Center of the World by Russel Shorto

This is the story of New Netherland, the Dutch colony that pre-dated the Pilgrims and established ideals of tolerance and individual rights that shaped American history. This book uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.

Duty, Honor, Country by Bob Mayer

Duty, Honor, Country is history told epic and personal so we can understand what happened, but more importantly feel the heart-wrenching clash of duty, honor, country, and loyalty. And realize that sometimes, the people who changed history weren’t recorded by it. This is a three-part series.

Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky

Polio: An American Story is a book by David M. Oshinsky, professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, which documents the polio epidemic in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s and the race to find a cure, which was eventually developed in the 1950s by medical researcher Jonas Salk.

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, is a 1959 book written by Alfred Lansing, about the failure of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, in its attempt to cross the Antarctic continent in 1914.

Non-Fiction/Mathematics & Sciences

Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics by William Dunham

Dunham places each theorem within its historical context and explores the very human and often turbulent life of the creator — from Archimedes, the absentminded theoretician whose absorption in his work often precluded eating or bathing, to Gerolamo Cardano, the sixteenth-century mathematician whose accomplishments flourished despite a bizarre array of misadventures, to the paranoid genius of modern times, Georg Cantor. He also provides step-by-step proofs for the theorems, each easily accessible to readers with no more than a knowledge of high school mathematics. **No Preview Available**

History of Pi by Petr Beckmann

The history of pi, says the author, though a small part of the history of mathematics, is nevertheless a mirror of the history of man. Petr Beckmann holds up this mirror, giving the background of the times when pi made progress — and also when it did not, because science was being stifled by militarism or religious fanaticism.

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks Jr.

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering is a book on software engineering and project management by Fred Brooks first published in 1975, with subsequent editions in 1982 and 1995. Its central theme is that “adding manpower to a late software project makes it later”.

Cosmos by Carl Sagan

Presents an illustrated guide to the universe and to Earth’s relationship to it, moving from theories of creation to humankind’s discovery of the cosmos, to general relativity, to space missions, and beyond.
“Somewhat dated but fascinating, and an easy read” -Karl Wick, SUNY Ulster Associate Professor, Coordinator of Network Administration

Lights Out: A Cyberattack, a Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath
by Ted Koppel

The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here
by Hope Jahren

In The Story of More, she illuminates the link between human habits and our imperiled planet. In concise, highly readable chapters, she takes us through the science behind the key inventions—from electric power to large-scale farming to automobiles—that, even as they help us, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere like never before. She explains the current and projected consequences of global warming

An Ocean of Air by GabrielleWalker

Spirituality/Fiction

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

This book looks at the relationship between faith and doubt in a world in which there is no obvious evidence for the existence of God.
This book was banned and censored around the United States for its stance on religion and criticism of the US government regarding the Vietnam War and Iran-Contra.

The Shack by William Paul Young

Four years after his daughter was abducted and evidence of her murder was found in an abandoned shack, a man returns to the shack in response to a note claiming to be from God, and has a life-changing experience.

Full Catastrophe Living  by Jon Kabat-Zinn

A guide to the practice of mindfulness and other exercises that promote well-being. Lots of detail about the relationship between mind and body, and how our thoughts contribute to a life of chronic stress. Both an idea and a “how-to” book, written by a psychologist working at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

Splitting the Arrow by Prem Rawat

“A wonderful collection of inspiring stories about living a fulfilled and peaceful life. Written by a world-renowned individual who has been speaking on the topic for 50 years.”
– James Hobbs, SUNY Ulster Professor, Behavioral Sciences

Classic Fiction

1984 by George Orwell

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. 1984 is a dystopian novella by George Orwell published in 1949, which follows the life of Winston Smith, a low ranking member of ‘the Party’, who is frustrated by the omnipresent eyes of the party, and its ominous ruler Big Brother.

This book has repeatedly been banned and challenged in the past for its social and political themes, as well as for sexual content. Additionally, in 1981, the book was challenged in Jackson County, Florida, for being pro-communism.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1969. Along with asking moral questions, Slaughterhouse–Five is also a novel that focuses on the philosophies of fate and free will. In the novel, Billy Pilgrim tries to determine what his role in life is and what the purpose of everything going on around him is as well.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams **My all-time favorite series**

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the first of six books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction “trilogy” by Douglas Adams. The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams’ radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in London on 12 October 1979.

Arthur Dent had never really got the hang of Thursdays and in his bleary eyed state that morning he notices that there are bulldozers outside his house. It turns out they have come to knock his house down to make a bypass. Lying down in front of one of the bulldozers, his friend Ford Prefect suddenly appears. Arthur Dent thinks he is an out of work actor; it turns out he is a researcher for the most popular book in the universe, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and is from a planet called Betelgeuse but has been stuck on the Earth for 15 years. Dragging Arthur to the pub and plonking three pints down in front of him, Ford reveals all of this and the minor issue that the planet is to be demolished to make way for a galactic freeway in about 12 minutes time.

 Fiction/Slavery & Racism

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian theocracy which has overthrown the United States government, the dystopian novel explores themes of women in subjugation and the various means by which they gain agency.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. Instantly successful, widely read in high schools and middle schools in the United States, it has become a classic of modern American literature, winning the Pulitzer Prize. Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South—and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give is a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas’ debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty.

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris

Inspired by an actual newspaper photograph that stunned the nation, Sold on a Monday is a powerful novel of love, redemption, and the unexpected paths that bring us home.

This is a story about “two young writers who want to make their careers as journalists in Philadelphia, 1931. They struggle to balance success and their principles in the hard-driving world of newspapers, rum-running gangs, and the Depression-era economic desperation that leads them both to the heartbreaking human-interest story that gives the novel its title. The moral and social implications, however, are impressive.

So get reading! Open your mind to all of the possibilities! See you all in the Fall!