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What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

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Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#121

Post by satori99 »

dysfunction wrote: post #102
arethuza wrote: post #10

Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World Also perhaps Bill Bryon's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" for an entertaining broad view of a variety of scientific areas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Every...

The Demon-Haunted World was incredibly formative for me, and I was around 14 when I first read it. Prior to reading it, I believed wholeheartedly that UFOs were alien spaceships, and despite already being fairly certain I was an atheist, I was still on the fence about ghosts. The most important thing about that book was that it didn't teach me that things I believed weren't true because a distinguished scientist said…

I could have written your comment! My father bought me that book when I was about 16 or 17 years old, as a birthday gift. At the time, I too was an atheist, but not a very skeptical one, and TDHW had a huge impact on me.

That book is one of the only gifts I can remember recieiving when I was a teenager, and I still have it on my shelf. It is fair to say that it can be a life changer.

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#122

Post by AKluge »

At 14 you are still finding yourself. Even if your current interests are technological, this may not be the case in a few years. Further, non technological issues are critical in making decisions about technology. Some different things to include in the mix

  - Common Sense
  - On Liberty, Mill
  - Connections. the book or the video, Burke
  - The Day the universe Changed, Burke, I think this is only video
  - If into history, The Federalist Papers. Amazing how often you hear someone say "the founding fathers..." then something that contradicts what they actually said and wrote.
  - The People Shall Judge, Collected historical writings, The University of Chicago Press

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#123

Post by pjmorris »

I like a lot of the books mentioned on the thread. Seems to me, though, that bright 14 year-olds will find their own favorite books, so here are some other ideas...

Make friends with someone who challenges you. Play some kind of sport, preferably a team sport. Learn to cook. Learn a musical instrument if you're so inclined. It wouldn't hurt you to work as, say, a dishwasher, for a year or two.

Source: I was a bright 14 year old decades ago, and I'm picking my favorite hits and misses.

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#126

Post by semi-extrinsic »

NhanH wrote: post #97
doctorpangloss wrote: post #53

I wish when I was 14 I was exposed to more contemporary literature, instead of great classics. And I have no regrets about missing out on math books—most of my friends went to math camp for that kind of knowledge. I'd recommend David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest; Junot Diaz's This is How You Lose Her; The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis; Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. I wis…

I'm 25 and I have no understanding of human, sexuality, rich people, old people etc... How do I catch up?

If you are up for a bit of a challenge, that will prove very rewarding, I recommend reading "Madame Bovary". Flaubert writes with such poise that it's like being there, experiencing the emotion of the room. But it's very different from a modern book.

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#127

Post by portablenuke »

2600 and its back catalog, Hacker's Manifesto, Anarchist's Cookbook, The old philosophers (Marx, Nietzsche, etc.), The Federalist Papers, History Books, The C Programming Language by K&R, Absolute FreeBSD.

Really, a blank slate and a promise to help them with whatever they want to learn.

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#129

Post by GregBuchholz »

AKluge wrote: post #122

At 14 you are still finding yourself. Even if your current interests are technological, this may not be the case in a few years. Further, non technological issues are critical in making decisions about technology. Some different things to include in the mix - Common Sense - On Liberty, Mill - Connections. the book or the video, Burke - The Day the universe Changed, Burke, I think this is only video - If into history,…

To be well balanced on what the "founding fathers" thought, you also need to read the writings of the anti-federalists.

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/anti-federalist-papers

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#130

Post by ableal »

gorkemyurt wrote: post #63

- play sports - have as many friends as you can, girlfriends/boyfriends, don't be shy, drink beer before its legal most importantly have self discipline. If you manage to have self discipline everything else is easy in life

"This", as they say. Bright 14 year olds manage to read too many books.

They need to get out, make friends, make things - especially learn to finish things.

They need the tortoise and hare fable pounded in by practice.

(As you probably heard before: King Crimson, Discipline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-dZNzXylVE )

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