Thank you everyone for all of these amazing suggestions! I’ve put together a hyper doc and will share it with all of you as soon as I add the latest nominations. The student is going to be so happy! And hopefully this is a list that we will find many other uses for.
Warmly,Amy
On Apr 25, 2023, at 8:16 AM, Derek Anderson <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Amy and BAISL:
I have been following this thread with great interest and I appreciate so many of the good suggestions. Sarah just stole one of the new ones I was doing to offer, Standage’s History of the World in Six Glasses, but here are a few others I appreciate as a world history teacher and as a librarian.
What fun this has been to think about; I hope your delightfully ambitious student enjoys so many of BAISL’s suggestions.
Derek
1) 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann2) Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford and Jonathan Davis3) A History of the World in 12 Maps by Jerry Brotton4) On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State by Joseph R. Strayer, reissued 2016.5) Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky (it’s better than Salt by the same author)6) The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History by Peregrine Horden7) The Atlantic by Simon Winchester and/or The Pacific by Simon Winchester8) Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy9) Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals by Douglas E. Streisand.10) And, if I may, my own book: Improbable Voices: A History of the World Since 1450 Seen From Twenty-Six Unusual Perspectives.
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Derek Anderson
Library Director / History Departmenthttps://improbablevoices.com/
danderson@xxxxxx
415-482-3322
1600 Mission Ave.
San Rafael, CA 94901On Apr 25, 2023, at 1:52 AM, Sarah Murphy <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Wow! So much, but how about A History of the world in six glasses by Tom Standage. Less politics really but an interesting overview
Also Guns Germs and Steel. Jared Diamond
Sarah
On Tue, Apr 25, 2023 at 6:28 AM Amy Geriak <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:Hello fellow librarians -- I got a doozy of a request from a senior for history books he wants to read over the summer before starting college. I am doing my own research into possibilities, but I would love any suggestions the group might have.--
He writes:I’m looking for as deep an understanding as possible of the driving forces that have shaped our world (for example, the rise and fall of the roman empire, the spread of colonialism, the scientific revolution, or the cold war). I realize that’s still an enormous volume of content, so please recommend whichever books you think best illuminate how the world arrived at its current political, economic, and cultural state. Both western and non-Western perspectives would be awesome (perhaps with a focus on the non-western, which I know least about). I’m happy to read paperback books or textbooks, though I have a slight preference for smaller books (400 pages or less), which I tend to find more digestible.
Thanks for your help --Amy
--
Amy Geriak Director of Library and MakerspaceMS Yearbook Advisorshe/her (Why pronouns?)
Upper School | 400 Uplands Drive, Hillsborough, CA 94010Middle School | 10 Davis Drive, Belmont, CA 94002650-342-4175www.csus.org
Sarah Murphy
Mercy High School BurlingameLibrary Co-ordinator650-762-1162www.mercyhsb.com
“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” A.A. Milne - Winnie the Pooh.
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