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On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres  was written by Nicolaus Copernicus, and was the book that started the heliocentric revolution in Europe. This was my second time reading this book, the first time being last year for a project I did. I reread it because I felt that I may not have understood the book to its fullest when I read it as a subbie, and felt like I would be able to grasp the concepts better now that I am a freshman. I can firmly say that I did, and I these are the reasons I would recommend this book to any of my classmates. 1. It shows us the basic proof for heliocentrism. Heliocentrism is the idea that the sun is at the center of the solar system, which is almost the opposite of geocentrism, the belief that the earth is at the center. I'm going to make an assumption and say that everyone who reads this blogpost takes the idea that the earth revolves around the sun as a basic fact and assumes it to be true. That makes perfect sense, it almost feels like it

Recently, I read The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict , which is the prequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society series. I know it is probably tiring to have back-to-back blog posts on the same series, but this book is like an optional prequel. In the The Mysterious Benedict Society series, the main characters are these really smart kids, each with individual talents. However, they work with Mr. Benedict, who oversees the actions of the children. The main series books (there are 4) don’t really cover much about Mr. Benedict’s past or background, but The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict is solely about Mr. Benedict, specifically his childhood.  In the book, Nicholas Benedict, a nine year old, is transferred to a different orphanage called Rothschild’s End, an understaffed, underfunded orphanage where the kids are assigned double the “normal” amount of chores. Unfortunately for Nicholas, he has a rare, untreatable serious condition called narcolepsy which ca

The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of The Genius Ramanujan is a fascinating biography of the early 20th-century Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. It's both the story of his life and also the history of mathematics and scientific discoveries during the time period, spanning from the end of the 19th-century through World War I. What makes him different from many mathematicians in history is that he never received any formal training, and claimed that his insights were inspired by the family goddess he worshiped. Ramanujan was one of the most brilliant mathematicians to have ever lived and his story is just as fascinating as his discoveries. The story starts off with Ramanujan's bringing up in Kumbakonam, a small town in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. A prominent center of both European and Indian education during the British Raj, it was known as the "Cambridge of south India". The book does delve into a lot of the history of Madras and Kumbakonam,

Above, Al-Biruni as depicted by Russian currency in 1973. From Al-Biruni's Wikipedia page. 1. Al-Biruni was a very unique person. This book follows Al-Biruni through his life, and it is quite an interesting one. Al-Biruni is considered a polymath, meaning that he was an expert in a multitude of different fields. However, even among other polymaths, the extent of his knowledge was absolutely astounding. He was an expert in mathematics, physics, medicine, poetry, linguistics, history, astronomy, religion, and much more. He could also speak many different languages. The most impressive fact about him is that he also managed to make major contributions in almost every field he studied, making him a very important scholar and scientist. His life and his studies are very interesting and will keep you sucked in. 2. He is a lesser-known historical figure. Let's be honest, most of you have probably never heard of Al-Biruni before this blog post. However, he was an important scientist

Benazir Bhutto was one of the towering and ground-breaking political figures of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. As the first female to be elected as the leader of any Islamic nation, she and her party brought reform to Pakistan and fought for the equality of many groups. I decided to read Daughter of Destiny over spring break to learn more about her life and although its not a perfect literary masterpiece, there are many reasons why one should read this book. I will also highlight some of the flaws that this book has but please do not let that discourage you from reading this book. Daughter of Destiny   is a political memoir written by Benazir Bhutto about her life starting from her youth to her election as Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988. The book starts off with Benazir's childhood and details about her aristocratic family. She grew up surrounded by politics and societal change - her own mother, an Iranian Shia Muslim, was modern for her day and didn't make

1. It’s a page-turner. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey is book two in the Mysterious Benedict Society series and details a global scavenger hunt set up for four intelligent kids. However, the mastermind and mentor behind the scavenger hunt, Mr. Benedict, vanishes, leaving the children to track him down with evil pursuers on their tails. Most of all, the villain behind the mysterious disappearance, Mr. Curtain, has grand plans for a world “takeover” using knowledge only Mr. Benedict possesses. Despite the story having a stereotypical protagonist-antagonist “duel,” the story seems to build around the kids’ constantly evolving ideas, and the plot and clues provided by Mr. Benedit are never clear enough to predict the ending of the story. 2. The main characters are relatable - they’re kids! Throughout the book, they face constant scrutiny because they are kids. Despite their efforts, nothing seems to go their way (sometimes I feel that way too). For examp

Recently, I read 112 Mercer Street: Einstein, Russell, Godel, Pauli, and the End of Innocence in Science by Burton Feldman . The book revolved around the philosophy and life of the physicist Albert Einstein, mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell, logician Kurt Godel, and the quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli. The four of them met during the years of World War II to discuss philosophy and science which they were at Princeton, away from the war in Europe. Although it is not know what they talked about in their meetings, Feldman gives an outlook on each of their lives and views and from that we can infer what they would have talked about. Here are three reasons to read 112 Mercer Street : 1. The book provides insight into the lives of some of the most eminent scholars of the 20th-century. Before reading this book, I knew a lot of Einstein's life and a bit about Russell's life but I had never heard of Godel or Pauli. The first half of the book describes their lives and th

The Canon of Medicine  can teach you just as much about history as it does medicine. Ibn Sina wrote this book during the Islamic Golden Age, which was around the 8th to 14th centuries. This book specifically was written during the early years of the 11th century. This book was so successful and accurate that it was used in universities around Europe until 6 centuries after Ibn Sina's death. However, this book can also be a primary source when it comes to analyzing the time period of the Golden Age of Islam as well as the change in medical knowledge over time. By looking at this book and comparing the information presented or the explanations given for certain phenomena with our modern-day understandings of these topics, we see that doctors and physicians during Avicenna's time were actually not wrong. Something interesting which piqued my interest was that while the methods used to treat certain problems were accurate, such as massages for muscle soreness, the book would n

Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan intertwines the stories of three musically gifted children who are exceptional harmonica players. Friedrich in Nazi Germany, Mike in the Great Depression, and Ivy during World War II share uniquely captivating stories. The characters experience hardships and discrimination and are forced to cope in their everyday lives. The musical prodigies, however, are unaware that they are fulfilling a prophecy set in motion by a mysterious young boy named Otto.  On the surface, Friedrich is a normal schoolboy in Nazi Germany. However, his family hides their jewish sympathy and even keeps medical secrets from Friedrich, which causes life to become increasingly difficult after Friedrich’s sister declares her allegiance towards Hitler. Friedrich, an apprentice in a harmonica factory, discovers a mysterious harmonica with an M engraved on it. To cope with his increasingly dangerous circumstances, Friedrich loses himself in music and is known to his peers as “monster boy”