Dystopian, science fiction, fantasy, nonfiction—each genre has its own appeal, but good writing transcends the categories others may draw. For that reason, Readers United President Truelian Lee ’17 does not have a favorite genre. Over winter break, she grabbed a handful of books randomly off the shelves of her library and started reading, and in this post, she shares with us what she thinks of those impulse picks.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Note: This is both a short story and a novel. I review the novel, but the short story is also superbly written. Check it out!Noteworthy Quote: “How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes–how such people think nothing of abusing a man born with low intelligence.”
A refreshing departure from the intergalactic battles so common in science fiction, Flowers for Algernon chronicles a man's meteoric intellectual rise and equally devastating mental deterioration.
Protagonist Charlie Gordon has an IQ of 68, making him an ideal candidate for a scientific experiment that artificially increases his intelligence. This experimental surgery has been performed successfully in a mouse, Algernon, who is now able to solve any of the mazes he is put into. Charlie’s operation is successful, but his happy ending quickly unravels.
Keyes delves masterfully into the ways intelligence isolates. Even though Charlie’s IQ has now tripled, he still cannot achieve emotional and social well-being. Charlie realizes that his friends have mocked him for years; that his romantic endeavors are complicated by his childhood growing up in a household that desperately wanted him to be normal; that the scientists who gave him the surgery are not as clever as he had thought.
However, after the death of Algernon, Charlie is haunted by a new fear: the regression of his intelligence. When he analyzes the scientific theories behind his newfound intelligence, he finds a loophole—his increased mental dexterity is only temporary. Knowing this, he becomes obsessed with figuring out the flaws in the theories that created the procedure for his operation, poignantly naming the error the Algernon-Gordon effect.
In the end, Charlie finds that he cannot seamlessly return to his life before the operation. He eventually retreats from the world, his last note a reminder to plant flowers at Algernon’s grave.
His rise and fall are artfully narrated, and after I finished reading, I couldn’t help but feel that Keyes had delicately set up a story for readers to grapple philosophical questions with. What is the worth of life? How important is intelligence? How isolated are we, after all?
Verdict: Pick this up if you like thought-provoking science fiction books. You won't be disappointed.
Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work by Whitney Johnson
Noteworthy Quote: "There is no shortage of jobs-to-be-done and problems to be solved. But there's only one of you. The right problems are those that you somehow feel called to solve, and are capable of solving, because of your expertise and accumulated life experience."
You may have seen the S-curve before in math class or in a biology lecture about cultivating cell cultures, but in Disrupt Yourself, the S-curve features heavily as the key to reinventing yourself in the ever-changing workforce. Johnson articulates a theory of disruptive innovation, which encourages people to take risks and leap into new opportunities. She shares numerous stories of people who have effectively reinvented themselves in their fields.
The book heavily draws from examples in the finance and technology industries, which can be very helpful for those interested. However, I found that the focus on career advancement seemed a little limited, as I would have rather read about the ways this theory could be practically applied in other areas aside from industry.
Nevertheless, this book was very good at distilling the theory into pithy statements, presenting information that may have been gleaned instinctively in day-to-day life with startling clarity. There were more than a couple of times where I would read a statement that I knew about beforehand, but had never consciously recognized. Thus, this book was helpful for me to crystallize my thoughts as I challenged myself to lean into risk and grasp new opportunities.
Disrupt Yourself is a book that exults the lifelong leaner and the self-aware thinker. For those interested in finance, this book will give you a lot of examples and more practical advice. For others, it will serve as a great reminder of the benefits of disrupting yourself.
Verdict: Pick this up if you like self-help books and need a dose of can-do attitude.
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