It’s time for a new contest! This one has nothing to do with K-12 education. Just an idea that caught my fancy that I hope will catch yours too. As usual, the winner gets everlasting fame and a CASTLE mug…
140–character book reviews!
Using the Twitter limitation of 140 characters, write a book review. Can you sum up the essence of a good read in 140 characters? Of course you can!
Here are some pathetic examples. I know you can do better than these!
The World Is Flat. The world is flat.
To Kill a Mockingbird. Girl meets recluse. Lawyer dad fails to defend innocent Black man. Recluse saves girl from real villain. Girl learns important life lessons.
Guidelines
- An entry consists of the book title and the 140–character review. The title of the book and any accompanying explanatory text does not count against your total, but the 140 characters should be able to stand alone as a summation of (or commentary on) the book. This limit will be strictly enforced.
- Any book you want – fiction, nonfiction, textbook, graphic novel, whatever. No limits other than it has to be a book (although you might want to review a book that others have heard of). Could you do this for movies, music, blogs, restaurants, etc.? Absolutely. But not for this contest.
- Submit your entry as a comment to this blog post, please. Otherwise, as I’m discovering with the Leadership Day 2008 entries, I might not find it.
- Multiple entries are welcome.
- Extra points for creativity, humor, cleverness, etc.
- Feel free to use the image above to spread the word about the contest (click on it for a larger version).
- You’ve got 10 days. Entry deadline is July 26, 2008.
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Update: Given the number of entries it looks like we’re going to have, I’ll pick my top 5 to 7 favorites at the end and we’ll have a group vote to determine the winner. So come back July 27 to start voting!
Update: See the winning entry!
The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America
By David Hajdu
My 140 character book review:
The innocence of millions were lost to comic books, or so politicians would have had us believe. Yet the genre survived intact – thankfully.
— Kevin
My book club is going to have a field day with this 🙂
Here are my two favorite books:
Ender’s Game
Misunderstood boy is intellectual mastermind of a war, but thinks its all just a game.
Pride & Prejudice
Girl never wants to marry. Meets wrong guy likes him. Meets right guy, hates him then falls in love.
Look Homeward Angel – A tortured young man seeking the true meaning of life prepares himself to become an education blogger.
1984 – A futuristic forboding look at life on the Internet where Google is Big Brother.
Brave New World – A futuristic look at the world when people can’t spell “foreboding” correctly.
Presentation Zen –
Kill bullets, cool graphics, wake up audience, lots of slides and content, sparse use of words, stop being boring
Lincoln on Leadership — Lincoln appoints 4 score and 7 generals to lead his Army. Learns to lead with a firm hand and in the end hires a drunk to lead his men.
The Peter Principle
Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull
Workers are promoted to their level of incompetence. Explains School Administration
The Lightning Thief
Percy, son of Poseidon, vaporizes his algebra teacher & ventures from the depths of the underworld 2 Mt Olympus 2 return Zeus’ master bolt.
Ahh
Thought of another one:
Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
Independent-minded punk spirit collides with collective theocratic mentality. Neither side wins.
Deer Hunting with Jesus
Liberal living in Republican country explains why Republican base is so strong. Now I know how Bush won twice.
Innumeracy – Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences by John Allen Paulos
A humorous look at a fictional world where everyone is math-dumb. You know….like today in the U.S.
The Double Helix by James Watson
An exciting tale of scientists competing to be the first to unravel the structure of DNA. Preface by O.J. Simpson.
The Prince by Machiavelli
Ten successful strategies for winning food fights between education bloggers.
Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
After sword play, boy almost meets girl, girl doesn’t really meet boy. Then suddenly, they go all the way: first in bed, then in death.
Dick and Jane
Childhood adventures of two children living in earlier innocent times. Required reading in preparation for the Ohio HS Graduation Test.
‘Thérèse Raquin’ by Emile Zola
Woman weds sick cousin. Finds peasant more attractive. Both kill husband, go slightly mad, hate each other. Invalid mother finds out. Death?
The Last Lecture by Randy Pauch
Professor has terminal cancer. Does push ups. Gets out of speeding tickets. Loves his family. Buys things. Mildly full of himself, tells reader to live good life
Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
By Clayton Christensen
Computer-based learning and the road to brain-based, student-centric learning.
A Short History of Nearly Everything. About the world, its structure and known past. Hilarious, informative and balanced: a read lighter than the book itself. Bryson at his best.
Thanks for the great game!
_The Diamond Age_ by Neal Stephenson
in future neo-victorian shanghai, stolen interactive primer teaches urchin girl class secrets and independent thought. she begins revolution
GOD Created the Integers.
A splendid history of genius in Mathematics with excerpts from original manuscripts. Hawking’s notes integrates philosophy and easy reading.
Yeah this is an awesome idea. My 140:
Thank You For Smoking – Crafty tobacco lobbyist gets kidnapped, tortured, praised, set up. Then gets revenge and lives happily ever after.
Chasing the Flame- Man dedicates life to U.N. Travels to world’s cesspools, fixes stuff. Man gets to Iraq and is blown up by suicide bomber.
Love in the Time of Cholera-Poor man loves lady. Lady picks rich guy.Poor man waits 50yrs, sexes 600+.Rich man dies. Geezer lovefest ensues.
Lawrence of Arabia by Alistair MacLean
Adventerous English mercenary helps Arabs drive the Turks out of Arabia. He finds no Turkish WMDs and is harshly criticized by the Arab Senate and House and the media.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
from the Chronicles of Narnia Series
by C.S. Lewis
A world in a closet. The Lion shows the way, the world is made better by our choices, good vanquishes the witch- Spring returns to Narnia.
The Art of War– Centuries pass, organizations change, the faces of leaders do not (well sorta). War is metaphor. Timeless secret? Just win, baby.
Gossie and Gertie (children’s book)
Like Twitterfolk, Gossie (yellow gosling) keeps asking Gertie to, “Follow me!” Gossie ends up following Gertie. Lesson in shared leadership.
The Calder Game ( kids’chapter book)
by Blue Balliet
A great story to involve kids in art and math (involving pentominoes) through a mystery. 3rd in series.
My book- Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
An example of ordinary men doing extraordinary things and earning a nation’s respect. Read it and you will respect them too.
The History of the United States
Adored by the Right and reviled by the Left, an amazing chronicle of phenomenal people living in extraordinary times. Explains where all those statues came from.
Patriot Games a high octane read, Yank saves Royal – It sucked me back into reading
The Time Traveller by H. G. Wells – Time Traveller uses technology to discover disturbing truth about our future: a seemingly beautiful utopia turned cannabalistic nightmare.
The P.L.A.I.N Janes (Graphic Novel by Cecil Castelluci)
3 misfit teen Janes attack community with art. Sneaky. Creative. Unite community. Finally fit in 🙂
Twilight – Girl infatuated with knock out guy. Vampire! Equally obsessed. Girl’s life threatened. Anxiety! MUST protect weak mortal. Succeeds!
How’ bout two books at once. “Here Comes Everybody” + “Everything is Miscellaneous”…I don’t need nearly 140 characters either…
ORGANIZING (EVERYBODY AND/OR EVERYTHING) IS DIFFERENT NOW.
You know where to send that mug, Scott, right?
Twitter summary
***A life history of four generations of the Buendía family who hate and love, live and die, tied by blood and separated by solitude of minds.***
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
Twitter summary
***How to run a state with iron hand. For inexperienced and naïve political leaders only – those experienced live by it, (unfortunately?).***
The Prince, Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn:
Mailman goes beyond great and exceptional in his job and it shows because he loves people. Wow!
sequal…
You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere, Can Make a Positive Difference by Mark Sanborn:
Now it’s your turn! No excuses-go do it!
*Jon, you can just forward the mug if Scott has already sent it 😉
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Red-head orphan gets a family. Only they are old. And siblings. And wanted a boy. Trouble at school & with neighbours. Loveable & pathetic.
Others in the series…
Red-head goes to college. But visits home. More trouble ensues. So does romance. Still loveable & pathetic.
Try again …
Novel: S is for Silence
Author: Sue Grafton, fmous for her alphabet crime novels.
140 character review
***Crimes of lust & violence, a closed community hiding shame in lies, drive PI, Kinsey Millhone to uncover secrets buried by decades of dirt***
Elaine
The Bible
God’s holy words detailing His plan, purpose and provision for all mankind. Embrace it and live, neglect it and perish.
1984 – Winston Smith tastes freedom and steamy sex. Big Brother comes crashing in. Status quo: perpetual war on terror; same war, new enemy.
Crime and Punishment – Raskolnikov plans and executes the “perfect crime.” Guilt gnaws, he confesses, goes to jail, falls in love.
Trainspotting:
Guy does heroin, stops, starts again, stops again, starts again (sorta). Very few trains actually spotted.
Heart of Darkness:
Sane guy floats down river to meet crazy guy. Heart/darkness ratio: 2/∞.
Catch 22
The insanity of war and organizations. Mindless leaders, dead people, war profiteers, and ladies of the evening. But there is a catch.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Good = evil.
Evil = good.
Green skin and water don’t mix.
The Bible
First part-vengeful God, lots of Smiting and Begetting and rules about sacrifices. Second part, stories about treating people right.
Shirley, Memoir of an Atomic Town
Girl moves to Shirley, L.I., Brookhaven labs move to Shirley, Brookhaven pollutes in secret, girl’s friends and family get cancer.