PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY

Bartusiak, Marcia. (2000). Einstein's Unfinished Symphony: Listening to the Sounds of Space-Time. Washington, D.C: Joseph Henry Press.

Berlinski, David (2000). Newton's Gift: How Sir Isaac Newton Unlocked the System of the World. New York: The Free Press.

Bodanis, David. (2000). E=MC²: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation. New York: Walker & Co.

Goodstein, David L. and Goodstein, Judith R. (1996). Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.

Hargittai, István. (2000). CANDID SCIENCE: Conversations with Famous Chemists. River Edge, NJ: World Scientific Publishing.

Kaku, Michio and Trainer, Jennifer. (1987). Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe. New York: Bantam Books.

Kraus, Lawrence M. (2001). Atom: An Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth. . .and Beyond. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.

Malmstrom, B. G., Editor. (1997). Chemistry 1991-1995 (Nobel Lectures). River Edge, NJ: World Scientific Publishing.

Pasachoff, Naomi E.(1997). Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity. New York: Oxford University Press.

Zee, A. (1989). Einstein's Universe: Gravity at Work and Play. New York: Oxford University Press.

MATHEMATICS

Berlinski, David. (2000). The Advent of the Algorithm: The Idea that Rules the World. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co.

Davis, Martin. (2000). Engines of Logic: Mathematicians and the Origin of the Computer. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.

Davis, Philip J. and Hersh, Reuben. (1981). The Mathematical Experience. Boston: Birkhäuser.

Dunham, William. (1994). The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Gleick, James. (1987). Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin Books.

Gullberg, Jan. (1997). Mathematics from the Birth of Numbers. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.

Ifrah, Georges. (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Kline, Morris. (1985). Mathematics and the Search for Knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press.

Osserman, Robert. (1995). Poetry of the Universe: A Mathematical Exploration of the Cosmos. New York: Random House.

Rucker, Rudy. (1987). Mindtools: The Five Levels of Mathematical Reality. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

ASTRONOMY/SPACE

Boslough, John. (1985). Stephen Hawking's Universe: An Introduction to the Most Remarkable Scientist of Our Time. New York: William Morrow and Co.

Couper, Heather and Henbest, Nigel. (1999). Space Encyclopedia. New York: DK Publishing, Inc.

Davis, Kenneth C. (2001). Don't Know Much About The Universe: Everything You Need to Know About the Cosmos but Never Learned. New York: HarperCollins.

Ferris, Timothy. (1988). Coming of Age in the Milky Way. New York: William Morrow and Co.

Ferris, Timothy, Editor. (1997). The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Hawking, Stephen. (1998). A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. New York: Bantam Books.

Levy, David, Editor. (2000). The Scientific American Book of the Cosmos. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Overbye, Dennis. (1991). Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos. New York: HarperPerennial.

BIOLOGY/EVOLUTION

Darwin, Charles. (1859, 1871). The Origin of the Species & The Descent of Man. New York: Modern Library.

Fortey, Richard. (1998). Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Goodall, Jane. (1971). In the Shadow of Man. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Jones, Steve. (2000). Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated. New York: Ballantine Books.

Leakey, Richard E. (1996). The Origin of Humankind. New York: HarperCollins.

Tudge, Colin. (2000). The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures that Have Ever Lived. New York: Oxford University Press.

Watson, James D. (1969). The Double Helix. New York: Mentor.

Weiner, Jonathan. (1995). The Beak of the Finch. New York: Vintage Books.

Wilson, Edward O. (1992). The Diversity of Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.

Wilson, Edward O. (1996). In Search of Nature. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

SCIENTIFIC ISSUES AND ESSAYS

Bronowski, J. (1951). The Common Sense of Science. New York: Modern Library.

Dawkins, Richard. (1998). Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Ferris, Timothy, Editor. (1991). The World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.

Gardner, Martin, Editor. (1994). Great Essays in Science. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.

Gell-Mann, Murray. (1994). The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex. New York: W. H. Freeman and Co.

Jardine, Lisa. (1999). Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution. New York: Doubleday.

Miller, Arthur I. (1986). Imagery in Scientific Thought. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Silver, Brian L. (1998). The Ascent of Science. New York: Oxford University Press.

A Time for Epic Giftedness by Michael E. Walters Center for the Study of the Humanities in the Schools

It is ironic that last Memorial Day weekend the film Pearl Harbor was shown. September 11, 2001 will be the Pearl Harbor of the 21^st Century. In a similar fashion to December 7, 1941, the United States changed from ordinariness to the demands of the extraordinary. Times of crisis create zones of giftedness for all of us. Now, we shall all have to become gifted individuals, discovering the superior elements of our personalities. I live in New York City and would like to share with the gifted community my experiences and reflections concerning the state of war we are now in.

The combined elements of linkage and imagery speak loudly and clearly. It is awesome how in a city of 9 million people, a particular neighborhood could have such profound links and living imagery (not mere electronic journalism) related to the World Trade Center. This center was a major employer for the citizens of my neighborhood in the Bronx. One of my closest friends is an artist who works for the computer department of the Chase Manhattan Bank located only two blocks from the World Trade Center. He related his experiences to me on that day, Tuesday, September 11th. When the first plane hit, he was on his way to an office supply store to purchase items for his computer section. He immediately returned to his building on the thirty-fourth floor and witnessed the second plane crash into the second tower from his office window. He and his co-workers were then taken to the tenth floor and told to stay inside because of debris and toxic smoke outside. After two hours he left the building and joined an exodus of "war refugees" fleeing the area in an atmosphere covered with a snow-like white powder. Thousands of shreds of paper and shattered debris were everywhere.

The other night there was a candlelight observance in front of my building. One of my neighbors who participated was a shop steward in the Electricians Union. He lost 52 colleagues in the World Trade Center. That same night I attended a Sabbath service at a nearby Jewish house of worship. A young man who is studying to be a cantor and who drives a bus from the Bronx to Manhattan was mourning many of the passengers who were trapped there. He sang the mourner's Kaddish (religious prayer) for these lost individuals. It was the most powerful dirge I have ever heard.

In my apartment building, I tutor a child on his school work. His mother related to me a case of profound heroism. A married couple worked in the twin towers. After the terrorist attack, the husband called his wife (the mother's cousin) on the cellular phone and met her in the main concourse. After escorting her outside, he went back into the building to help rescue other people; he is now among the missing ones. The image of an ordinary individual performing an extraordinary feat of heroism will never leave me.

War creates narratives of the epic. The epic of hundreds of fire and police personnel who gave their lives to rescue individuals will become part of our national saga. Indeed, the gifted aspects of all of us will soon be called upon to do heroic deeds. God bless America.

Maurice D. Fisher, Publisher, Copyright © by Gifted Education Press, October-November 2001