Writing With Sources: A Guide for Harvard Students

Ohhhh so helpful. This was like a massive how-to of bibliography construction. I referenced it often. It scared me a bit though, because I initially felt like I couldn't write anything without getting Ad Boarded for plagiarism. Haha

The Portable Edgar Allan Poe

Hmmmm, Poe is a bit repetitive, I'll be honest. His writing is intense, and I really love how much effort he put into each "design."

Favorite Quote:

"Poe resumes drinking." "Poe continues drinking." "Poe relapses into alcoholism." "Poe begins drinking again." Perhaps this explains much of his writing...?

Short Guide

A Short Guide to College Writing was surprisingly helpful. It had concrete examples of how to improve your own writing (with easy steps) and was sometimes funny. The authors did an outstanding job of keeping things simple and useful.

Psychology

This was THE only textbook I ever looked forward to reading. I LOVED Gray's sense of humor, and I especially loved that it came through in his writing (in a TEXTbook!). Everything was short and sweet, and the examples and experiments Gray cited were amusing and sometimes funny. Nicely done, sir.

How the Mind Works

Well done, Pinker. This book was an informative introduction to behavioral psychology and neurobiology. I enjoyed it a great deal, but I enjoyed his lectures more...!

Favorite Quote:

"This type of conspicuous waste was not seen again until the Jewish bar mitzvah."

SuperFreakonomics

These guys are good. As always, I love the random connections they made. I found the section on global warming especially impressive and interesting.

Sometimes I wonder if they manipulate their statistics a bit, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

Favorite Quotes:
The entire section on prostitution