What Are You Reading This Summer?

I have a suggestion for all high school juniors during their summer before senior year. There are classic books which I believe all should read. But, one which few would consider is 80 years old this year and was the number 2 selling non fiction book of the 20th century. It is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, The best seller was the bible. I just read it and wish I had read it as a teenager. I do not know what my reaction would have been as I tended to rebel at everything back then. In fact I purposely never read this book because of the title and what I thought it was about. It sounded phony to me. There is a little of this in the book but the moral message is what is overwhelming. Essentially treat others as if they are special. Never criticize, always find out what interests the other person, learn about them and focus on that and success with people will come. Everyone is always better than you at something and why not find out what that is. I mentioned this to my son recently and he said he found the book very useful but what he recommended was 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which I am now reading but can not comment on since I only have read the introduction and first chapter. The other recommendation is a short book and a movie that go together. The movie is Groundhog Day and the book is the screen play for the movie which actually discusses much more than the original screen play. It is called How To Write Groundhog Day. The movie is about how someone becomes a moral person and it is then that he finds happiness. This wasn't the original intention of the screen play but it is what came out of the finished product. One of the most interesting things in the book on the script is the reaction people had to the movie. Like Dale Carnegie's book I only saw the movie recently having based my opinion on the story which seemed silly at best. It is now one of my favorite movies and one that all should see. Ask the question of your student, how many days did it take the main character to find the way to happiness. It is estimated it took about 10,000 days when if we examine the story and what it is telling us, could take just a summer or two. I am sure these are not on most people's list but I bet if they were introduced to students as they were entering their senior year in high school could form the basis for interesting discussion of how to lead a moral life.