Zobel Fall 2008 Handout Eng 100/A

Optional Book Review Substitution for Paper #3 in all 100/A courses

Mandatory Book Review Substitution for Paper #3 in Mind Fig 44789/44944
Verbal Book Review & Discussion
Due by November 11, 2008
This book review substitutes for Paper #3 in Working Portfolio #3. This assignment is worth 6
points. Unlike a written book review, in this assignment you will take 7 to 10 minutes to relate the
following things to me verbally and in person:
• Summary of the book and its contents;
• A brief background of the author;
• Your initial impression of the book after the first 20 pages; your final impression of the
book;
• Your opinion of the book in general;
• Your specific opinion of if the book can/should/could be used as a required text in an
English composition course.

General, vague, boring, and shallow comments that do not indicate you have read the book
waste my time and yours. I have read all of these books, and I know them pretty well. The purpose
of our sitting down together is for you to talk to me about the book; your goal is to persuade to
either to read the book again or to not read it again. I will ask you two or three pointed and/or
specific questions about the book in order to determine your understanding and familiarity with the
text.
I like all of these books, and I believe they are all potentially powerful texts. I do not expect or
believe you will like all of these books. Many of these books are useful for a chapter or three and
have a lot of fluff in between. I am not looking for you to affirm my reading choices. I am looking
for you to demonstrate your skills as a reader, your ability to discern bias and manipulation, your
facility at explicating why you like or dislike a specific text, and your ability to convince me about
the accuracy of your observations.

Giving the Review:

You and I will meet, either in my office or in class. It is wise to arrange an appointment. If
you are in the Mind FIG, we will arrange for appointments via sign-up in class. If you are in one of
my other 1A sections, make an appointment early or contact me and tell me you are ready to give
your book review.

Critical!
• If you wait until the first week of November to order your book, it will not happen.
• If you wait until the first week of November to make an appointment to give a book review,
it will probably not happen.
• Plan ahead. Order, buy, or download your book TODAY or tomorrow.
• Read it on one of the coming weekends in September, and then contact me about giving a
book review.
• If you delay or procrastinate, the best thing that will happen is a poor score. The worst that
will happen is that you will earn a zero on book review.

As you may have noticed, there is a lot of reading in this class. Reading and writing are
interconnected—there is no way to separate one from the other. By developing and strengthening

“The Way is Through Training”--Musashi

Zobel Fall 2008 Handout Eng 100/A
Optional Book Review Substitution for Paper #3 in all 100/A courses
Mandatory Book Review Substitution for Paper #3 in Mind Fig 44789/44944
both skills at the same time, your facility and power as a writer and reader will develop beyond your
hopes and expectations. There really are no short cuts to improving your reading and writing skills.
The only way to there from here is through training.
All of these books are on the general theme of Mind. Some books are about meditation, others
are on awareness, a few are about how to survive being around nasty people, and a couple can be
applied towards financial success. Every one of these books has helped me in my experience, my
academic achievements, and my quality of life. As such, I suggest you select a book which promises
to benefit you personally in one, if not several, ways.

Books
Art of War/ Sun-Tzu, the Thomas Cleary translation
Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting/ Lynn Grabhorn
Minding Mind: A Course in Basic Meditation/ Thomas Cleary
Magic of Believing/ Claude Bristol
New Psycho-Cybernetics/ Maltz and Dan Kennedy
Peak Performance Living/ Joel C. Robertson
Psycho-Cybernetics/ Maxwell Maltz
Speed of Trust/ Stephen M. R. Covey
Superlearning/ Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind/ Shunryu Suzuki

Known to be in eBook form

Power of Concentration/ Theron Q Dumont
Think and Grow Rich/ Napoleon Hill

Texts Potentially Offensive to Some Readers

Mind Control/ Haha Lung
Violence, Blunders, And Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques And Street Etiquette /
Marc “Animal” MacYoung

Book Review Score Sheet

[Yes, you want to attach this to your WP #3]
Each of the following criteria is worth one point:
1. Summarizes Text accurately and with significant details;
2. Demonstrates Knowledge of the author and their relationship with the text;
3. Remembers to give both Impressions of text and how they differed or were reinforced;
4. Presents a well-spoken and clear opinion of the book;
5. Uses specifics details and evidence to support opinions of the book;
6. Clearly and Coherently Addresses why the book should or should not be used in an English
Composition course.

Date Report Given: ______________________ Score Given: _________________________

Zobel’s signature: ______________________ Student’s Signature: _____________________

“The Way is Through Training”--Musashi