The Book I'm Most Grateful For

During this season of refection and gratitude, we asked prominent leaders in the Santa Cruz community to answer the question, “What book are you most thankful for?” We were delighted by their responses.

Please look for book selections and recommendations from all of our contributors—including Tandy Beal (dancer, choreographer), George Blumenthal (Chancellor, UCSC), Christina Cuevas (Program Director, Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County), Geoffrey Dunn (author, local historian), Gary Griggs (Director, Institute of Marine Sciences, and UCSC professor), Frans Lanting (award-winning nature photographer), Cynthia Mathews (Santa Cruz city councilmember), and Annie Morhauser (glass artist, Annieglass founder)—on display in the store and featured on our website during the month of November.

Here are the books that three more of our contributors are grateful for: 

• Sam Farr Congressperson, 17th District
  I’m thankful for two influential books that helped shape my life. The first is The Other America by Michael Harrington, which helped set the stage for antipoverty initiatives and social safety net programs that remain vital today. The other is The Ugly American by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick, which showed how much good an individual can do in a needy community.
  
• Clifford Henderson Author, comedian
  I am a person who gets intimidated when science writing gets too technical or full of words I have to look up, so I am thankful for A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. His straightforward language allows me to swim in the wonder of physics, astronomy, and biology; to cozy up to the Big Thoughts. He takes me on a ride from the ever-expanding universe to the peculiar habits of the microscopic dust mite, from a whirling DNA molecule to the swirling thoughts of some of science’s greatest thinkers. Bryson’s book gives me a whole new way of thinking about myself and the tiny part I play in this vast cosmic mystery. It is a book to be read over and over, and one that I find oddly comforting.
  
• Ron Slack Publisher, Good Times
  Think on These Things by J. Krishnamurti. As I was finding my way in the world way back in the ’70s, I was introduced to the writings of J. Krishnamurti. He forever changed the way I looked at myself and the world. I am most thankful because he gave me a much deeper understanding of what is to be human, and made me realize that I had to take total responsibility for my thoughts and my actions, and that I was not simply a product of my upbringing and my formal education. He brought much clarity to my life, and my real role as a human being, and made me put into perspective what is truly important in this life. For this I am eternally grateful.

This article is from our 2010 Winter Newsletter