George Lamplugh "The Book That Changed My Life"

History teacher Dr. George Lamplugh shares his experience with a book that profoundly impacted him.

"Many years ago, in grad school, I was reading the preface to a book about Kentucky politics after the American Revolution and noted that the author had good things to say about Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, a novel set in a backwater college in England after World War II. Amis follows the stumbling academic career--and love life-- of the title character, a historian who has very little good to say about either college teaching or historical research. I was so taken by the description of the novel that I found a copy, read it--and laughed myself silly. Then I put it down and forgot about it until I had been at Westminster for a few years.

At that time, the politics of this place were pretty brutal, and each year brought a series of bizarre events. Trying to navigate these conflicts and crises proved very stressful. One summer, anticipating with dread the crazy events the new school year would no doubt have in store for me, I picked up Lucky Jim and re-read it. Once again, I could hardly stop laughing; then it occurred to me that, having experienced in Amis's fictional academic setting a place that made Westminster seem almost "normal" by comparison, I might now be better prepared to return to work in the Fall. And I was! Pleased with the results of this literary therapy, I made it a practice over the next decade or so to re-read Amis towards the end of every summer. It never failed to prepare me to cope with the new school year!"

Thanks to George Lamplugh for sharing this! If you're interested in contributing a post on the topic of "The Book That Changed My Life", please contact Librarian Barker: KimberleyB@westminster.net

Roy Lovell "The Book That Changed My Life"

"The way Jay Leno acquires motorcycles, I acquire books: excessively, unceasingly, unapologetically, driven by some mysterious internal force that aligns me with these particular material objects and hounds me until I possess them. I have boxes and boxes of books in my attic, too many to display, too many to read, yet I keep buying more. Asked to name one "book that changed my life," my first impulse is to compile a lengthy list. But one book, not a list, is requested here. So…

When I was a senior in high school, I was taking physics from a nice gentleman-chemistry major-who had earlier taught me a solid chemistry course. Pressed into service as a physics teacher, and being therefore out of his area of expertise regarding "subject matter knowledge," he was soldiering on, teaching a course that was fairly shallow, uninspired and tentative. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by physics.

Before there was internet commerce, there were (and in some places, still are) used bookstores-places where, for the price of one new book, one could walk away with an entire armful of "finds." It was in such a place I found a little paperback that had been published in 1946. The title page identified the author as a "professor of theoretical physics" (whatever that was) named George Gamow. The book was called One, Two, Three…Infinity. This book opened up a whole new world for me, heretofore undreamed of-the world of advanced mathematical and scientific reasoning. In this book, I encountered for the first time, expressed in lively, lucid prose, numerous mathematical and scientific ideas that have continued, ever since, to puzzle, amaze, and challenge me: Cantor’s transfinite arithmetic, Euler’s imaginary numbers, "pure" vs. "applied" mathematics, number theory, "geometry without measure" (i.e., topology), "curved space," "four-dimensional distance," relativity of spacetime, presocratic atomism, subatomic particles other than protons, neutrons and electrons, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Bohr’s Complementarity Principle, quantum superposition, matter waves, positive electrons (i.e., antimatter), cosmic ray showers, nuclear fission and fusion, "atom smashers," entropy, absolute zero, statistical fluctuations, the "riddle of life," the galaxy of stars, the universe of galaxies, stellar evolution, the expanding universe, and the cosmic singularity, to name a few.

I asked my physics teacher to explain some of these topics to me, but he only shrugged and said he didn’t know about any of that. At that time I resolved to learn about these things, and I am still doing so. Along the way I acquired a passion for the work of passing on the profundities of math and physics to the next generation. I am still doing that too. The book is yet in print from Dover Publications, though the enclosed photo depicts the original cover."

Many thanks to Roy Lovell for sharing this experience with us. If you're interested in writing a post about a book that changed your life, please contact Librarian Barker: KimberleyB@westminster.net

Maggie Davis "The Book That Changed My Life"

Art Department Chair Maggie Davis shares several books.

"There are three books that had a lasting impact on my life. Two revolve around water, one released the writer within.

The Phantom Deer, author escapes me. I was about 10 when I checked it out of the Sayville Public Library on eastern Long Island, my refuge from home. I checked it out because there was a hand colored photograph of the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys. The bridge spans seven miles over the most beautiful azure blue water I had ever seen. The story was captivating, about a young boy who finds an orphaned Key deer and raises it then releases it. The word images of the Florida Keys captured my imagination. I thought they must be the most perfect place on earth and it set up a longing to go there one day. Which of course I did, long after the book had been returned and I had grown up.

Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. I was in my 20's when I read it. Having grown up on Great South Bay and the north Atlantic, spending time with my father fishing on the rock jetties on Fire Island, Hemingway's description of the struggle of this fisherman rang true for me as a young person. The story recognized the power of nature and the fragility of life, something that has been a life theme in my work as an artist.

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (just celebrated 20th anniversary of the publication of this book). I collect books about writing but never thought I was a writer until I read Nate's book. Read it cover to cover on a flight from Miami to New York City. When I got off the plane I knew I wanted to be a writer. I took the book with me to the Metropolitan Museum and followed her writing practice while sitting in the Temple of Dendur. I spent the day writing in different rooms of the msuseum, stopping only when my stomach was growling loud enough to be noticed by passers-by. That book led me to study with Natalie in New Mexico on a sabbatical 2004-05. I started a writing group using her technique. We self-published a small volume of stories and poetry called " Evenings at Lily's". Lily was my white standard poodle who listened patiently to all the many stories that unfolded in my living room that winter and spring.

And then there is A Death in Venice by Thomas Mann; The Time it Takes Falling Bodies to Light by William Irwin Thompson and many more "change my life books", books that kept me breathing when I didn't really want to. To this day I still look forward to bedtime when I can curl up with plump pilows, soft light and the "I can't wait to get back to that book" on my night stand (currently The Prince of the Marshes, Rory Stewart which I will donate to the library when I am finished)."

Many thanks to Maggie Davis for sharing her thoughts with us. If you're interested in writing a post about The Book That Changed Your Life, please e-mail Librarian Barker: KimberleyB@westminster.net