Inside the Newsletter Welcome and Goodbye by Frank Kramer Flying the Fiction Flag by Chuck Pacheco Oh, the Places You'll Go by Carole Horne June Featured 50 Congratulations! Today is your day. What could possibly be a more appropriate graduation gift than books? Maybe you want to give a gift that will be helpful in the graduate’s next stage of life or one that will provoke reflection at such an important time. Or would you like to give something that he’ll find useful for many years, or will be a remembrance of her school years? Do you want something in the "luxury" price range, or are you in the "I hope they believe it’s the thought that counts" category? Whatever you have in mind, there’s a book that will be just right! You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! For those going on to school–whether college, graduate or professional school–here are some ideas. Elements of Learning by James M. Banner and Harold C. Cannon, is a celebration of the learning process and a practical guide to becoming a modern student, designed to help students reach their full potential. There are three books that, given separately or together, will make anyone a better writer: Kate Turabian’s Manual for Writers, the classic and graceful Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White and Woe Is I, the witty primer by Patricia O’Conner, who has been acclaimed as a worthy successor to Strunk and White. In the "luxury" category, The Compact Oxford English Dictionary is the two-volume version of the 20 volume complete OED, with magnifying glass included. You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! For people headed to graduate school there are many choices: within their field, a biography, a classic text or a reference work --or a book by a major thinker whom advanced- degree candidates in any field should know. In the latter category, consider The Portable Hannah Arendt; the new volume of Isaiah Berlin’s The Power of Ideas, essays on the crucial social and political role of ideas and their progenitors; the Library of America edition of James Baldwin’s Collected Essays; Simone De Beauvoir’s Second Sex; Eric Hobsbawm’s On the Edge of the New Century, his sequel to The Age of Extremes; Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas; or John Rawls’s Theory of Justice. You’ll join the high flyers Who soar to high heights. For someone off to Law School I’d recommend Peter Irons’s The People’s History of the Supreme Court or Scott Turow’s harrowing story of his first year at Harvard Law School, One L. For the med-school-bound, Roy Porter’s The Greatest Benefit to Mankind is a "medical history of humanity," while Frank Huyler’s Blood of Strangers is a poetic, humorous and honest look at work in a emergency room. For the MBA-to-be, On Competition by Michael Porter is the definitive collection from the world’s leading authority on strategy and competition. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter Bernstein is a compelling history, while George Soros’s The Crisis of Global Capitalism is required reading for anyone concerned with the complex market forces at work in the global economy. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. For graduates about to make their first foray into the "real" world, there are some very useful guides. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your 20s and 30s, by Beth Kobliner, is available in a newly revised edition. For the graduate who’s never cooked, Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen by Kevin Mills is a terrific choice, and for the not-absolutely-total beginner, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is becoming this generation’s Joy of Cooking. For some perspective on it all, I recommend William Bridges’s Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes, The Oxford Book of Work, edited by Keith Thomas or the lovely essay Life Work by the poet Donald Hall. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.) For books that will impart wisdom and inspiration, the new Onward! edited by Peter J. Smith collects the best of commencement speeches from the last twenty-five years, including those by Robert Coles, Marian Wright Edelman, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Toni Morrison, Helen Vendler, Cornel West and Elie Wiesel. God’s Breath: Sacred Scriptures of the World includes the essential texts of the world’s seven major religions, with commentary by scholars and writer’s from Jung to Karen Armstrong. Mind Over Water is Harvard Magazine editor Craig Lambert’s examination of rowing as a metaphor for a vigorous and satisfying life, and Peter Gomes’s Life Before Death is the latest collection of his sermons given at Harvard. Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way! The quotations throughout the article are from one of my favorite graduation gifts, Oh the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss. Carole Horne is General Manager of Harvard Book Store

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