We never stop pushing our limits as we find ways to transform the world around us, and we often transform ourselves in the process.
HEATHER DOYLE
Heather Doyle grew up in rural Wisconsin, in a home that was in a constant state of transformation. Her dad was an amateur carpenter but possessed the conviction and work ethic to build his family’s house. At a young age Heather’s dad enlisted her help: she learned to use tools and came to appreciate the value of working with her hands. She was empowered to build more.
Her rural upbringing reinforced Heather’s belief in the value of the trades, the hands-on jobs that a lot of people call “blue collar”. After mastering her high school’s metal work classes, she moved to the nearest city and built a blacksmithing program at a technical college.
When the economy crashed and her college canceled all non-degree programs, Heather found herself looking for employment. Just as her dad taught her, she wanted to empower people’s self-sufficiency and instill in others the idea that a home is built with labor and love. She turned her attention to creating a space in her neighborhood where kids and families could learn to work with their hands.
Science in Everyday Life
RECOMMENDED READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Consider these titles for your Transformation theme book selection. Full descriptions of each book and suggested discussion questions can be found in the download file at the bottom of the page.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope,
by William Kamkwamba. (Informal education)
When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. Using scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William built a windmill that brought electricity to his home and water to their crops.
Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver. (Fiction)
A brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia, Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions - religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians.
The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough. (Non-fiction)
This #1 New York Times bestseller from David McCullough, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly - Wilbur and Orville Wright.
How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation,
by Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman. (Non-fiction)
Through his brain-scan studies on Brazilian psychic mediums, Sufi mystics, Buddhist meditators, Franciscan nuns, Pentecostals, and participants in secular spirituality rituals, Newberg has discovered the specific neurological mechanisms associated with the enlightenment experience--and how we might activate those circuits in our own brains and brings us a new paradigm for deep and lasting change.
Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren. (Non-fiction, young adult)
Geobiologist Hope Jahren has spent her life studying trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Lab Girl is a celebration of the lifelong curiosity, humility, and passion that drive every scientist. Hope tells us how she found a sanctuary in science, learning to perform lab work “with both the heart and the hands.”
by William Kamkwamba. (Informal education)
When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. Using scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William built a windmill that brought electricity to his home and water to their crops.
Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver. (Fiction)
A brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia, Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions - religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians.
The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough. (Non-fiction)
This #1 New York Times bestseller from David McCullough, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly - Wilbur and Orville Wright.
How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation,
by Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman. (Non-fiction)
Through his brain-scan studies on Brazilian psychic mediums, Sufi mystics, Buddhist meditators, Franciscan nuns, Pentecostals, and participants in secular spirituality rituals, Newberg has discovered the specific neurological mechanisms associated with the enlightenment experience--and how we might activate those circuits in our own brains and brings us a new paradigm for deep and lasting change.
Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren. (Non-fiction, young adult)
Geobiologist Hope Jahren has spent her life studying trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Lab Girl is a celebration of the lifelong curiosity, humility, and passion that drive every scientist. Hope tells us how she found a sanctuary in science, learning to perform lab work “with both the heart and the hands.”