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Add Greener Reader's Event Calendar to your Google calendar through this link. Click the "+google calendar" link in the bottom right corner
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Come with some quotes and pages that peaked your interest, or ponder and share your thoughts and feelings on things that peaked my interest:
- Child protective services, the mom's mental degradation, foster care system
- White adults treating him kindly, but not as intelligent/capable/equal
- How he defines and views "integration", "assimilation", and "equality", how he distinguishes between "segregation" and "separation"
- Defining "white man" as complexion versus attitudes and actions
- His distinction between Christianity and Islam in how "God", "heaven" and "hell" are defined (p. 163). How he describes representation in religion, books, creation myths, archaeology and it's impact (p. 181)
- Do you empathize or condemn with his generalization of women and wives? How do we decide to empathize or condemn racism and sexism when someone is from a certain place or era or experience? How do we decide to empathize or condemn a criminal lifestyle/education/community/support system?
- How much he committed to reading and writing in prison
- His description of the strict moral code within his religion as a counter to the image projected on black Americans
- How does his credit to Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad "saving" him and his commitment to his cause of black american unity influence his reaction to the scandals and being cut out? How did this publication detailing his willingness to cover up scandalous behavior impact his status as a leader, if at all?
- What were his expectations and dreams of how Africa/Africans could support black Americans? How he described the international perception of the American black man, and his vision on leadership and unity
- Did American media proliferate or stymie his work?
- What's something you were surprised by in his life/history? What's a different perspective you've heard on an event, idea or relationship that was discussed in the autobiography?
- How could he let dancing leave his heart?
- How do you distinguish between a religion, a philosophy, and a movement? Which of these would you say is more efficient/capable of mobilizing change in people / systemic change?
- Some of the tangible goals Malcom X described to improve the life of American black people were a unified black lobby and businesses ownership in America and an international camaraderie/direct lines of communication between Africa and American black people. Are these universal pillars to equality or unique to his cause?
If you only have a small chunk of time to immerse yourself in The Autobiography of Malcolm X today, think about these below
- I read this book aged 17, when the word Muslim wasn’t used as a threat to the status quo, and it helped me understand 20th-century America: without Africans, it made me realise, there would be no America... I was on the verge of leaving the care system for a world of who knows what. I felt like a laboratory experiment about to be released. I had been told lies about myself. People told me they were colour blind when in fact they saw my colour. People insisted “we’re all the same” – when in fact they noticed my difference. And so it was logical that the more they said, “we are all human beings”, the more I questioned whether or not they viewed me as human.
- “His aura was too bright,” the poet Maya Angelou said of her first meeting with Malcolm X. “His masculine force affected me physically. A hot desert storm eddied around him and rushed to me, making my skin contract, and my pores slam shut.” Malcolm X had that same sort of bone-deep, visceral impact on America...And while Malcolm’s ideas changed America, his life journey has captivated us even more. He went from a petty criminal and drug user to a long-term prisoner to an influential minister to a separatist political activist to a humanist to a martyr."
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p. 175: The origin of garden gnomes?
p. 194-195: The sunset as ultimate optical illusion. “Stars and other objects appear higher in the sky than they really are.”
p. 197-198: The danger of mirages, loomings, and fata morgana.
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p. 218: Hands on experiments to glean the roundness of the earth. Why it’s nice to stand by a tall wall or lifeguard tower during sunset.
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Chapter 12 (page 291): All about waves. I loved this chapter when I was learning how to surf.
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Page 356: Adjusting your course to land when the currents are strong and or there are water hazards—rocks, sea walls, and other disasters.
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Page 406-407: When in doubt, follow birds!
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Finally, if you read nothing else in this book, read the last chapter, Baintabu’s story. It’s awesome.
Additionally, check out these reviews:
- “It’s a great reference, filled with personal and historical anecdotes and fascinating bits of physics, astronomy, oceanography, and meteorology. And that’s one of Huth’s central points: To find your way in a world without maps, you can’t rely on any single cue—you need to make the best of whatever combination of cues is available to you… With a little study, The Lost Art of Finding Our Way could be your guide to reconnecting with the navigational aids in the world around you.”—Greg Miller, Wired
- In 2003, my wife and I spent a week on an island off the coast of Maine. One day I rented a recreational kayak from the woman who runs the local post office. She did not, however, have any maps or compasses.
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What Are We Reading In 2020?
We gathered book suggestions from the most faithful Greener Readers and other bibliophiles we dreamed and schemed with throughout 2019. See what we voted for and when we'll meet to discuss them, and click to view what their other suggestions were if you're looking for recommendations! Also, support local and independent bookstores and make a custom order through Da Shop of any books on the list they don't already have in stock!
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