Subject: Book Project Introduction, Ideas Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 18:17:11 -0600 From: Sunni Maravillosa To: win@thebestweb.com, mcpherso, anakin@dur.mindspring.com, mcole@napanet.net, mjoyner@botree.com, GeoNelson@aol.com, straveca@erols.com, Swcgluck@aol.com, RickAshby@aol.com, Kuene@cts.com, jheflin@mail.portup.com, Tice@writeme.com, Frank@gerryts.demon.co.uk, e7750010@tsai.es, tazz4@ix.netcom.com Hello, all, I thought it might be a good idea for us to introduce ourselves, as this book project idea seems to be catching some interest, and we will (I hope!) be working together on this for some time. Some of the names here I recognize from Libprofs, but some are new to me, and I find it helps me to "know" the people I'm talking with. I am Sunni Maravillosa, an experimental/cognitive psychologist. My work has focused on perceiving and remembering information and events. I currently am not active in academia, choosing instead to try to earn my living via my interest/activism in libertarian/freedom-oriented work, mainly writing. My partner, Don L. Tiggre, and I homeschool his three sons (ages 7, 9, and 11), and we've another child on the way, so we are both very interested in finding/creating freedom-oriented materials for children, as well as all individuals. So far our focus has been on the adult side, creating the Liberty Round Table (http://home.lrt.org/). I've been thinking about what we want to accomplish, and how we might best go about it. I've only just started receiving e-mail from people on this list other than Win, so I apologize if my comments cover things you have already considered... Does anyone have any information or leads on possible publishers of our children's books? From what I know (which isn't much, but a web browsing session today was most helpful), breaking into the children's market can be difficult at best. Given the left-leaning bias of many publishers, along with the increasing desire for political correctness and inoffensiveness among many children's publishers, I don't think we can expect a lot of support from mainstream sources. I _may_ have a possible lead for publishing, but wanted to touch base with you all first prior to contacting my friend. >Sunni - we're all in the same boat on this, and at least you have the head >start of being a cognitive psychologist. There is not, to my best >knowledge, an established body of literature doing what we are aiming to >do. We'll have to invent it as we go. All the more reason, then, to do it right the first time! :-) Is anyone here familiar with the educational currciculum called "Philosophy in the Classroom"? It's published by Temple University Press, and I've only read a review of it along with other educational materials for teaching children logic, critical thinking, and related skills. It sounded by far the best, and might be a good springboard for us in developing our ideas. Unfortunately, the review is hard copy, not web-based, and I don't know if TUP has anything on their web site about it... but here's the information I received from an e-mail inquiry, if anyone's interested: PHILOSOPHY IN THE CLASSROOM is available in paperback @ $22.95. You may order a copy by calling toll-free 1-800-447-1656. > If, through attractive works of >fiction, we can reach millions of youngsters beyond reach otherwise with a >clear experience of what it is to perceive-&-respond, to think things >through clearly, to be ingenious.... ...We will be instrumental in raising a generation of healthy, truly free individuals! Can you imagine anyone who's had the fact of her own freedom deeply understood from childhood being willing to meekly accept the government's attempts to restrict her freedom? And Win is right on target with something else here: the stories need to be attractive to kids. My speculation is all of us has some familiarity and skill with the pen (now, keyboard... I'm showing my age! ;-) , but that's probably been geared for adult, special audiences. We need to package our ideas, values, and messages in ways children can grok, and this means writing much differently than we're probably used to. It also means having an age range clearly in mind; what a 12-year-old can understand and infer is much different from an 8-year-old's capabilities, as anyone with experience with children knows. >My Philosopher's Stone story was too much "what" to fit into our proposed For me, Win, it _was_ a good catalyst... I've been thinking about this a bunch, and hope to be able to devote some time to serious idea-generation soon! John wrote: > This reminds me ... Do y'all remember _The Book of > Merlyn_ by T.H. White (author of _The Once and Future > King_)? In that book, Arthur takes two (shamanic) trips > that are about as psychegenic as I've seen in literature: > he first "becomes" an ant and experiences life as an ant > in the totalitarian ant hill, as if he really were there. > In the second, he "becomes" a wild goose and lives life > and experiences the freedom of pacifist-anarchism and > almost chooses not to "come back". These are great examples of painting vivid images! BTW, there's more of this in "The Once and Future King", too, if anyone's interested... Arthur becomes a number of animals and learns about being human by seeing other species' "politics". What other topics/themes/ideas are you all considering? There are so many ways to approach this challenge! What fun! Thanks, Win, for including me in this group! I look forward to hearing from others with ideas, feedback, etc. as your busy schedules allow. Sunni (sunni-snake@utah-inter.net) =========================================== Have you read the story about the million-dollar tortoise, the toxicity of fresh water, and the US gummint essentially handing a worldwide market to a Chinese industry? http://home.lrt.org/lrt.molycorp.htm ===========================================