Last night, my husband was watching The Magnificent Seven, and when I walked through to make a cup of tea, I stopped and watched a little. Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson--they continue to be as memorable in their roles as they were in 1960. (A remake of TM7 is scheduled for 2016.)
Watching the scenes from this classic reminded me of how much I enjoyed Into the Beautiful North, which I reviewed in May. Partly because of the way the movie inspired Nayeli to take her band of friends north to search for seven warriors to help reclaim their little village from banditos, partly because of the unusual nature of this immigrant story, and partly because of the situation in Europe and the influx of immigrants from Syria--my mind made consistently wider connections and kept me thinking for a while before I could return to the book I was reading.
I want to read more by Luis Alberto Urrea the author of Into the Beautiful North, and I want to watch The Seven Samurai, the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven.
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After reading Failing Our Brightest Kids in September, I took Teresa's recommendation for How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough (not yet reviewed) which was mentioned in Failing Our Brightest Kids .
HCS was also an excellent look at education and learning, and I ordered a book that it mentioned (I think it was mentioned FOBK as well)--Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin Seligman, who with Stephen Maier, made the first steps to challenging Skinner's behaviorism theory (in which the learner is essentially passive, responding to either positive or negative reinforcement). Seligman and Maier made huge dents in this theory that had predominated in learning psychology.
One thing always leads to another....
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I love these guys.
That's one of the things I love most about reading. Especially when you have found a book that makes you want to read more about a subject. One thing leads to another, indeed!
ReplyDelete:) Yes, books feed such varied interests and curiosities!
DeleteNow that I am slowly starting to read some of my paper books again, maybe I'll get to Into the Beautiful North this next year. I really want to read that one. I saw the The Seven Samurai years and years ago and remember liking it.
ReplyDeleteI love how sometimes one thing leads to another when we are reading.
I think you'd like Into the Beautiful North! Our reading itineraries lead us from one amazing thing to another!
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