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Will you pay $2,000 to have a kid read 12 books of your selection?
Summer will arrive, and students may have a more difficult time finding a part-time job than in years past. Is there a teenager, maybe even your own child, for which you care for and want to do something to help him or her find a way to make some money this summer? Do you fear the teen is going to spend the entire summer watching youtube videos of bad lip reading, smoking incense, and virtually killing people on XBox? Are you willing to spend as much as $2,000 to try to make the world an incrementally better place, and definitely give the teenager a leg-up in life?
If your answer is yes to these questions, then consider joining me in hedgeless_horseman's Sad Attempt To Keep Unemployed Teens Out of Trouble By Paying The Lazy Punks To Read Something Potentially Worthwhile Summer Scholarship Program.
Here is how it works. First, make a list of a dozen books that you believe are worthwhile for teenagers. Below, is my current list, along with brief explanations of why I believe each book is worthwhile for teenagers.
Second, purchase all of the books to give away. If you want a copy of a book for yourself, then buy an extra. These books are to get the kid started with a library of his or her own. Get real books made out of paper.
Third, place a reward value on each book indicating what you are willing to pay the kid to read it. I do understand this is very co-dependent, sick, sad, and wrong on many levels, but I have decided that I don't really care. Longer and more technical books get a higher reward in my system. However, having a higher reward for the books one feels are most important might also work. In my experience, the total value of all the rewards is a more important number in the eyes of the kid than the value on any one book. They want to know, "what is the value of the entire summer scholarship?"
Fourth, write a short and simple contract for the entire scholarship that includes the list of books and clearly explains the timeframe, rewards, and the fact that the teenager only receives pay after completing a book, holding a lengthy and detailed discussion with you about the book, and possibly passing an oral or written examination.
Finally, present the contract to the teenager for consideration, but do not sell the idea, or negotiate in any way. If he or she decides to pass on the offer, which is okay, then thank him or her for the consideration, and look for another teenager to repeat the proposal.
Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths, P.S. Edition
Bruce Feiler, $ 10.39
In today's world where all sides try to dehumanize the enemy, we should understand that Jews, Christians, and Muslims pray to the same God.
Reward: $ 50.00
Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: Revised
Bob Meehan, $ 20.00
All teenagers are going to be exposed to drugs, most are going to try drugs, many will become addicted, some will want help for themselves or others. This book can help.
Reward: $ 50.00
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
Christopher McDougall, $ 10.85
Inspirational, entertaining, and gives the reader all he or she needs to become, and stay, physically fit.
Reward: $ 50.00
Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, 10th Anniversary Edition
Daniel Goleman, $ 16.29
In a world where teens must interact with others, it is immensely helpful to have read an Operations Manual for our psyches.
Reward: $ 250.00
Excel 2010 For Dummies, 2010
Greg Harvey, $ 13.70
Understanding Excel is a foundation skill of many 21st Century jobs, appears on most resumes, but actually resides in very few brains.
Reward: $ 150.00
Graham and Dodd's Security Analysis, Fifth Edition
Sidney Cottle, et al, $ 10.00
This one book can put every reader, even a teenager, light years ahead of many, if not most, Wall Street professionals.
Reward: $ 350.00
The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, 5th Edition
G Edward Griffin, $ 24.50
Griffin explains money, banks, and some important history. A must read for everyone in America today.
Reward: $ 200.00
The Double Helix, Annotated and Illustrated 50th Anniv.
James D Watson, $ 17.43
Every kid will gain from this glimpse into real science and the process of discovery.
Reward: $ 50.00
The Elements of Style, 4th Edition
William Strunk, et al, $ 8.26
The book that started me on this sad attempt. We can all improve our writing.
Reward: $ 50.00
The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition
Carla Emery, $ 19.77
Especially if one does not live on a farm, it is a good thing to know the how, when, what, and where of providing for ourselves.
Reward: $ 175.00
The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War
Michael Shaara, $ 16.32
An unforgettable illustration of war, and the things we are capable of doing to one another.
Reward: $ 100.00
The Way to Cook
Julia Child, $ 26.00
This is the most aptly titled book on this list. Huge benefits may be reaped from a teenager reading it before moving away from home.
Reward: $ 150.00
That is $ 193 in books and $ 1,625 in incentives, for a total investment of less than $2,000. Should I pay to cause my children to read these 12 books? That is up for discussion in the Zero Hedge comments, below. Will I pay? Yes. Absolutely, I will pay.
Will you pay a kid to read 12 books of your selection?
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I was thinking Yertle the Turtle.
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Theodor Geisel, $ 9.77
In which one learns the intricacies of aquatic fauna and their behaviors.
Reward: $ 100.00
Also "One Fish Two Fish No More Jewfish" a short story about re-naming a species...
From the same catagory as the Star Bellied tweets....
Did you read it?
Atlas Shrugged (and most everything else by Ayn Rand) No payment, just fucking read the book and understand it.
The Gulag Archipelago, by Solzhenitsyn. Maybe $100. to read it?
Unintended Consequences, by John Ross. No payment, timely gun rights book. Out of print, but pdf online for free.
I've read it. Should be required reading. As should the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
Also missing: Atlas Shrugged.
What a tragedy that you suggest to pay kids to read because there are no jobs.
Someone needs to calculate the years of lost productivity accumulating because of the economic environment we have fostered with an unchecked Federal Government
I would, but someone has to pay the taxes.
"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation. " -Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, Publ. Houghton Miflin, 1943, Page 403
dbl post
I agree- why not read a book by a failed artist that, for a brief time took over a good chunk of the world.
See what all the fuss was about, love him or hate him- the guy is the ultimate turnaround. Same with napoleon- the little Corsican who could, interesting back story there too.
Pass on the ayn rand- just listen to any interview of her on youtube, then tell me you still want to read the book.
Excellent selections HH
Here is my alternative top 10.
The Prince-Machiavelli
Heart of Darkness-Joseph Conrad
The Closing of the American Mind-Allan Bloom
Cato-Joseph Addison
Crowds and Power-Elias Canetti
Animal Farm-George Orwell
Paper Money-Adam Smith
Mans Search for Meaning-Victor Frankl
Middlemarch-George Eliot
Democracy. The God that Failed-Hans Hermann Hoppe
The Prince; how insightful, not often seen on recommended book lists.
I offer a portion of a quote from Fortnightly Review (Feb 1884): " To be understood, Machiavelli's works must be read as a whole, and we must not isolate sentences from their context and discuss them as maxims of universal applicability: and especially we must not separate the Discourses on Livy and the Prince, but remember that they were written at the same time, and that they do not represent different phases in the development of their author's political opinions, but supplement and explain each other."
Machiavelli was a keen observer of human nature.
Good reading and instruction from Ted and Shemane
A bargain.
The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, 5th Edition
Are you fucking kidding me? That will bore them to tears.
BEtter giving them Rich Dad Poor Dad. Not that I like the asshole, but it will teach them to never want to work for anyone else or to be dependant upon a job.
Dying of Money - Jens O. Parsson
Winter in Moscow - Malcolm Muggeridge
Anarchist Cookbook - William Powell (first edition)
The Divine Comedy - Dante
You wanna give a kid an education? Have them sit down and watch one episode of Honey Boo Boo with my 90 year old grandmother in the room. That woman will explain all there is to know about life and tell that kid just how f'd this country is................
My teenager was not bored by it, whatsoever. As a matter of fact, he was constantly asking me questions as he plowed his way through it.
OK. I take that back. I'm looking at my copy now and any teenager who can read on a 8th grade level should appreciate it.
The number of junks on my prior post were probably all from folks who never read that book, I would wager....
For the adults while teens read and profit from that list:
"On the Shortness of Life", by Seneca.
"By other men's labours we are led to the sight of things most beautiful that have been wrested from darkness and brought into light; from no age are we shut out, we have access to all ages, and if it is our wish, by greatness of mind, to pass beyond the narrow limits of human weakness, there is a great stretch of time through which we may roam. We may argue with Socrates, we may doubt with Carneades, find peace with Epicurus, overcome human nature with the Stoics, exceed it with the Cynics."
"We are wont to say that it was not in our power to choose the parents who fell to our lot, that they have been given to men by chance; yet we may be the sons of whomsoever we will."
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_shortness_of_life
[it is quite short, may be read in one sitting]
Actually, I had this idea before HH, but with a slightly different bent. I firgured if any of the really rich hedge fund types really wanted to pull a big stunt, they could set aside a cool 1B. Then, they set up a site by which folks can apply to get a smooth 10k for narrating 11 books, recording the narrations, and submitting them for proportional payment one recording at a time.
The books would be Will Durant's Story of Civilization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Durant
The idea was similar, but in addition to the individual growth from the experience, society had two things to benefit. One would be the "copies" that made it out as audio books that folks could listen to and learn something. The other was a business model. You see, 100,000 human voices reading the exact same words would probably be enough to do some very interesting voice recognition research. Clearly it would be an option to tweak the approval process a bit for demographics. While a little quality control would be required, so that folks made a concerted effort to produce decent recordings, I think there are plenty of folks out there that need the cash, have a basic PC at home, and can read.
If the idea is a flop, well then I would suggest the 11 volumes in the series mentioned and let the young lad or lass pick the last one.
Just my two cents.
Regards,
Cooter
Seems we forgot to list the 100 year old "Fiction" classic, Protocols of the Elders of Zion.