Page 2 RAIN April 1982 ACCESS EDUCATION Teach Your Own, by John Holt, 1981,369 pp., $13.95 from: Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza New York, NY 10017 Inspiring and thoughtul: how people learn what they need to know, the exuberance of learning, exploring and participating in the world, being all we can be. For over a decade Holt has been writing about children and schools. Gradually he has come to believe that people learn best when they are involved in the real world, exploring their own interests unfettered by time schedules and disciplinary rules. In his newsletter Growing Without Schooling (308 Boylston St., Boston, MA02116; $15/6 issues) Holt publishes letters from people who have taken their children out of school and are teaching them at home. What stories! In this book Holt systematically tells us the why and how of unschooling. For parents willing to take on the responsibility, resource lists and information on the support network are included. Holt, and the parents who have unschooled their children, know that schools make children dull. Children who like to read at age five are poor readers after a few years in school, but resume their enthusiasm once removed from school and allowed to pursue their interests. Schools have such an insidious influence because the most important question any thinking creature can ask itself is, "What is worth thinking about?" When we deny its right to decide that for itself, when we try to control what it must attend to and think about, we make it less observant, resourceful, and adaptive, in a word, less intelligent, in a blunter word, more stupid. And how else do we learn but by figuring things out on our own? —Tanya Ku- cak A Book ofPuzzlements; Play and Invention with Language, by Herbert Kohl, 1981,287 pp., $14.95 hardcover, from: Schocken Books 20 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Any lover of language, child or adult, will be instantly enchanted by this treasure trove of riddles, puns, linguistic paradoxes and palindromes. Even doubtful readers, still ruing their exposure to grade school grammatical drudgery, will quickly discover that what they have long believed to be odious can actually be fun. Readers are invited to write their own stories using only hieroglyphics or excluding certain letters of the alphabet. They are shown how to construct a variety of crossword puzzles, invent their own cipher systems or create their own obfuscating but impressive titles for common items (such as "pocket propellant personalized neutralizer" in place of "portable field shower"). The book provides scores of games suitable for young people and tips for teachers on how to turn English into a living language in the classroom. And, as John Holt, author of Growing Without Schooling, has observed, A Book of Puzzlements is especially suitable for home learning. —John Ferrell From a Book ofPuzzlements There are certain words (or sentences) that read the same backward and forward. They are called palindromes. An old joke claims that Adam's first words to Eve were in the form of a palindrome. He was supposed to have said, "Madam, I'm Adam."... Here are a few classical palindromes: Was it a rat I saw? Live not on evil A man, a plan, a canal—Panama! No evil, live on! Global Education Resource Guide, compiled by Sandra Graff, 1981, 71 pp., $4.00 from: Global Education Associates 552 Park Avenue East Orange, NJ 07017 The theme of this wide-ranging resource book is global interdependence. Access is provided to 1,000 books, articles and films which either address existing issues of global interdependence or explore alternatives for creating "a just, peaceful, more human and ecologically balanced world system." Topics include economic and social justice, energy, futures perspectives, hunger, lifestyle alternatives, peace, population, spirituality and human rights. Special emphasis is placed on the need to familiarize children with the rapid changes occurring in these areas and many of the resources listed are oriented toward use in elementary andsecondary education. —John Ferrell Vol.VIIINo.6 RAIN April 1982 Journal of Appropriate Technology RAIN Magazine publishes information which can lead people to more simple and satisfying lifestyles, help communities and regions become economically self-reliant, and build a society that is durable, just, and ecologically sound. RAIN STAFF: John Ferrell, Mark Roseland, Carlotta Collette, Laura Stuchinsky, Steve Rudman, Nancy Cosper, Steve Johnson, Lisa Conrad, Ann Borquist, Bruce Borquist. Linnea Gilson, Graphic Design. CONTRIBUTORS: Gail Katz, Elijuh Mirochnik, Dawn Wicca,Kevin Bell, Tanya Kucak, RAIN, Journal of Appropriate Technology, is published 10 times yearly by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a non-profit corporation located at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210, telephone 503/227-5110. Copyright © 1982 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho Cover Photograph: David Brown
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