This Book is Not Required

This is a great book. It makes a great high school graduation gift for any kid about to go off to college. I wish I'd been able to read it before I began my undergraduate education. It points out a lot of pitfalls and potential problems that most recent high school grads are totally oblivious to in addition to reminding people there's more to living than trying to make the dean's list every semester. You need friends, you need a real life, you need to be comfortable with who you are.

My best friend and I discovered the first edition of this book in a used bookstore while we were in college. We talked about and quoted its advice for the rest of our time in school, and even now that we've graduated, the book still comes up in our conversations from time to time. Bell's chapter on love is worth the price of the book in itself; it distills academic critiques of Western notions of romantic love into clear-headed advice for young people learning to deal with sex and relationships. But that's only a small part of a book about what it really means to learn and think for yourself, what it means to be a good teacher, and all the ways the modern university can fail to support true learning. Everything from the chapter on questioning conventional career ambitions to the section on the definition of the self is influenced by progressive sociology and Eastern spirituality, but Bell presents her challenging ideas in ways that her student audience can easily relate to. I recommend the book to anyone who's in college. It'll rearrange your mind and get you thinking about your life and your surroundings in ways you never have before.

After deciding to become a Sociology major in my junior year, I rummaged through my roommates books trying to find a book that I could use in one of my classes. I read this book because of its unique title: God knows how many "required books" I've had to read in my lifetime. It's like a Chicken Soup for the College Student Soul and an easy and must read for any college student deciding on a any type of social sciences major or a high school student planning on becoming one. My favorite parts are this one section on how Bell breaks down the concept of romantic love and the beginning part where Bell justifies that the meaning of learning and life is by figuratively "staying awake."

"This book was written for me." That is what you will say after reading the first few chapters. It tells all about why we do the things that we do in college, such as procrastinating, cramming, lazyness, and other college-related things. It also explains professors and how to get on their good side and why they act the way they do. This book also explains college love and what happens when you graduate. Inge Bell is completely on the level with us, it make you feel as though you have a link to the inside of college institutions. It's a must-read.

As a freshman at the State University of New York at Geneseo, I was introduced to this book by an upperclassman--a sociology minor, reading it for his 'Social Problems in Public Policy Class.' He told me that he wished he would have read it as a freshman, and he thought that I would benefit from its contents. Well, he was absolutely right. In fact, it has now become my standard gift to younger friends and relatives as they prepare for 'college' life. Fantastic work Ms. Bell!