Students comment on Author Adrian Tilley's Visit 3.11.09, Old Gym

Presentation by Prof. David Loertscher on New School Library Commons

Dear GSIS community, here is your chance to leave your ideas and comments... Thank you.

Books highly recommended and donated to the Senior Library by Simon Griffin

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos & the Search for Mathematical Truth
by Paul Hoffman

This is a strangely moving portrait of a singular individual who did so much to inspire others. Whilst the records will show he was the most prolific mathematician of modern times, he was also the greatest collaborative mind - routinely spurring others to make journeys of thought that might otherwise never have been.

Reading this at a time when our smartest brains are drawn to commerce rather than academia, it was refreshing to discover such a brilliant counterexample. Paul Erdos deliberately divested himself of property and used any funds he possessed to help students and to provide prize-money for solutions.

He was not a saint, but there is a purity and simplicity in his life that can only be described as enlightening – on many planes.




Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! : Adventures of a Curious Character
by Ralph Leighton and Richard P. Feynman

There is something magical about Feynman’s approach to life that is infectious. Curiously, the fact that he won the Nobel Prize for his work in physics seems almost insignificant next to his ability to have such a great deal of fun while doing so.

His major scientific work was on quantum electrodynamics (which describes the relationship between charged particles and light). However, it was his quest to understand the deepest theoretical concepts in everyday terms that made him truly extraordinary.

He explains that it is only possible to communicate ideas effectively to others when you have the clearest understanding of them yourself. And it was this search for clarity that made him brilliant in research and legendary as a teacher.

This book, which is written in a vivid, autobiographical style, carries the reader through some of his exploits and his way of thinking. It is hard not to feel energised by his joie de vivre and after reading this I have found myself keen to know more about Feynman at every opportunity.




Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities
By Ian Stewart

This is large collection of mathematical puzzles and anecdotes, together with introductions to some great mathematical mysteries (some of which carry million dollar prizes!) – and it is probably the best book of mathematical intrigue and interest I’ve come across. It’s very accessible and nicely put together. Great for casual interest and as a prelude to things far more profound.





Simon Griffin
June 2009

Brain Pop

Dear GSIS community

Enjoy this educational resource (movie) from Brainpop about Baseball or other topics and post us your comments (e.g. would you like to see more of Brainpop?).

Thank you.

Your Senior Library Team

The Man Hong Literary Festival 2009

Mrs. Stevens and the Laird sisters

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On 16 March Mrs. Stevens, Mr. Barker, Mr. Moore and I accompanied the Y8 (78 students)to hear Elizabeth Laird speak of her adventurous life as a writer and teacher.

You can find her biography and bibliographyhere.

She gave us three tips for living:

1. Read everything you can, even if it is the back of a cereal packet.

2. Keep a notebook with you at all times and jot down ideas and your thoughts about the issues

3. Live your life as fully as possible.



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Mrs. Brandl-Dierschke

On 13 March we (Mrs. Butchart, Mrs. Brandle-Dierschke, Mrs. Steen, Mrs. Green and I) attended The Margaret Atwood & Poetry Live double session with the K12 and K13 (28) students at the Central Library.

It was refreshing to hear Daniel Bühr and Raymond Schleiter Hizon of K11A recall and compare Margaret Atwood’s presentation to the previous Amy Tan presentation we attended two years ago.

Margaret Atwood spoke to both students and adults, in an approachable and witty manner, with humour and relevance.

The shining star did not disappoint two self-assigned ‘groupies’ amongst our group who came with great adoration and anticipation, Mrs. Steen and Mrs. Brandl-Dierschke.

FNO.org Hong Kong Conference 3-6 December 2008

We welcomed for the third time Jamie McKenzie at GSIS and congratulate him on a successful conference.

On the first day 50 participants including teachers, librarians, teacher-librarians, Heads of Department, the School Principal and Curriculum Developers from other international schools as far away as Beijing took part in hands-on workshops.

Thank you Jamie

Jamie McKenzie

Conference Speaker

http://www.fno.org/

Ida Griffiths Zee

GSIS, Senior Library

David Best

CAIS, Director of Curriculum & Instruction

Bomb, book and compass : Joseph Needham and the great secrets of China

Winchester, Simon
Call No: 509.2 WIN
London : Penguin, 2008
316 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.


Updated: September 23, 2008



Last night Simon Winchester (invited by The Royal Geographic Society ) flew to town to introduce his new book, a biography on Joseph Needham to a mesmerized audience of over 500 people at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.

Joseph Needham was a charismatic biochemist who published a twenty-four volume masterpiece on the history of invention and technology of China: "Science and Civilization in China".

Highly recommended by our very own history teacher, Trevor Taylor, the biography is now available in the senior library.

Summary
The extraordinary story of Joseph Needham, the brilliant Cambridge scientist who unlocked the most closely held secrets of China--long the world's most technologically advanced country. This married Englishman, a freethinking intellectual, while working at Cambridge University in 1937, fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair. He became fascinated with China, and embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire. He searched everywhere for evidence to bolster his conviction that the Chinese were responsible for hundreds of mankind's most familiar innovations--including printing, the compass, explosives, suspension bridges, even toilet paper--often centuries before the rest of the world. His dangerous journeys took him across war-torn China to far-flung outposts, consolidating his deep admiration for the Chinese people. After the war, Needham began writing what became a seventeen-volume encyclopedia, Science and Civilisation in China.--From publisher description.