SUMMER RE ADING Upper School | 2019 - Returning Students - Finalsite
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SU MMER RE A DING Upper School | 2019 Returning Students
Dear Returning Students, In August, we will meet once with Advisory to
review the school-wide book. We will meet a
second time by the book groups where you will
There is nothing like summer vacation to enjoy have a chance to share your thoughts on the
a different pace of life, to reflect a bit on where book(s) and any ‘plus’ activity.
we are and where we are headed, and to find
time to grab a book of interest and enjoy a sunny Summer Reading sign-ups will be as follows:
afternoon outside somewhere with no other
pressures. • Rising Seniors: after chapel on Monday, May 6
The school wide book this year is Educated by • Rising Juniors: after chapel on Friday, May 10
Tara Westover.
• Rising Sophomores: after chapel on
In addition, you will choose to join one of the Monday, May 13
book groups listed below. It is an awesome range
of offerings! You will notice that some groups • Have in mind 2–3 book groups you would like
require reading two books. Other groups require (in case one of them fills up before you sign up)
reading a single book and then doing something and remember their GROUP NUMBERS as that
additional: watching a related movie, taking a will be how you’ll locate the right place to sign
walk in the woods, writing a brief reflection on a up. Groups will be limited to 14 people.
question the group leader will pose, or visiting
a museum. Enjoy the reading!
The goal of these “book plus” groups is to make Mr. McCallie
the reading come even more alive for you. Dean of Faculty and Curriculum, Upper SchoolFAQs
There are several different
versions of my book
available to buy. How do I
know which one to get?
We’ve provided an ISBN for each book
to help you find a copy; however, you are
not required to read that exact edition.
Can I listen to the audio-
book version of one or
more of my books?
How many books do How does sign-up work? Yes, but you must read along
I have to read? Rising Seniors: after chapel as you listen.
You will read the school- on Monday, May 6
wide book, Educated by Rising Juniors: after chapel
Tara Westover, and then on Friday, May 10 Will the summer reading
the one or two books which are a part Rising Sophomores: after books be sold at the
of the book group you sign up to be in. chapel on Monday, May 13 campus Bookstore?
Have in mind 2–3 book groups you would The Bookstore will carry
like (in case one of them fills up before the school-wide book and
Can I choose a book that you sign up) and remember their GROUP books from every book group. You can
I have already read? NUMBERS as that will be how you’ll locate also purchase it from another bookstore
Please choose a book that the right place to sign up. Groups will be or online, or borrow it from the library. The
you have never read before. limited to 15 people. McCallie library has most of the books on
the list in print and eBook format.
Am I allowed to read my
book(s) on an eReader I have another question
(Kindle, iPad, Nook, etc.)? about summer reading.
Absolutely! What should I do?
Contact Mr. McCallie at
smccallie@mccallie.org.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 1Required Reading
ALL STUDENTS RETURNING STUDENT
READING GROUPS
Educated In addition to reading the all-school book, each
by Tara Westover student in grades 10–12 should choose one reading
ISBN-13: 978-0399590504 group in which to participate.
Born to survivalists in the mountains We will discuss these additional books on a second day
of Idaho, Tara Westover was in August, 2019.
seventeen the first time she set
foot in a classroom. Her family
was so isolated from mainstream
society that there was no one
to ensure the children received
an education, and no one to
intervene when one of Tara’s older
brothers became violent. When another brother got himself
into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest
for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and
across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University.
Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there
was still a way home. (Amazon Review)
This book will be discussed in advisor groups on a day in
August, 2019.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 2Reading Groups
GROUP 1: GRAYSON TROWBRIDGE, CALEB OLUMOFIN,
DR. EASTMAN
Fellowship of the Ring The Silmarillion
by JRR Tolkien by JRR Tolkien
ISBN-13: 978-0547928210 ISBN-13: 978-0345325815
In ancient times the Rings of Power were The Silmarillion is Tolkien’s first book and his
crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, last. Long preceding in its origins The Lord
the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling of the Rings, it is the story of the First Age of
it with his own power so that he could rule Tolkien’s world, the ancient drama to which
all others. But the One Ring was taken characters in The Lord of the Rings look
from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it back, and in which some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel,
remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of took part. The Silmarillion was begun in 1917, and Tolkien worked
Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the on it, changed it, and enlarged it throughout his life. Edited by
Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense his son, Christopher Tolkien, the book finally appeared four years
task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. after the author’s death.
Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across
Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring
and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 3Reading Groups
GROUP 2: JAREN DILDINE, OWEN STOKER, GROUP 3: MRS. WATKINS, MRS. ANDREWS
MR. TUCKER
127 Hours: Between and Rock Dispatches from Pluto
and a Hard Place by Richard Grant
by Aron Ralston ISBN-13: 978-1476709642
ISBN-13: 978-1451617702
On a remote, isolated strip of land, three
miles beyond the tiny community of Pluto,
Aron Ralston, an experienced twenty-seven-
Richard and his girlfriend, Mariah, embark
year-old outdoorsman, was on a day’s
on a new life. They learn to hunt, grow their
solitary hike through a remote and narrow
own food, and fend off alligators, snakes,
Utah canyon when he dislodged an eight-
and varmints galore. They befriend an array of unforgettable
hundred- pound boulder that crushed his right hand and wrist
local characters—blues legend T-Model Ford, cookbook maven
against the canyon wall. Emerging from the searing pain, Aron
Martha Foose, catfish farmers, eccentric millionaires, and the
found himself completely stuck. No one knew where he was; no
actor Morgan Freeman. Grant brings an adept, empathetic
one was coming to rescue him. With scant water and food, and a
eye to the fascinating people he meets, capturing the rich,
cheap pocketknife his only tool, he eliminated his options one by
extraordinary culture of the Delta, while tracking its utterly
one. On the fifth night, wracked by delirium and uncontrollable
bizarre and criminal extremes. Reporting from all angles as
shivers, Aron scratched his epitaph into the rock wall, certain he
only an outsider can, Grant also delves deeply into the Delta’s
would not see daylight.
lingering racial tensions. He finds that de facto segregation
continues. Yet even as he observes major structural problems,
Yet with the new morning came an epiphany: if he could use
he encounters many close, loving, and interdependent
the rock’s vise-like hold to break his arm bones, his blunted
relationships between black and white families—and good
pocketknife could serve as a surgeon’s blade. . .
reasons for hope.
PLUS: Students will watch the 2017 movie by the same name.
Students will watch the 2012 movie Beasts of the
Southern Wild.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 4Reading Groups
GROUP 4: MR. CUSHENBERY, BOWEN HOPKINS
How To Win Friends and Think and Grow Rich
Influence People by Napoleon Hill
by Dale Carnegie ISBN-13: 978-1585424337
ISBN-13: 978-0671027032
Think and Grow Rich has been called
the “Granddaddy of All Motivational
You can go after the job you want—and
Literature.” It was the first book to boldly
get it. You can take the job you have—and
ask, “What makes a winner?” The man who
improve it. You can take any situation—
asked and listened for the answer, Napoleon Hill, is now counted
and make it work for you. Dale Carnegie’s time-tested advice
in the top ranks of the world’s winners himself.
has carried countless people up the ladder of success in their
The most famous of all teachers of success spent “a fortune
business and personal lives. One of the most groundbreaking
and the better part of a lifetime of effort” to produce the “Law
and timeless bestsellers of all time, How to Win Friends &
of Success” philosophy that forms the basis of his books and
Influence People will teach you: Six ways to make people like
that is so powerfully summarized in this one.
you; Twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking; Nine
ways to change people without arousing resentment.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 5Reading Groups
GROUP 5: MR. JONES
Spearhead The Forgotten 500
by Adam Makos by Gregory Freeman
ISBN-13: 978-0804176729 ISBN-13: 978-0451224958
The book follows the stories of tank gunners During a bombing campaign over Romanian
Clarence and Gustav through the European oil fields, hundreds of American airmen were
theater until their wars collide in Cologne shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia.
as the Allies break into Germany. Adam Local Serbian farmers and peasants risked
Makos’ brilliant and descriptive storytelling paints a clear picture their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers while they waited
of the men and the battles. Readers can visualize these men for rescue, and in 1944, Operation Halyard was born. The risks
and their crews inside the tanks, facing the perils of armored were incredible. The starving Americans in Yugoslavia had to
warfare. Adam Makos and his team spent a great deal of time construct a landing strip large enough for C-47 cargo planes—
researching the battlefields, on the ground with the veterans and without tools, without alerting the Germans, and without
this is evident in the amazing level of detail he has put to paper. endangering the villagers. And the cargo planes had to make
The reader is taken inside the tanks, through the trenches, it through enemy airspace and back—without getting shot
streets and fields with these men who are swept up in the down themselves. Classified for over half a century for political
tragedy of war. reasons, the full account of this unforgettable story of loyalty,
self-sacrifice, and bravery is now being told for the first time
ever. The Forgotten 500 is the gripping, behind-the-scenes look
at the greatest escape of World War II.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 6Reading Groups
GROUP 6: JACK EFTINK, MRS. WADLEY,
MRS. MAKEPEACE
The Name of the Wind Scythe
by Patrick Rothfuss by Neal Shusterman
ISBN-13: 978-0756404741 ISBN-13: 978-1442472433
My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses A world with no hunger, no disease, no war,
back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned no misery: humanity has conquered all those
down the town of Trebon. I have spent the things, and has even conquered death. Now
night with Felurian and left with both my Scythes are the only ones who can end life—
sanity and my life. I was expelled from the and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of
University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen
I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These
day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the
make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me. consequence of failure could mean losing their own. Scythe is
So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature—the story the first novel of a thrilling new series by National Book Award–
of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of winning author Neal Shusterman in which Citra and Rowan learn
survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, that a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.
and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it,
gave birth to a legend.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 7Reading Groups
GROUP 7: DR. RICHEY, BO BRINDELL
Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Hitler’s American Model
by Norman Ohler by James Whitman
ISBN-13: 978-1328915344 ISBN-13: 978-0691183060
The Nazi regime preached an ideology of Nazism triumphed in Germany during the
physical, mental, and moral purity. Yet as high era of Jim Crow laws in the United
Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping new States. Did the American regime of racial
history, the Third Reich was saturated with oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The
drugs: cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, unsettling answer is yes. In Hitler’s American
which were consumed by everyone from factory workers to Model, James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of
housewives to German soldiers. In fact, troops were encouraged, the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws, the
and in some cases ordered, to take rations of a form of centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime. Both
crystal meth—the elevated energy and feelings of invincibility American citizenship and antimiscegenation laws proved directly
associated with the high even help to account for the breakneck relevant to the two principal Nuremberg Laws—the Citizenship
invasion that sealed the fall of France in 1940, as well as other Law and the Blood Law. Contrary to those who have insisted
German military victories. Thoroughly researched and rivetingly otherwise, Whitman demonstrates that the Nazis took a real,
readable, Blitzed throws light on a history that, until now, has sustained, significant, and revealing interest in American race
remained in the shadows. policies. He looks at the ultimate, ugly irony that when Nazis
rejected American practices, it was sometimes not because
they found them too enlightened but too harsh. Indelibly linking
American race laws to the shaping of Nazi policies in Germany,
Hitler’s American Model upends the understanding of America’s
influence on racist practices in the wider world.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 8Reading Groups
GROUP 8: MR. BAGBY / MR. FULLAM GROUP 9: MR. GALANTO
The Signal and the Noise Extreme Ownership: How
by Nate Silver US Navy Seals Lead and Win
ISBN-13: 978-0143125082 by Jocko Willink/ Leif Babin
ISBN-13: 978-1760558208
Drawing on his own groundbreaking work,
Silver examines the world of prediction,
Sent to the most violent battlefield in Iraq,
investigating how we can distinguish a true
Jocko Willink and Leif Babin’s SEAL task unit
signal from a universe of noisy data. Most
faced a seemingly impossible mission: help
predictions fail, often at great cost to society,
U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping
because most of us have a poor understanding of probability and
firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories in
uncertainty. Both experts and laypeople mistake more confident
SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, they learned that leadership—
predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence is often
at every level—is the most important factor in whether a team
the reason for failure. If our appreciation of uncertainty improves,
succeeds or fails.
our predictions can get better too. This is the “prediction
Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted
paradox”: The more humility we have about our ability to make
SEAL leadership training that helped forge the next generation
predictions, the more successful we can be in planning for the
of SEAL leaders. After departing the SEAL Teams, they launched
future. Silver observes that the most accurate forecasters tend to
Echelon Front, a company that teaches these same leadership
have a superior command of probability, and they tend to be both
principles to businesses and organizations. From promising startups
humble and hardworking. They distinguish the predictable from
to Fortune 500 companies, Babin and Willink have helped scores
the unpredictable, and they notice a thousand little details that
of clients across a broad range of industries build their own high-
lead them closer to the truth. Because of their appreciation
performance teams and dominate their battlefields wider world.
of probability, they can distinguish the signal from the noise.
PLUS: Listen to a podcast by authors and complete journal
Because of the length of this book, there is no “plus”
assignment by Mr. Galanto.
component.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 9Reading Groups
GROUP 10: MR. PORFIRI GROUP 11: MR. SANSBURY
IvoryBill Hunters Ready Player One
by Geoffrey Hill by Ernest Cline
ISBN-13: 978-0195323467 ISBN-13: 978-0804190138
The last documented sighting of the Ivory- In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place.
billed Woodpecker--one of the rarest and The only time teenage Wade Watts really
most intriguing animals in the world—was feels alive is when he’s jacked into the
noted over 50 years ago. Long thought to virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s
be extinct, the 2005 announcement of a devoted his life to studying the puzzles
sighting in Arkansas sparked tremendous enthusiasm and hope hidden within this world’s digital confines—puzzles that are
that this species could yet be saved. But the subsequent failure based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of
of a massive search to relocate Ivorybills in Arkansas made hope decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to
for the species’ revival short-lived. whoever can unlock them.
Here, noted ornithologist Geoffrey Hill tells the story of But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself
how he and two of his colleagues stumbled upon what may beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The
be a breeding population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and
swamps of northern Florida. He relates their laborious attempts confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
to document irrefutable evidence for the existence of this shy,
elusive bird following the failure of a much larger research team PLUS: Group watch of the movie before school gets out
to definitively prove the bird’s existence. followed by short discussion.
PLUS: Students will create a bird inventory of their local area
using guidelines Mr Porfiri will offer.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 10Reading Groups
GROUP 12: MR. DEITRICK, MR CHAKWIN
The Hiding Place The Tattooist of Auschwitz
by Corrie Ten Bloom by Heather Morris
ISBN-13: 978-0800794057 ISBN-13: 978-0062797155
Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope
who became a heroine of the Resistance, a and courage is based on interviews that
survivor of Hitler’s concentration camps, and were conducted with Holocaust survivor
one of the most remarkable evangelists of and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig
the twentieth century. In World War II she (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love
and her family risked their lives to help Jews and underground story in the midst of atrocity.
workers escape from the Nazis, and for their work they were In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly
tested in the infamous Nazi death camps. Only Corrie among her transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
family survived to tell the story of how faith ultimately triumphs When his captors discover that he speaks several languages,
over evil. he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for
tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.
Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific
atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and
compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position
to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to
keep his fellow prisoners alive.
PLUS: As a group in the early fall, students will visit the
Children’s Holocaust Memorial in Whitwell, TN.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 11Reading Groups
GROUP 13: MR. CURRIN
Levels of the Game String Theory
by John McPhee by David Foster Wallace
ISBN-13: 978-0374515263 ISBN-13: 978-1598534801
This account of a tennis match played by Gathered for the first time in a deluxe
Arthur Ashe against Clark Graebner at collector’s edition, here are David Foster
Forest Hills in 1968 begins with the ball rising Wallace’s legendary writings on tennis,
into the air for the initial serve and ends with five tour-de-force pieces written with a
the final point. McPhee provides a brilliant, competitor’s insight and a fan’s obsessive enthusiasm. Wallace
stroke-by-stroke description while examining the backgrounds brings his dazzling literary magic to the game he loved as he
and attitudes which have molded the players’ games. celebrates the other-worldly genius of Roger Federer; offers a
wickedly witty disection of Tracy Austin’s memoir; considers
the artistry of Michael Joyce, a supremely disciplined athlete on
the threshold of fame; resists the crush of commerce at the U.S.
Open; and recalls his own career as a “near-great” junior player.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 12Reading Groups
GROUP 14: MR. KING GROUP 15: JACK YOUNG, WRIGHT SELF, MRS. BURNS/
MRS. POTTER
Travels with Charley Love Does
by John Steinbeck by Bob Goff
ISBN-13: 978-0143107002 ISBN-13: 978-1400203758
In September 1960, John Steinbeck As a college student he spent 16 days in the
embarked on a journey across America. Pacific Ocean with five guys and a crate of
He felt that he might have lost touch with canned meat. As a father he took his kids on
the country, with its speech, the smell of a world tour to eat ice cream with heads of
its grass and trees, its color and quality of state. He made friends in Uganda, and they liked him so much he
light, the pulse of its people. To reassure himself, he set out on became the Ugandan consul. He pursued his wife for three years
a voyage of rediscovery of the American identity, accompanied before she agreed to date him. His grades weren’t good enough
by a distinguished French poodle named Charley; and riding to get into law school, so he sat on a bench outside the Dean’s
in a three-quarter-ton pickup truck named Rocinante. Travels office for seven days until they finally let him enroll. Bob Goff has
with Charley in Search of America is an intimate look at one become something of a legend, and his friends consider him the
of America’s most beloved writers in the later years of his world’s best-kept secret. Those same friends have long insisted
life—a self-portrait of a man who never wrote an explicit he write a book. What follows are paradigm shifts, musings, and
autobiography. Written during a time of upheaval and racial stories from one of the world’s most delightfully engaging and
tension in the South—which Steinbeck witnessed firsthand— winsome people. What fuels his impact? Love. But it’s not the
Travels with Charley is a stunning evocation of America on the kind of love that stops at thoughts and feelings. Bob’s love takes
eve of a tumultuous decade. action. Bob believes Love Does.
PLUS: Watch a documentary from a list Mr. King will send. Plus: Students will watch several videos of Mr. Goff’s lectures/
presentations.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 13Reading Groups
GROUP 16: MR. OHOTNICKY, MR. POTTER
Brave New World The Abolition of Man
by Aldous Huxley by CS Lewis
ISBN-13: 978-1537011233 ISBN-13: 978-0060652944
Brave New World is a novel written in 1931 C.S. Lewis herewith provides us the
by Aldous Huxley and published in 1932. quintessential “older experienced man
Set in London in the year AD 2540 (632 talking to younger men” about things and
A.F.—”After Ford”—in the book), the novel attitudes that they will need to culture in
anticipates developments in reproductive technology, sleep- themselves to be wise with their life. He covers important and
learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning courageous topics like how to “stand alone”, why to study in
that combine profoundly to change society. What if the future times of war, politics from a Godly view, how to determine
was a tyranny, but one cleverly person intended to keep God’s truth, etc.
the mass of society unaware of this? The people would be
provided with several distractions, daily life would be ruled by
sex and drugs, and pervasive mass media would suppress the
possibility of any original thought: in such a society the ruling
elite would not need to fear any kind of rebellion.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 14Reading Groups
GROUP 17: MR. R. WADLEY / MR. D. WADLEY
The Cubs Way The Chicago Cubs:
by Tom Verducci Story of a Curse
by Rich Cohen
ISBN-13: 978-0804190015 ISBN-13: 978-1250192783
It took 108 years, but it really happened. The When Rich Cohen was eight years old, his
Chicago Cubs are once again World Series father took him to see a Cubs game. On the
champions. How did a team composed of way out of the park, his father asked him to
unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans make a promise. “Promise me you will never be a Cubs fan. The
come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat? Tom Cubs do not win,” he explained, “and because of that, a Cubs fan
Verducci, twice named National Sportswriter of the Year and will have a diminished life determined by low expectations. That
co-writer of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, will have full team will screw up your life.”
access to team president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon, Cohen became not just a Cubs fan but one of the biggest
and the players to tell the story of the Cubs’ transformation from Cubs fans in the world. In this book, he captures the story of
perennial underachievers to the best team in baseball. the team, its players and crazy days. Billy Sunday and Ernie
Banks, Three Finger Brown and Ryne Sandberg, Bill Buckner, the
Bartman Ball, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo—the early dominance
followed by a 107 year trek across the wilderness. It’s all here, in
The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse—not just what happened,
but what it felt like and what it meant.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 15Reading Groups
GROUP 18: MR. LOWRY GROUP 19: MR. COOK
Death’s End 10 % Happier
by Cixin Liu by Dan Harris
ISBN-13: 978-0765386632 ISBN-13: 978-0062265425
Third in a series. Half a century after the We all have a voice in our head. It’s what
Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of has us losing our temper unnecessarily,
Dark Forest Deterrence keeps the Trisolaran checking our email compulsively, eating
invaders at bay. Earth enjoys unprecedented when we’re not hungry, and fixating on the
prosperity due to the infusion of Trisolaran past and the future at the expense of the
knowledge. With human science advancing daily and the present. Most of us would assume we’re stuck with this voice—
Trisolarans adopting Earth culture, it seems that the two that there’s nothing we can do to rein it in—but Harris stumbled
civilizations will soon be able to co-exist peacefully as equals upon an effective way to do just that. It’s a far cry from the
without the terrible threat of mutually assured annihilation. But miracle cures peddled by the self-help swamis he met; instead,
the peace has also made humanity complacent. it’s something he always assumed to be either impossible or
Cheng Xin, an aerospace engineer from the early twenty-first useless: meditation. After learning about research that suggests
century, awakens from hibernation in this new age. She brings meditation can do everything from lower your blood pressure
with her knowledge of a long-forgotten program dating from to essentially rewire your brain, Harris took a deep dive into the
the beginning of the Trisolar Crisis, and her very presence may under-reported world of CEOs, scientists, and even marines who
upset the delicate balance between two worlds. Will humanity are now using it for increased calm, focus, and happiness.
reach for the stars or die in its cradle?
PLUS: Students will listen to several podcasts by Dan Harris.
PLUS: Students will watch short video by Carl Sagan
explaining 4th dimension.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 16Reading Groups
GROUP 20: MR. CARPENTER
Talent is Overrated Essentialism
by Geoff Colvin by Greg McKown
ISBN-13: 978-1591842248 ISBN-13: 978-0753555163
One of the most popular Fortune articles in The core of essentialism as a concept
many years was a cover story called What It focuses on the idea that any particular
Takes to Be Great. Geoff Colvin offered new entity requires certain elements for its
evidence that top performers in any field— functioning and existence. These are the
from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill essential traits which make an entity what
to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch—are not determined by their it is. Essentialism is a book which deals with situations wherein
inborn talents. Greatness doesn’t come from DNA but from people would find themselves in the middle of an information
practice and perseverance honed over decades. explosion. They could also feel occupied with a lot of work, but
And not just plain old hard work, like your grandmother might still be unproductive. There are times when people follow the
have advocated, but a very specific kind of work. The key is how notion that they have to do everything, but on the contrary,
you practice, how you analyze the results of your progress and they end up doing nothing. There is no specific direction to
learn from your mistakes, that enables you to achieve greatness. their tasks and neither to their goals. Essentialism as a concept
Now Colvin has expanded his article with much more scientific narrows down this notion into doing the right things which are
background and real-world examples. He shows that the skills absolutely necessary, in a right manner and at the right time. It
of business, negotiating deals, evaluating financial statements, is about categorising things as important and unimportant as
and all the rest obey the principles that lead to greatness, so that per one’s personal goals, and doing only the important things.
anyone can get better at them with the right kind of effort. Even This ensures that there is a proper channel for one’s energy,
the hardest decisions and interactions can be systematically time, and effort, which can be applied.
improved.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 17Reading Groups
GROUP 21: MR. HONEYCUTT GROUP 22: MR. RENO
Exploration of the Grand Canyon The Inimitable Jeeves
by John Wesley Powell by P.G. Wodehouse
ISBN-13: 978-1420946482 ISBN-13: 978-1090980045
With “The Exploration of the Colorado River A Jeeves and Wooster collection. A classic
and its Canyons,” readers can explore the collection of stories featuring some of
one-thousand miles of the Colorado River the funniest episodes in the life of Bertie
in its natural state nearly one-hundred Wooster, gentleman, and Jeeves, his
and fifty years ago. Legendary explorer John Wesley Powell, gentleman’s gentleman - in which Bertie’s
accompanied by a crew of close friends and associates, details terrifying Aunt Agatha stalks the pages, seeking whom she may
his travels through the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon at devour, while Bertie’s friend Bingo Little falls in love with seven
a time when much of the area was unknown to contemporary different girls in succession (including the bestselling romantic
readers. Starting in Wyoming, the crew travelled the last novelist Rosie M. Banks). And Bertie, with Jeeves’s help, hopes
unmapped area of the continental United States. The novel to evade the clutches of the terrifying Honoria Glossop... At its
begins as an explanation of the land and geography; Powell heart is one of Wodehouse’s most delicious stories, ‘The Great
focused on the native flora and fauna, calling upon the nature Sermon Handicap.’
writing tradition that was emerging during the 1800’s. Next,
Powell drew from his personal diary in order to narrate the PLUS: Students will view several episodes of the British series.
group’s travels through the breathtaking land. Finally, Powell Mr. Reno will clarify which ones.
recounts his journey and discusses the ethnography and cultures
of both Native Americans and the early settlers of the new frontier.
PLUS: Students will watch the documentary entitled
Wrenched about Edward Abbey. Rented on Amazon.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 18Reading Groups
GROUP 23: MR. COFFMAN
Monster (Graphic Novel) Trampoline (Graphic Novel)
by Walter Dean Meyers (Ad: Guy Sims) by Robert Gipe
ISBN-13: 978-0062274991 ISBN-13: 978-0821421536
A stunning black-and-white graphic novel Dawn Jewell is fifteen. She is restless,
adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’s Michael curious, and wry. She listens to Black
L. Printz Award winner and New York Flag, speaks her mind, and joins her
Times bestseller Monster, adapted by Guy grandmother’s fight against mountaintop
Sims and illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile removal mining almost in spite of
Monster is a multi-award-winning, provocative coming-of- herself. “I write by ear,” says Robert Gipe, and Dawn’s voice
age story about Steve Harmon, a teenager awaiting trial for a is the essence of his debut novel, Trampoline. She lives in
murder and robbery. As Steve acclimates to juvenile detention eastern Kentucky with her addict mother and her Mamaw,
and goes to trial, he envisions how his ordeal would play out whose stance against the coal companies has earned her
on the big screen. the community’s ire. Jagged and honest, Trampoline is a
powerful portrait of a place struggling with the economic
and social forces that threaten and define it. Inspired by
oral tradition and punctuated by Gipe’s raw and whimsical
drawings, it is above all about its heroine, Dawn, as she
decides whether to save a mountain or save herself; be ruled
by love or ruled by anger; remain in the land of her birth or
run for her life.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 19Reading Groups
GROUP 24: MR. BIRES GROUP 25: DR. LATHAM
Word of Honor A Separate Peace
by Nelson DeMille by John Knowles
ISBN-13: 978-0446674829 ISBN-13: 978-0743253970
Read the gripping story of a Vietnam vet Set at a boys’ boarding school in New
whose secret past threatens his family, England during the early years of World
career, and honor, from the #1 New York War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing
Times bestselling author whose books have and luminous parable of the dark
sold over 50 million copies worldwide, and is side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely,
“a true master” (Dan Brown). introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting,
He is a good man, a brilliant corporate executive, an honest, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends
handsome family man admired by men and desired by women. one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of
But sixteen years ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam. these boys and their world.
There, in 1968, the men under his command committed a
murderous atrocity-and together swore never to tell the world PLUS: Students will also watch the 1989 movie “Dead Poet’s
what they had done. Not the press, army justice, and the events Society” which can be found on-line.
he tried to forget have caught up with Ben Tyson. His family,
his career, and his personal sense of honor hang in the balance.
And only one woman can reveal the truth of his past—and set
him free.
Because of the length of this book, there is no “plus”
component.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 20Reading Groups
GROUP 26: MATTHEW MERRITT, MRS. OLENCHEK
Touch the Earth Black Gold
by TC McLuhin by Albert Marrin
ISBN-13: 978-0887701061 ISBN-13: 978-0375859687
A self-portrait of Indian existence in Oil is not pretty, but it is a resource that
the United States, here is a selection of drives the modern world. It has made
statements and writings which illuminate fortunes for the lucky few and provided
the course of Indian history and the abiding values of Indian life. jobs for millions of ordinary folks.
The passages range from the witty, the eloquent, the lyric, to the Thick and slippery, crude oil has an
deeply emotional. evil smell. Yet without it, life as we live it today would be
impossible. Oil fuels our engines, heats our homes, and
powers the machines that make the everyday things we take
for granted, from shopping bags to computers to medical
equipment. Nations throughout the last century have gone
to war over it. Indeed, oil influences every aspect of modern
life. It helps shape the history, society, politics, and economy
of every nation on earth. This riveting new book explores
what oil is and the role this precious resource has played in
America and the world.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 21Reading Groups
GROUP 27: MR. MCCALLIE GROUP 28: NOAH TREMAIN/ ABE LEBOVITZ, DR. PROCISE ,
MR. ARNOLD
Man’s Search for Meaning A Walk in the Woods
by Viktor Frankl by Bill Bryson
ISBN-13: 978-0807014295 ISBN-13: 978-0767902526
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir has Back in America after twenty years in
riveted generations of readers with its Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint
descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and himself with his native country by walking
its lessons for spiritual survival. Between the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which
1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT
different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling
and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also
the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of
argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to his fellow human beings.
cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed For a start there’s the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a
purpose. Frankl’s theory—known as logotherapy, from the Greek buddy from Iowa along for the walk. Despite Katz’s overwhelming
word logos (“meaning”)—holds that our primary drive in life is desire to find cozy restaurants, he and Bryson eventually settle into
not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit their stride, and while on the trail they meet a bizarre assortment
of what we personally find meaningful. of hilarious characters. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just
a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson’s acute eye is a wise witness to this
PLUS: Students will watch the movie Schindler’s List. Group beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he
only for 11th and 12th graders. makes a moving plea for the conservation of America’s last great
wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in
the Woods has become a modern classic of travel literature.
PLUS: Students will also watch the 2015 movie of the same name.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 22Reading Groups
GROUP 29: GRANT O’BRIEN, WILL TURNER, JOE COKER , GROUP 30: ADAM SMITH, SETH TIGAR, MR. J. HARR
MR. MCCAGUE
A Class of Kings Holes
(Book 2 of Game of Thrones) by Louis Sachar
by George R. R. Martin ISBN-13: 978-0440414803
ISBN-13: 978-0345535412
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse
that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-
In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones,
pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and
George R. R. Martin has created a work of
has since followed generations of Yelnatses.
unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination.
Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center,
A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of
Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending
revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any we have
all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five
ever experienced.
feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an
A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And
awful lot of holes.
from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of
It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than
Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided
character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys
land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake
are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But
their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which
what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up
brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night.
the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and
Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind
punishment—and redemption.
prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend
from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against
PLUS: Students will watch the 2003 movie by the same name
a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may
available on Amazon.
go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the
coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.
Because of the length of the book, there is not a “plus” element.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 23Reading Groups
GROUP 31: MR. GODBOLD
Red Rising Golden Son
by Pierce Brown by Pierce Brown
ISBN-13: 978-0345539809 ISBN-13: 978-0345539830
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest As a Red, Darrow grew up working
caste in the color-coded society of the the mines deep beneath the surface of
future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while
day, believing that he and his people are dreaming of the better future he was
making the surface of Mars livable for future building for his descendants. But the
generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind
sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the
Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so
humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for
lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him— which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life.
are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class. Inspired He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that
by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, he can destroy it from within.
Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute,
a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next
generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be
forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization
against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 24Reading Groups
GROUP 32: MARK SI, JAMES CHEN, MR. THORNTON
Killing Commendatore The Alchemist
by Haruki Murakami by Paulo Coelho
ISBN-13: 978-0525520047 ISBN-13: 978-0062315007
In Killing Commendatore, a thirty-something Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the
portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian
his wife and finds himself holed up in the shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search
mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead
Amada. When he discovers a previously him to riches far different—and far more
unseen painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches
of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of
journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn
physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who along life’s path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.
lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi
assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the
woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by
Double Metaphors. A tour de force of love and loneliness, war
and art—as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby—Killing
Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our
greatest writers.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 25Reading Groups
GROUP 33: MS. DEEDS GROUP 34: COLE CHRISTENSEN, MR. LINSLEY
Norse Mythology Trekking On
by Neil Gaiman by Deneys Reitz
ISBN-13: 978-0393356182 ISBN-13: 978-0956774538
In Norse Mythology, Gaiman stays true to On the 31st of May, 1902, the war in
the myths in envisioning the major Norse South Africa came to an end after three
pantheon: Odin, the highest of the high, adventurous years. Now Reitz would join
wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, the war in Europe. Following his father’s
incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; example, Deneys Reitz refused to accept the
and Loki—son of a giant—blood brother to Odin and a trickster terms of the peace treaty and went into exile, on Madagascar.
and unsurpassable manipulator. Gaiman fashions these primeval After four years of trials and adventures, Reitz recounts how his
stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the former commander, J. C. Smuts, eventually persuaded him to
legendary nine worlds and delves into the exploits of deities, return home to help rebuild their country. A long and troubled
dwarfs, and giants. Through Gaiman’s deft and witty prose, process, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War South
these gods emerge with their fiercely competitive natures, their Africans were further divided by the September 1914 rebellion.
susceptibility to being duped and to duping others, and their Serving alongside Smuts once more, Reitz describes an oft-
tendency to let passion ignite their actions, making these long- overlooked theatre of the war as they continued their campaign
ago myths breathe pungent life again. into Germany’s African Colonies. Continuing immediately from
Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War, Reitz’s stirring
PLUS: Students will watch one of the series of “Thor” movies memoir carries him towards the Western Front and the final
that Ms. Deeds will determine. years of the war, fighting with the British, but not for them.
PLUS: The group will visit a WW1 Museum. Suggested
museums will be sent to students.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 26Reading Groups
GROUP 35: MR. SHUMATE
Outcasts United The Club
by Warren St John by Joshua Robinson/ Jonathan Clegg
ISBN-13: 978-0385522045 ISBN-13: 978-1328506450
Set against the backdrop of an American The Club is the previously untold inside
town that without its consent had become story of how English soccer’s Premier
a vast social experiment, Outcasts United League became the wildest, richest, most
follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their popular sports product on the planet.
charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a This is a sports and business tale
diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce of how money, ambition, and twenty-five years of drama
into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating remade an ancient institution into a twenty-first-century
portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate entertainment empire. No one knew it when their experiment
its new arrivals. At the center of the story is fiery Coach Luma, began, but without any particular genius or acumen, the
who relentlessly drives her players to success on the soccer motley cast of billionaires and hucksters behind the modern
field while holding together their lives—and the lives of their Premier League struck gold.
families—in the face of a series of daunting challenges.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 27Reading Groups
GROUP 36: MR. HENRY GROUP 37: MR. WATKINS
Season on the Brink Los Pasos del Miedo
by John Feinstein by Concha López Narváez
ISBN-13: 978-1451650259 ISBN-13: 978-8421691922
Twenty-five years after it spent sixteen Marta returns home after dinner with a
weeks atop the New York Times bestseller group of friends. From the bed in which
list, A Season on the Brink remains the most she tries to fall asleep she notices the
celebrated basketball book ever written. disturbing presence of a man who, dressed
Granted unprecedented access to legendary in black clothes and covered his face with
coach Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers during the 1985–86 a mask, begins to make strange movements ... Elena suffers
season, John Feinstein saw and heard it all—practices, team terrible nightmares that repeat themselves night after night,
meetings, strategy sessions, and midgame huddles—as the threatening to become reality ... Two stories of mystery with
team worked to return to championship form. The result is an enough ingredients of terror that will make us relive the sinister
unforgettable chronicle that not only captures the drama and experiences of their characters. (From Google review)
pressure of big-time college basketball but also paints a vivid
portrait of a complex, brilliant coach as he walks the fine line PLUS: Given this is written in Spanish, there is no other “plus”
between genius and madness. component.
PLUS: Students will read excerpts from other books on
basketball legends/teams that Mr. Henry will email over
the summer.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 28Reading Groups
GROUP 38: MR. MERRION
The Case for Christ Signature in the Cell
by Lee Strobel by Stephen Meyer
ISBN-13: 978-0310345862 ISBN-13: 978-0061472794
Is there credible evidence that Jesus of In Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer has
Nazareth really is the Son of God? Former written the first comprehensive DNA-based
atheist and Chicago Tribune journalist argument for intelligent design. As he tells
Lee Strobel says yes! In this revised and the story of successive attempts to unravel
updated bestseller, The Case for Christ, a mystery that Charles Darwin did not
Strobel cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from address—how did life begin?—Meyer develops the case for this
schools such as Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis, asking often-misunderstood theory using the same scientific method
hard-hitting questions —and building a captivating case for that Darwin himself pioneered. Offering a fresh perspective
Christ’s divinity. on one of the enduring mysteries of modern biology, Meyer
convincingly reveals that the argument for intelligent design is
not based on ignorance or “giving up on science,” but instead
on compelling, and mounting, scientific evidence. (from book’s
back cover.)
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 29Reading Groups
GROUP 39: MR. RODRIGUEZ
Eiger Dreams Into Thin Air
by Jon Krakauer by Jon Krakauer
ISBN-13: 978-1599216102 ISBN-13: 978-0385494786
In this collection of his finest work from such A bank of clouds was assembling on the
magazines as Outside and Smithsonian, he not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-
explores the subject from the unique and mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the
memorable perspective of one who has summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that
battled peaks like K2, Denali, Everest, and, “suggested that a murderous storm was
of course, the Eiger. Always with a keen eye, an open heart, and a bearing down.” He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five
hunger for the ultimate experience, he gives us unerring portraits lives and left countless more—including Krakauer’s—in guilt-
of the mountaineering experience. Yet Eiger Dreams is more ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air,
about people than about rock and ice—people with that odd, Krakauer’s epic account of the May 1996 disaster.
sometimes maniacal obsession with mountain summits that sets
them apart from other men and women. Here we meet Adrian the
Romanian, determined to be the first of his countrymen to solo
Denali; John Gill, climber not of great mountains but of house-
sized boulders so difficult to surmount that even demanding
alpine climbs seem easy; and many more compelling and colorful
characters. In the most intimate piece, “The Devils Thumb,”
Krakauer recounts his own near-fatal, ultimately triumphant
struggle with solo-madness as he scales Alaska’s Devils Thumb.
Eiger Dreams is stirring, vivid writing about one of the most
compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits.
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 30Reading Groups
GROUP 40: MR. MCCOURT
Thomas Jefferson: the creation, survival, and success of popular government
in America. Jon Meacham lets us see Jefferson’s world as
The Art of Power Jefferson himself saw it, and to appreciate how Jefferson
by Jon Meacham found the means to endure and win in the face of rife partisan
ISBN-13: 978-0812979480 division, economic uncertainty, and external threat. Drawing
on archives in the United States, England, and France, as
In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer well as unpublished Jefferson presidential papers, Meacham
Prize–winning author of American presents Jefferson as the most successful political leader of
Lion and Franklin and Winston brings the early republic, and perhaps in all of American history.
vividly to life an extraordinary man and
his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power PLUS: Because of the length of the book, there is no other
gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and component.
complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era.
Philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson’s genius
was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously.
Such is the art of power.
Thomas Jefferson hated confrontation, and yet his
understanding of power and of human nature enabled him to
move men and to marshal ideas, to learn from his mistakes, and
to prevail. Passionate about many things—women, his family,
books, science, architecture, gardens, friends, Monticello,
and Paris—Jefferson loved America most, and he strove over
and over again, despite fierce opposition, to realize his vision:
McCallie Summer Reading / Upper School: Returning Students 31For more information contact: Sumner McCallie | smccallie@mccallie.org | (423) 493-5696 *All quotations taken from book reviews on amazon.com
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