Radley College Summer Reading Challenge Helping you get in shape for your A-Levels and university applications
• Have fun exploring your chosen A-Level subjects by reading around the topics you find most interesting and exciting • Use the summer productively. Reading takes a fair amount of time, so using these nine weeks of downtime is easier than trying to fit it around the Radley schedule. • Start reading books and articles to include in your personal statements and for discussion in your university interviews (you don’t want to leave it until the last minute!) • Develop a sense of the scale of information available in your areas of study and get better at finding relevant material • Share your experience with others in your year by sending us feedback and reviews
Why?
“This is a tremendous chance to make yourself more intelligent. Science has proven that more reading does exactly that. So, which sensible person would turn down the opportunity to be more effective and successful? Reading will make you a more interesting person - informed, witty and erudite. You will impress people if you have read widely. Most of all, you will have a richer experience of life. There is also a negative side to a lack of reading. It is best put by General Jim Mattis, US Marine General and former US Secretary of State for Defence: 'If you haven't read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren't broad enough to sustain you.' (Jim Mattis, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, 2019) In a world where emotion and irrationality often seem to trump common sense and reason, the well-read person is in a strong position to lead the field. Embrace this challenge and we look forward to seeing you soon.”
Mr Rathbone Academic Director
Message from Mr Sheldrake Director of University Entrance
“In my role as Director of University Entrance, I see too many boys trying to develop a sense of academic curiosity overnight when they come to write their UCAS Personal Statement. This is difficult to do and not very satisfying. Start your journey into the life of the mind now. Do not worry about whether a book is going to help you do well in your exams. It may do, but you need to acquire the habit of intellectual discovery beyond and above whatever happens to be top of your to-do list at the time. You have more distractions available to you than any previous generation. Some will throw their hands up in despair at their addictions to their phones etc. preventing them from reading. All the more reason for you to develop some reading will-power at this crucial moment in your life.”
The Challenge You can achieve three levels: Gold: Silver: Bronze:
Complete all six categories Complete five categories Complete four categories
The six categories are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Grasping the basics From the horse’s mouth A new perspective It may never happen Serious nitty-gritty Read and go
The Categories Explained The books and articles suggested here are merely examples. They won’t necessarily match your own A-Level subjects or areas of interest. If so, find titles which suit you better. The Librarians will be happy to help you choose for each category.
1.
Grasping the basics: read something fundamental to your field of study. Examples might be: • Political theory: an introduction by A. Haywood • Art History: the key concepts by J. Harris • Journey through genius: the great theorems of mathematics by W. Dunham
2.
From the horse’s mouth: read something written by a person who’s important in your field of study. Examples might be: • Adventures of a young naturalist: the zoo quest expeditions by D. Attenborough • On directing: interviews with directors by G. Giannachi et al • Letters from Robben Island: a selection of Ahmed Kathrada's prison correspondence
3.
A new perspective: read something with a viewpoint that’s unfamiliar or different to yours. Examples might be: • Package Design in Japan by Shigeru Akizuki et al • Banker to the poor: micro-lending and the battle against world poverty by M. Yunus and A. Jolis • Invisible women: exposing data bias in a world designed for men by C. Criado-Perez
4.
It may never happen: read a fictional account (a novel, play, poetry, or short-stories) of something related to your field of study. Examples might be: • • • • •
5.
I, Robot by I. Asimov (novel, sci-fi, artificial intelligence) Going to Meet the Man by J. Baldwin (short-stories, US Civil Rights) The History Boys by A. Bennett (play, lewd Oxbridge prep comedy) Candide by Voltaire (17th century French satire) The Bees by C. A. Duffy (mixed bag poetry collection)
Serious nitty-gritty: read about something very specific to your field of study, ideally from a subject-related publication, such as an academic journal, a special-interest magazine or newspaper. Examples might be: • An article from BBC Sky at Night magazine about celestial targets for serious star gazing • An article on fractals from Maths Horizons journal • An article from The Economist about fuel prices in India
6.
Read and go: read about something you can explore in person. Examples might be: • A book/article about a composer or piece of classical music and hear it performed live • A book/article about marine ecology and visit a marine wildlife centre • A book/article about Roman mosaics and look at one at an archaeological site • A book/article about a manufacturing process and tour a related factory
“For many of you wishing to go to university, or just wanting to excel in your A Level course, further reading will form a big part of this. But as you graduate from Fifth to Sixth Form, some of you may not have given this much thought yet. Fortunately, you have nine weeks to make up for this. All of you are interested in something. Great! Given that most of you will write a personal statement and get interviewed by universities, knowing what you are talking about is essential. I can attest to this personally; the summer period set me off on a whirlwind of intellectual discovery that led to me reading wider and sparking greater curiosity for my subjects. The extra reading ensured that I could give my personal statement a solid backing and feel confident in academic discussion. For example, I had always liked history but largely confined myself to watching ‘Saving Private Ryan’ on repeat. By reading beyond the confines of Netflix, I found access to concepts that put me on a much stronger footing for my post-summer arrival at the red brick utopia that is Radley. Some of you may be unsure as to where to start; your local library is always a good place and will have plenty of shelves to explore. You could even try finding a specific subject niche and politely interrogate your local librarian or current teachers for any solid reading recommendations. Your parents may also be able to help. Don’t worry about knowing everything about a subject, because whatever avenue you explore will act as a great microcosm for academic study of some kind. Push yourself to read at a higher level to ease the transition from textbook to actual book, and work on your tan while you’re at it.”
Jack Jacobs Academic Prefect, 2021-2
Message from Miss Mühlberg Librarian “We very much look forward to welcoming you to our library at Radley soon. In the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy this challenge. Although it is clearly academic in nature, it is designed to allow you free rein to choose according to your own special interests. We really hope it will kindle and fuel a genuine love for your subject(s) and help you take charge of your own learning and understanding. I hope you have good access to books and articles at your current school library, your local library, and at home. Once you arrive at Radley, you’ll have access to everything at our library here. I’d strongly encourage you to make full use of it. There will be a vast amount of knowledge at your fingertips here. For now, we’ve made a start by giving you some search suggestions, so do have a quick exploration. With any luck, you’ll be able to track down some of those titles over the holiday.” Best of luck!”
Finding the right reading material 1.
Academic reading lists available on the Radley Library catalogue (click the link or scan the QR code): https://ws.radley.org.uk/oliver/home/browse/readingLists • You can also search for specific books on that page (try limiting by title, author, or subject). That tells you what we have available at Radley for when you arrive.
2. Recommendations: many Radley dons have posters with reading suggestions in their classrooms or on their doors. Please click the flickr icon below (or scan the QR code) to see some examples. Alternatively, you could ask your current teachers or librarians what they might recommend for you to read.
Tell us how you got on If you tackled this challenge, we’d love to hear from you via this survey: https://forms.office.com/r/Sy2LsdCbGj * It will ask you what you’ve read for the categories you completed, and there’s room for one proper review. Please use the review field (No.7) to recommend your favourite book or article you read as part of this challenge. We’ll put together a further reading display of all your suggestions when you return in September. This will help inspire others who may have an interest in similar subjects. As the Dalai Lama says:
“Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.”
*This code will also allow you to access the survey:
Happy holidays, happy reading, and we look forward to seeing back again soon!