__________________________________
Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead celebrates the creative mind as the origin of productive effort and joyous
life. In my professional work, it has provided me an understanding of the philosophical
underpinnings of entrepreneurial action and the resultant technological evolution and economic
growth. On the personal front, it has been a touch-point for my own journey as an intellectual
entrepreneur by emphasizing the notion: “To thy own ideas (and self) be true.”
Rajshree Agarwal
Business Administration
__________________________________
Speech and Hearing in Communication
Harvey Fletcher
The work of Harvey Fletcher is historical yet was forgotten and misunderstood. Though an
accident, I discovered his work, and was successful in bringing it to the attention of many others.
This was very rewarding to me and useful to the scientific community. I was asked to edit and
update this classic book, which I did.
Jont B. Allen
Electrical and Computer Engineering
__________________________________
Henri Lefebvre
I have selected
The Production of Space because it serves as the necessary reference for every critical
spatial practice.
Conrad Bakker
School of Art and Design
__________________________________
Karlsson vom Dach
Astrid Lindgren
Every now and then, it was a wonderful way to take flight in fantasy as I was reading this with
my son.
Robert Bauer
Mathematics
__________________________________
Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom
Lisa D. Delpit
The question, just who are these “other” people and their children?, as posed in this book,
requires a teacher first to answer the most important question a teacher can address: “Who am
I?”
Louis Bergonzi
Music
__________________________________
Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
Milton and Rose Friedman
Free to Choose is an eloquent personal statement by Milton and Rose Friedman about the
importance of political and economic freedom. I first read it as a teenager, prior to having any
formal economics training, and it had a greater impact on my thinking than I understood at the
time. Now, 2+ decades later, re-reading it is akin to an ‘intellectual homecoming.’
Jeffrey R. Brown
Finance
__________________________________
K.R. Cadwallader, M.A. Drake, and R.J. McGorrin
The book project
Flavor of Dairy Products represents a significant contribution to a research field that I
have had the great pleasure of working in for the past decade.
Keith R. Cadwallader
Food Science and Human Nutrition
__________________________________
The Rivers Ran East
Leonard Clark
In old photographs from the late 19th century I saw my English grandfather riding with gauchos
on the Argentinian pampas, drinking maté from a beautiful tortoise-shell gourd and silver straw.
His adventures and my romantic notions as a child found a confluence in this book, which led me
ultimately to the Amazon and to my career in biology.
Sydney Cameron
Entomology
__________________________________
Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings
Benjamin Franklin
Scientist and satirist, entrepreneur and academic, the first Great American, Franklin is a fine
role model for any developing young person. If I were to restart civilization and pass on but one
text, this would be it.
P. Scott Carney
Electrical and Computer Engineering
__________________________________
Analysis of Electric Machinery
P.C. Krause
This text is one of the most highly referenced in our field. It was written by a mentor and a
friend, whose legacy lives on through many students worldwide. This text was my “Bible” during my
graduate education.
Patrick Chapman
Electrical and Computer Engineering
__________________________________
Nutrition Education: Linking Research, Theory, and Practice
Isobel R. Contento
This is the first textbook directly related to my area of research—Nutrition Education theory
and practice.
Karen Chapman-Novakofski
Food Science and Human Nutrition
__________________________________
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Roald Dahl
This is the first book I really remember my mother reading to me. May all children be lucky
enough to have a parent who reads to them.
Dov Cohen
Psychology
__________________________________
Ion Channels of Excitable Membranes
Bertil Hille
The subject matter of this book is a major focus of our research program. It is an important
collection of works regarding a critical brain region that plays a pivotal role, neural
functioning.
Charles Cox
Pharmacology, Moecular & Integrative Physiology
__________________________________
Microsystem Design
Stephen D. Senturia
I use it in the class I teach on Microectromechanical Systems, but I do not believe it is
available at our library.
Brian T. Cunningham
Electrical and Computer Engineering
__________________________________
After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy
Robert Keohane
It is a seminal contribution to the study of international cooperation.
Xinyjan Dai
Political Science
__________________________________
Hispanic Foods: Chemistry and Flavor
Larry A. Sklar
This book covers the chemistry and flavor of foods of Hispanic cultures. If there is a
multicultural factor that modifies America’s food behavior, it is the Latin taste. I also edited
this book and contributed three chapters.
Elvira DeMejia
Food Science and Human Nutrition
__________________________________
Cultivation and Culture: Labor and the Shaping of Slave Life in the Americas
Ira Berlin and Philip D. Morgan
This collection reconstructs the slave experience without the luxury of a descriptive, written
record from the slaves’ point of view. It delivers a powerful vision of economic culture based on
observed behaviors, inferring the strategic logic behind them. By doing so, these innovative
historians reveal the diversity and complexity of economic life in plantation America.
S. Max Edelson
History
__________________________________
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
Robert M. Pirsig
Where rationality and irrationality, like the academy, interact peacefully.
Dorothy L. Espelage
Education
__________________________________
Cours de Linguistique Generale
Ferdinand de Saussure
Upon reading this book, I decided to become a linguist. I regard it as foundational for modern
linguistic theory, and decidedly so for my own career.
Zsuzsanna Fagyal
French
__________________________________
Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party
Epoch Group
This book is the most detailed account of Communist misrule in China, and what the consequences
have been for the Chinese people and lovers of liberty throughout the world. It will help people to
have a better understanding of China, China’s past and China’s future.
Hao Feng
Food Science and Human Nutrition
__________________________________
Psychoneuroimmunology
Robert Ader
I am riveted by this book’s narcissistic story telling, darkly smoky atmosphere and shocking
climax.
Gregory G. Freund
Pathology
__________________________________
Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals: Part One (Why? When? How?), and Literacy Lessons
Designed for Individuals: Part Two (Teaching Procedures)
Marie M. Clay
Clay passed away this year. She was a mentor to me and influenced the lives of teachers and,
through them, she positively impacted the literacy learning of young children around the world.
Janet Gaffney
Education
__________________________________
Descent Into Hell: a Novel
Charles Williams
This novel is a cryptic commentary on Dante’s Purgatorio, canto XIX (the dream of the siren).
Williams has perfectly captured the polar archetypes of the academic: the self-centered and the
self-sacrificing.
Robert W. Ghrist
Mathematics
__________________________________
The Works of Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Gibbon made me fall in love with English. I bought a set of this beautiful numbered edition
(mine is set # 708 of 1000) in the Urbana Free Library for the price of a forgettable bestseller,
and I was left wondering what was wrong with that municipal institution. (The UFL does not appear
to have another set of this edition.) I hope that the UIUC set will remain in the Main Stacks
forever.
Gustavo Gioia
Mechanical Science and Engineering
__________________________________
The Grand Unified Theory of Classical Quantum Mechanics
Randall Mills
It represents a new way of looking at what was thought to be a closed topic. If this work turns
out to be valid, it represents a potential for major changes in the way science is taught.
Nick Glumac
Mechanical Science and Engineering
__________________________________
What Is Remembered
Alice B. Toklas
I read this book in veterinary school, and Gertrude Stein’s death scene still resonates whenever
I am searching for an important answer. ‘… What is the answer? I was silent. In that case, she
said, what is the question.’
Thomas K. Graves
Veterinary Clinical Medicine
__________________________________
Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life
Philip Nelson
This is the most popular and widely used text for teaching biology to physics students.
Taekjip Ha
Physics
__________________________________
Molecular Principles of Fungal Pathogenesis
J. Heitman
I was looking for a book that covered newer technologies related to mycology and molecular
biology. This book provides a fusion of those two subjects in a medical background.
Glen Hartman
Crop Sciences
__________________________________
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream
Francesco Colonna
I first gained access to this enigmatic masterwork of Renaissance literature through a facsimile
of Jean Martin’s first French translation (1546). At long last, it is now available to
English-language readers through this fine translation by Josceyln Godwin, published exactly 500
years after the original Aldine edition (1499).
David Hays
Landscape Architecture
__________________________________
The Dark is Rising
Susan Cooper
I first read this book in middle school and was captivated. It is a wonderful fantasy novel,
with a sense of wonder, insights on the nature of sacrifice and responsibility and just really good
writing. Now that I have children, reading it as a family around Christmas has become a family
tradition.
Glenn Hoetker
Business Administration
__________________________________
Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency
Archon Fung, Mary Graham and David Weil
This book suggests ways that government information about safety, environmental, and public
health risks can be more accessible and understandable, equipping the public to make informed
choices. I chose it because I think that educating and equipping citizens is the highest calling of
a government information specialist.
Karen Hogenboom
University Library
__________________________________
The Wages of Wins: Taking Measure of the Many Myths in Modern Sport
David J. Berri, Martin B. Schmidt,Stacey L. Brook
The book is a well written and interesting title in sports economics, my area of specialization.
Students across campus will enjoy reading it.
Brad R. Humphreys
Recreation, Sport and Tourism
__________________________________
Noel Streatfiled
I found this book while wandering aimlessly among the shelves of my local public library. It was
a formative experience, an introduction to the treasures that can be discovered browsing the
shelves of a good library. I no longer remember the details of the story, but I can clearly recall
the green cloth cover and the feeling of getting caught up in a world I never before imagined. My
heart still expands when a book comes my way that promises to open up new worlds, an echo of this
early experience of discovery and delight.
JoAnn Jacoby
University Library
__________________________________
New Shanghai Cuisine: Bridging the Old and the New
Jereme Leung
Shanghai, where I grew up, is now a unique international city. It possesses a way of living that
enraptures both the heart and mind.
Qiang Jin
University Library
__________________________________
Biology of Animal Stress: Basic Principles and Implications for Animal Welfare
G. Moberg and J. Mench
Much of my research and teaching is in the area of animal stress and well-being. An earlier copy
of this book in 1984 laid the foundation for my love and enthusiasm.
Janeen L. Johnson
Animal Sciences
__________________________________
Writings on Art and Literature
Sigmund Freud
Whether writing on Moses or Medusa, Goethe or Dostoevsky, on transience in the natural world or
the permanence of myth, Freud demonstrates the reality and necessity of our dreams and delusions,
and shows that life without art and literature is literally unimaginable.
Laurie Johnson
Germanic Languages and Literatures
__________________________________
Beautiful Evidence
Edward R. Tufte
Doug Johnston
Landscape Architecture
__________________________________
The Nature of Light
Scott L. Christensen
I became interested in geology as a child because my family spent a month every summer in the
Wyoming high desert and mountains looking for gem-stones. Scott Christensen’s paintings of Wyoming
appeal to both the artist and the geologist in my soul. In addition, his personal story is
inspiring.
Lura Joseph
University Library
__________________________________
George Orwell
I read this book for the first time in high school as part of my English course. I was struck by
the fascinating story and often hilarious twists in the plot. Only later I realized how the story
mapped on historic developments in the former Soviet Union, and how the book has been studied and
interpreted by many scientists and historians. It is just amazing how George Orwell was able to
hide political/historical events in a story that at first sight appears to have nothing to do with
the ‘real world’.
Paul Kenis
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
__________________________________
Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh Project
W. Eugene Smith
This is where I come from! Eugene Smith’s eloquent images serve as a powerful testament to the
struggles and hard work of my immigrant grandparents–and those who continue to struggle–to give
their children a shot at the American Dream. To my parents who believed that a good education is a
prerequisite for a good life, I gratefully dedicate this book.
Josephine Kibbee
University Library
__________________________________
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Emile Durkheim
I read this book as a college freshman in my social science core course in 1984. This was my
first exposure to the systematic study of cultural phenomena. Soon after, I switched my major to
anthropology. This book was an exhilarating initiation to questions that continue to interest me
today.
Michele Koven
Speech Communication
__________________________________
K. Bertram Broberg
It is an excellent compilation of our knowledge base on Fracture Mechanics gathered over almost
100 years of research efforts.
John Lambros
Aerospace Engineering
__________________________________
Education, Markets, and the Public Good: The Selected Works of David F. Labaree
David F. Labaree
The selected essays in this volume were written by my advisor/mentor, and have been quite
influential for scholars studying the political economy of education. Many of the insights and
questions in this book have shaped my own research agenda.
Christopher A. Lubienski
Educational Organization & Leadership
__________________________________
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
Thom Hartmann
Many people tend to look at technology for help in addressing the world’s ecological problems.
As a physicist, I am afraid that the answer lies not in technology, but in a massive change in our
lifestyle. I hope that this book convinces a few people to take steps in that direction.
Erik Luijten
Materials Science and Engineering
__________________________________
Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People
Jane Bryant Quinn
High levels of consumer debt, low personal saving rates, and increases in personal bankruptcy
filings have generated concern that consumers are inadequately prepared for today’s financial
marketplace. As the financial system has grown more complex, consumers have had to become more
actively involved in managing their own finances. Yet, many consumers, even those who would
describe themselves as “financially savvy,” are having difficulty assessing their options and
making sound financial decisions. For the past seven years, I have researched consumers’ financial
behaviors and helped many to better manage their finances. This handbook serves as a wonderful
resource to anyone who is looking for sound, practical financial advice.
Angela Lyons
Agricultural and Consumer Economics
__________________________________
Mark J. Pallen
This title is a good resource for a team taught class in Emerging Diseases.
Carol W. Maddox
Pathobiology
__________________________________
Power of Now
Eckhart Tolle
In language that is at once simple and deeply evocative, Eckhart Tolle unites the common wisdom
of the world’s spiritual traditions. He gently guides us to discover the joy and beauty that are
always with us, awaiting only our attention to that most-neglected of moments: Now.
Naomi C.R. Makins
Physics
__________________________________
Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences and Empathy
Jonathan Chapman
This is a book that I really wished I had actually written! My research is in Design, Emotion
and Empathy, and Jonathan Chapman fuses all these elements together into a compelling book that
speaks volumes.
Deana McDonagh
School of Art and Design
__________________________________
The Ugly Duckling
Hans Christian Andersen
I was asked by Provost Linda Katehi and University Librarian Paula Kaufman to select a book in
honor of my recent tenure and promotion. This book comes to mind. The UIUC library catalog gives it
the following summary: “An ugly duckling spends an unhappy year excluded by the other animals
before he grows into a beautiful swan.”
Igor Mineyev
Mathematics
__________________________________
Activated Sludge Models ASM1, ASM2, ASM2d and ASM3
M. Henze
Mixed culture biotechnology for wastewater treatment is complex and at first difficult to
understand. The Activated Sludge Models provide a great framework for a more structured
understanding and subsequent mathematical modeling. Exploring and working with these models greatly
shaped my own career.
Eberhard Morgenroth
Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Animal Sciences
__________________________________
Antibiotics: Actions, Origins, Resistance
Christopher T. Walsh
Research in my laboratory focuses on using physical chemical methods to understand and overcome
antibiotic resistance. This book provides an excellent introduction to the underlying biology of
this field.
Satish K. Nair
Biochemistry
__________________________________
Neuromancer
William Gibson
This is my favorite and most read book of all time.
Lisa Nakamura
Institute of Communication Research
__________________________________
Research and Theory in Advancing Spatial Data Infrastructure Concepts
Harlan Onsrud
I chose this title because it is new and deals with an issue that is challenging our thought and
practice. With this selection I am also honoring the person that has shown an extraordinary
leadership and dedication to geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data infrastructure
(SDI) research and community.
Zorica Nedovic-Budic
Urban and Regional Planning
__________________________________
Shades of Black: Diversity in African American Identity
William E. Cross, Jr.
It is a seminal text in Black racial identity in the field of psychology.
Helen Neville
Educational Psychology and African American Studies
__________________________________
The Eighth Day of Creation: The Makers of the Revolution in Biology
Horace Freeland Judson
This work is the definitive history of molecular biology. Judson’s characterization of the
scientists and their discoveries brings to life the research that forever altered the study of
biology. It is essential reading for all biologists and anyone else interested in understanding the
birth of this important field.
Phillip Newmark
Cell and Developmental Biology
__________________________________
Social Competence of Young Children: Risk, Disability, and Intervention
William H. Brown, et al
Michaelene M. Ostrosky
Special Education
__________________________________
The Wolves of Isle Royale: A Broken Balance
Rolf Peterson
Isle Royale is a special place. Rolf Peterson knows it better than anyone, and the pictures are
beautiful.
Robert Pahre
Political Science
__________________________________
Successful Aging
John W. Rowe & Robert L. Kahn
This book helped inspire me to pursue successful aging as my primary line of research. I felt
empowered knowing that our behaviors account for the majority of our health and well-being and I am
passionate about learning and sharing strategies for successful aging with older adults and
scholars.
Laura L. Payne
Recreation, Sport and Tourism
__________________________________
In Memory Of Vernon Willard Hughes: Proceedings Of The Memorial Symposium In Honor Of
Vernon Willard Hughes, Yale University, USA 14-15 November 2003
Emlyn Willard Hughes, Francesco Iachello
In fond memory of my teacher Vernon Hughes.
Matthias Grosse Perdekamp
Physics
__________________________________
Damballah
John Edgar Wideman
John Wideman was my graduate advisor and he remains an influential mentor. I have taught
Wideman’s Damballah on many occasions and I am challenged and inspired by it every time. The book’s
very substance–thematic and stylistic—serves as a reminder (to myself and to my students) of the
power and necessity of story itself.
Audrey Petty
English/Creative Writing
__________________________________
Post-fascist Fantasies: Psychoanalysis, History, and the Literature of East
Germany
Julia Hell
This is a groundbreaking study on the difficulty of coming to terms with the Nazi past in
socialist East Germany after 1945. Responding to the exclusion of antifascist literature from the
canon of German speaking literature, Hell provides theoretically informed close readings that
provide insights into the complexity of ideological and literary formations in the GDR. In many
ways, this book has influenced my own work on memory and film in East Germany.
Anke Pinkert
Germanic Languages and Literatures
__________________________________
Strength and Related Properties of Concrete: A Quantitative Approach
Sandor Popovics
This was my father’s last book, and the one he is most proud of. I would like to pay tribute to
it.
John Popovics
Civil and Environmental Engineering
__________________________________
Slovnik Slovenskych Spisovatelov
Valer Mikula
My study of English language use in Slovakia would not have been possible without the
substantial research assistance of the Slavic and East European Library. I hope that the addition
of this broad reference work to their collection will benefit future scholars interested in Slovak
language, literature, and culture.
Catherine Prendergast
English; affiliate faculty with Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center
__________________________________
Measurement Theory: with Applications to Decision Making, Utility, and the Social
Sciences
Fred S. Roberts
This is the one book I have read repeatedly, consulted several times annually for 1 1/2 decades,
and plan to consult frequently for the rest of my life. This book has profoundly influenced my
whole career.
Michel Regenwetter
Psychology
__________________________________
Social Development: The Origins and Plasticity of Interchanges
Robert B. Cairns
From our first relationships onward, children come to experience with others love and security,
conflict and aggression, altruism and empathy, freedom and constraint. Cairns’ achievement is to
synthesize the varieties and inconsistencies of social behavior within the developing individual,
who grows, changes, and stays the same through continuous social engagement.
Philip Rodkin
Educational Psychology
__________________________________
Asterix en Hispanie
Rene Goscinny
The Asterix series is essential reading for all historians and archaeologists of Roman culture
and its descendents. As a Hispanist, I found AsterixÕs travels in Spain especially
illuminating.
D. Fairchild Ruggles
Landscape Architecture
__________________________________
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
Italo Calvino
A great book about reading, love and beginnings. With Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead, this really started me thinking about literature in a serious, theoretical
way. While other Calvino books (Invisible Cities) are equally great, this was the start. It’s also
the first novel I read in Italian.
Robert A. Rushing
Comparative Literature | Spanish, Italian & Portuguese
__________________________________
Ralph K. Potter, George A. Kopp and Harriet C. Green
Listening to speech is human nature. Displaying speech patterns for the eyes to see requires a
major scientific breakthrough. This book represents a profound understanding of how speech works.
After sixty years, its impact is still strong in many fields, including communication, phonetic
science, speech technologies and education.
Chilin Shih
East Asian Languages and Cultures, Linguistics
__________________________________
Man’s Eternal Quest
Parmahansa Yogananda
Great insight into the meaning of life!
Vijay Singh
Agricultural and Biological Engineering
__________________________________
Trina Paulus
My parents read this to me as a child. It resurfaced in my life during college when a friend
gave me a copy during a particularly trying period of my life. It has remained a staple and is
perhaps the most elegant story that I have ever read.
Thomas Teper
University Library
__________________________________
The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real
Margery Williams
This was one of my favorite books as a child, but it also affected the way I look at things as
an adult by teaching me to appreciate the physicality of objects. Even now, as a book and paper
conservator, I still find myself personifying inanimate objects under my care.
Jennifer Hain Teper
University Library
__________________________________
Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth–A Life Beyond ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’
Jane Lancaster
Lancaster describes Lillian Moller Gilbreth’s real story: mother of twelve (Cheaper by the
Dozen), professor, writer, researcher, speaker, and consultant. Gilbreth was a pioneer who proved
that women can have a happy family and a successful career in academia. Gilbreth’s life long
example is an inspiration to all women!
Cherie’ L. Weible
University Library
__________________________________
The Little Engine that Could
Watty Piper
As a young child, ‘The Little Engine that Could’ was my favorite book. I have found that its
theme of the importance of maintaining an optimistic outlook is useful throughout life. The road to
tenure has its share of potholes, but a positive outlook makes the ride less bumpy!
Scott Weisbenner
Finance
__________________________________
Peter Brook
This is a seminal book on directing theory which changed the way I thought of the art form and
continues to challenge my student’s perceptions of the director’s art and their place within the
collaborative process.
James Zager
Theatre
__________________________________
Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to
Education
Gary S. Becker
This book inspired me to study the importance of the development of knowledge and skills for
low-income people. It has contributed to my belief as a social worker that the investment in
education and skills is one of the most important approaches to empower the poor.
Min Zhan
School of Social Work
__________________________________
Trinadcat Diskov
Mikhail Scherbakov
Mikhail Scherbakov is a highly original Russian poet. Anyone with interest in Russian poetry
will enjoy reading this book.
Vadim Zharnitsky
Mathematics
__________________________________