The Mensa Reading List for Grades 9-12

I think it's useful for young people to be exposed to what's widely regarded as some of the best-written books out there, so that they might get an idea of what a really well-written book looks like.

What good pacing, characterization, plotting looks like, how to convey a great idea to the reader, without sounding preachy or bore him to tears. And most importantly, how to weave all these elements together into a cohesive whole, as most masterpieces do.

This way they can have a somewhat more critical eye of the more mainstream fiction they'll likely consume in much greater quantity.

I find that most mainstream SF or fantasy books consist of the same foundational elements - but add fantastic concepts or spectacle to the mix, which might grab a certain amount of interest, but must get these foundations right in order for the novel to remain compelling

I think the act of writing is a lossy transformation - someone raised on a steady diet of only sci-fi novels is bound to be only be capable of writing a lesser sci-fi novel.

In order for a writer to reach at least the level of mainstream fiction, the writer must bring some extra from his own - either coming from non-fiction literature, life experience, the rare spark of original genius, or well-executed fundamentals in books like the ones mentioned on the reading list.

I completely agree. The joy of reading comes from discovering stories that you truly connect with—not from checking off titles on a set list. While some reading lists can be helpful for inspiration, I find the “100 books you must read” type a bit off-putting. They can unintentionally suggest there’s only one right way to be a “good reader,” which just isn’t true.

Reading lists really give people the idea that reading is some mechanical task that has to be done in fixed time and has a potential to be optimized. This is how speed reading classes were invented.

Also, don't take reading advice from semi-literates. FTA:

> The list doesn’t coddle, like the American mind has become.

"Coddle" is a verb. Minds do not "become" a verb. The sentence needs a rewrite.

The author claims they normally dislike must-read lists. I call their bluff: they seem a bit preoccupied with finding virtue, given their blog history. I doubt they will find it if they're surrendering judgment to the IQ club. Maybe its better than "10 hot summer reads", but its still an exercise regimen. Christopher Nguyen's "Value Capture" is a good rebuttal to this way of thinking.

It's supposed to be prescriptive because its a literature education list.

Where we may agree is that Mensa isn't in the business of measuring education, but instead of horsepower.

And the reading way toward maximizing a developing child's base ability to think is to read as much as possible, which will necessarily be what piques their fancy much of the time.

But literature education and recreational reading shouldn't mean one doesn't engage in the other. Every high performing child does both, at least to meet the the standards with which I'm familiar.

Still I'm unsure as to why Mensa feels the need to cobble together a basic prep school reading list, if wildly uncurated.

To your point, something more in line with their rasion d'etre might be to provide short best of lists for recreational, slightly advanced reading in age appropriate genres.

Exactly the point I made in the essay.

I agree. Though a lot of those books are great and something a person would probably want to have on their reading list.

Appallingly? I am not sure how else it would be ordered? A random order would be rough. The kids would have to scan through the list in order to find the book they read to rate and date the entry.

Thank you for sharing the link, I embedded it a few times. How the list is interesting (alphabetical) - I wonder how they are rated by Mensa grade 9-12 year olds overall

Surprisingly middlebrow.

At what point can you just read about a book instead of reading the actual book?

The Fountainhead seems like a good place to start...

I should add that point as a comment on the essay, thank YOU - I will link to it

Night shocked me in a way I didn't know I could still be shocked. I think it has given me a very helpful perspective in the following 35 years.

There’s controversy about this book - claims that some or all of it was fabricated. Terrible book to teach the holocaust with since a lot of gen Z or alpha either doesn’t think the holocaust happened or thinks it should have been worse. Giving them a book of fabrications plays into this narrative.

“ Franklin argues that the power of the narrative was achieved at the cost of literal truth, and that to insist that the work is purely factual is to ignore its literary sophistication”

“

Wiesel wrote in 1967 about a visit to a rebbe (a Hasidic rabbi) who he had not seen for 20 years. The rebbe is upset to learn that Wiesel has become a writer, and wants to know what he writes. "Stories," Wiesel tells him, " ... true stories": About people you knew? "Yes, about people I might have known." About things that happened? "Yes, about things that happened or could have happened." But they did not? "No, not all of them did. In fact, some were invented from almost the beginning to almost the end." The Rebbe leaned forward as if to measure me up and said with more sorrow than anger: That means you are writing lies! I did not answer immediately. The scolded child within me had nothing to say in his defense. Yet, I had to justify myself: "Things are not that simple, Rebbe. Some events do take place but are not true; others are—although they never occurred."[68]“

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_(memoir)

It was the same year that I read this crap book that they forced me to read Lolita by Nabokov. I realized that year that “classic literature” was decadent and degenerate - and often so were my teachers!

Anything by Lem and some early Wells still provide great joy at the age of 61!

St John's also has an Eastern Classics master's program reading list for works from India, China, and Japan: https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/graduate/masters-easte...

Other good sources include the list of books in the back of Mortimer Adler's How To Read A Book for a Western Canon and Wm. Theodore de Bary's The Great Civilized Conversation: Education for a World Community and Finding Wisdom In The East Asian Classics for East Asian Canons.

Fabulous, I did not know about those resources, thank you. Will review carefully.