Political Science

Confession: I don’t have a huge interest in politics. I vote. I stay informed of the main issues and the issues I personally care about but that has been the extent of my participation in politics. Political Science is another one of those categories that I was dreading reaching in my library read through project. One of the reasons for doing this project is to broaden my reading horizons and perhaps discover new interests. I surprised myself–and just about everyone who knows me personally–by really enjoying this section!

It was in broadening my reading horizons that I came across this gem of a quote that comments on the importance of just reading:

“Within eighteen months, I went from the bottom of the class to the top of the class, and many of those smart kids were now asking me for the answers. Some have described this academic metamorphosis as miraculous, but in fact, it is the kind of transformation I have witnessed or heard about countless times when people fill their time with reading and the acquisition of knowledge as opposed to worthless pursuits of near-constant entertainment.” One Vote by Ben Carson, MD

 One Vote is a small but very interesting nonpartisan book that aims to encourage everyone to get out and vote. It also contains some very interesting websites. I checked some of these out and have chosen to share just a few.

http://votesmart.org/voteeasy/ This is a nonpartisan site which will help the user to narrow down his/her choice of candidates. At the top there will be small tabs. Click on an issue and the candidates who agree with you will move forward and those who do not agree with you will move backwards. Do this with all the main issues listed, and you might be surprised who you do or do not agree with!

http://www.isidewith.com is another nonpartisan site that is quite informative. Though the quiz is somewhat lengthy, it does an in depth analysis of which candidates you agree with on what issues and shows you where you fall on a political scale, identifying your core beliefs. This site can also help to educate you on relevant issues.

There are many other similar sites. Until I read through this section of the library, I had no idea that nonpartisan sites like those mentioned existed.

In addition to reading numerous nonpartisan books/sites, I also was able to look at many picture books of important events such as the Civil Rights Movement. I found these to be very interesting.

Other books in this section were a little more light hearted such as The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception by H. Keith (Harold Keith) Melton and Robert Wallace.

One other book that I wanted to mention from the Political Science category was a book that I would have been unlikely to pick up and read because I wanted to. It’s titled Obama Zombies: [How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation] by Jason Mattera.

I came to have this book checked out by my normal method of shelf reading in order and choosing 5 books at a time. In my opinion, this is a very informative book regardless of which party one supports. It is written by a millennial author about how millennials were coaxed into voting for certain candidates during the last presidential election. It was rather eye opening.

If others have read the books mentioned here, I would love to hear your viewpoints!