The Things You Can Read: Spine Poetry

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Spine Poetry

Brain Pickings: From Kim Manley Ort:

A brief history of everything:
BOOM!
Shadow light
Ecological intelligence
As you think
Power vs. force

The books:

A Brief History of Everything (public library) by Ken Wilbur
Boom!: Talking About the Sixties: What Happened, How It Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow (public library) by Tom Brokaw
ShadowLight: A Photographer’s Life (public library) by Freeman Patterson
Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything (public library) by Daniel Goleman
As You Think (public library) by James Allen and Mark Allen
Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior (public library) by David R. Hawkins

What is Spine Poetry? Book Riot shared this description of this new kind of poem:

"The concept of book spine poetry appeared in 1993 with Nina Katchadourian’s Sorted Books project. Katchadourian began collecting interesting titles and arranging them in clusters so the spines could be read like a sentence. Maria Popova of Brain Pickings adapted the spine sentences into poetry, and the idea quickly spread around the interwebs. LibraryThing even ran a Book Spine Poetry contest earlier this year (with Katchadourian as a guest judge)." Here, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite examples of the medium:

We will be writing Spine Poetry in my classes. However, we will add one more criteria. The books have to be about the Titanic. Here is the list from Goodreads that will help students create their Spine Poetry: Goodreads The Best Books About the Titanic. We will share some poems real soon! Until then, check out BrainPickings for more information on Spine Poetry: