Borders, Kitchens, and the Cosmos: A Senior Book List
Each spring, the Class of 1945 Library invites seniors to contribute a short list of books they would recommend to others to read. These lists are then turned into bookmarks. Forty-eight seniors answered this year’s call.
Summer 2025
We asked Phin Gibbs ’25 to tell us about the titles that made his list.
“This bookmark represents why I read: to expand both the radius of my knowledge and the circumference of my ignorance. My reading has taken many directions over the years. Together, these books reflect how I try to understand the world.”
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
“This was the first book I truly loved — its humor and rawness pulled me in.”
Orientalism
by Edward W. Said
In the Presence of Absence
by Mahmoud Darwish
“These connect to my interest in culture, language and the Middle East, especially after spending time in the region.”
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“These books have shaped how I think about power, colonialism, longing and illusion.”
Lesabéndio
by Paul Scherbart
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
by Jean-Dominique Bauby
“Both explore freedom — one through an alien fable, the other through physical constraint.”
The Myth of Sisyphus
by Albert Camus
“This title continues to shape how I think about meaning and choice.”
