The Info Guru Blog: 30 books to read before you turn 30

The Huffington Post

Culture Shift is a newsletter curated by the HuffPost Culture editors and writers.

This week we're talking about Aziz Ansari's dating advice, future libraries, a picture book for Gordon Parks, why teens are not killing the English language, and what your musical tastes really say about you.

Breaking: Teens Are Not Killing The English Language

"A subhead from a 1997 LA Times article on teens experimenting with a brand new language reads, 'Technology: Messages made from numerals are popular nationwide.' Messages made from numerals? MESSAGES MADE FROM NUMERALS? Sound the alarm: the English language is on a quick decline, and will soon cease to exist as a thing comprised of words that can be said out loud. Just when we thought we were safe, with our letters and complete, properly punctuated sentences, teenagers have arrived on the scene and, as usual, have ruined everything. Except, actually, they haven't." (Read more here)

30 Books You Need To Read Before You Turn 30

"Some books are best read at a certain age. Even the novels and memoirs you might consider timeless -- Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye or Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking -- can serve a special purpose if consumed during a particular phase in your life. That particular phase is, of course, your 20s." (Read more here)

How To Talk To Kids About Racism In America -- With A Picture Book

"How do you start a conversation with children on America's legacy of racial injustice? You tell them the story of an artist who confronted segregation and exposed that legacy. A new picture book, Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America, takes on the admirable task of translating challenging material to readers ages five to eight. Written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Jamey Christoph, the book traces Parks' journey from Fort Scott, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., as he nurtured his interest in photography as a way to document and expose oppression in the United States." (Read more here)

3 Questionable Pieces Of Dating Advice From Aziz Ansari's 'Modern Romance'

"Aziz doesn't position this as an advice book... but there's no avoiding a certain degree of prescriptivism when it comes to analyzing what does and doesn't work in the dating sphere. He points out that research suggests having lengthy online interactions prior to meeting up isn't helpful, and can waste your time and emotional energy -- that seems to be true, and the underlying message is, well, don't do that. With that in mind, my skeptical, dating-averse brain began automatically scanning the book for awful advice." (Read more here)

'Future Library' Reminds Us How Connected Books And The Environment Really Are

"For artist Katie Paterson, books remain inextricably bound with the earth and the paper they're printed on. This relationship inspired her project 'Future Library,' in which she's commissioning authors to help write 100 works to be kept in the trust for 100 years. They will be published in a limited-edition anthology in 2114, on paper made from 1,000 Norwegian spruce trees planted near Oslo last year." (Read more here)

High School Students Create Haunting Artwork About Standardized Tests

"It is easy to see why Massachusetts art teacher Christina Chang thinks standardized testing 'is not working for the kids.' When Chang, a veteran Burlington High School teacher of 12 years, asked her students to create art based on their feelings about standardized testing, the students' works came back with one common thread: stress. 'The common theme was they didn't like it, it was stressful, there may be better ways to do this.'" (Read more here)

What Does Your Musical Taste Really Say About You?

"According to a recent study rooted in over 50 years of sociological research, taste -- especially taste in music -- is directly correlated with class. University of British Columbia professor Gerry Veenstra surveyed a range of participants about their musical preferences, and found that likes and dislikes, from opera to reggae, are linked with wealth and education. But these findings seem at odds with the current narrative that the Internet has been a democratizing cultural force, or that it's now widely considered snooty, if not uninformed, to shun top-40 tracks." (Read more here)

Two Women Try Their Hardest To Understand 'Goodfellas'

"On Wednesday night, Kyle Smith wrote an article for the New York Post proclaiming that 'women are not capable of understanding 'Goodfellas.'' So, Erin Whitney and Lauren Duca, two Huffington Post Entertainment writers who are also women, tried their very hardest to figure out why." (Read more here)