In the striking classic, Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes challenges popular notions of humanity and the human experience.  Written in diary-like entries from the point of view of protagonist Charlie Gordon, the novel invites its readers to experience a daringly imagined journey of the mind.  Charlie, mentally disabled since birth, has been selected to participate in a surgical experiment designed to artificially increase his intelligence by nearly threefold.  Proceeded by his animal counter-part, the lab mouse Algernon, Charlie is hardly cognizant of the risks or possible side-effects that such a dramatic surgery entails. He knows only that “all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb.”  As the journal entries (labeled as progress reports) progress chronologically, Charlie’s entries, began with such simplicity, evolve into the self-questioning struggle of a man seeking to know himself and his place in the world.  As the veil of mental impairment lifts, Charlie becomes aware of the nature of his “friends” and their treatment of him, and he often vacillates between shame and righteous anger.  He also begins to recover memories of a childhood in which he was constantly berated and threatened by an abusive mother whom he could not please.   Just as Charlie is beginning to come to grips with the reality of his “self”, both past and present, his new status as genius is threatened. Algernon, whose post-surgery successes prompted the scientist to include a human element in their experimental trials, begins acting erratically.  What does Algernon’s apparent deterioration spell for Charlie’s new intellect? A deeply moving, and highly original piece, this novel is well-deserving of the title of Classic.