Lightning

When I was 13/14 years old I wished that I could be American.  I used to watch programmes on TV about American mathematicians and people who would risk their lives (physically and socially) taking little rest, chasing thunderstorms to capture the perfect photos of lightning and to understand lightning.  I still find this to be the most romantic of endeavors seeking things and knowledge higher than ourselves. Being passionate about science and wild serious ventures seems only possible and dare I say acceptable in the US, no other nation embraces this so fully.  The first book I really loved was Chaos by James Gleick I was then 16 years old. I'm a geek at heart. This is my excuse to save up for Prism glasses ;)

If you are into Mathematics and fancy reading some books which aren't too heavy I recommend:

The man who loved only numbers
Natures numbers
Uncle Petros and the Goldback Conjecture