At 17, Elie Sternberg '09 was like most teenagers, pondering questions of self-identity such as "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?" At the same age, Tara Lengsfelder '07 was struggling with issues surrounding self-mutilation and self-love.Both Sternberg and Lengsfelder have taken their struggles to the page, penning books that they hope will help others answer questions they dealt with as teenagers.

Sternberg, who has presented his book, Are You A Machine?: The Brain, the Mind, and What it Means to be Human to philosophy classes at Brandeis and Harvard University, said the University may even make it required reading for the Class of 2011.

The book focuses on what differentiates human beings from robots and relates the workings of the human brain to his philosophical analysis. It was published in January by Prometheus Publishers in his native Buffalo, N.Y.

As Sternberg carefully reviews the main points of his novel, his passion becomes almost palpable. He meditates briefly between sentences, wondering how best to summarize each idea, and suddenly the calm, easy-going 19-year-old is lost to the older, wiser philosopher.

"If everything we do is because of little chemicals mixing around in our brain," Sternberg explained, "what differentiates us from a robot? What's unique about us that can't be replicated in machines?"

The double neuroscience and philosophy major can trace his interest in the human brain back to an especially memorable lesson in high school, Sternberg recalls sitting in his Advanced Placement Biology class: "We were talking about something in the brain and someone said, 'Oh, is that why people [behave this way?]' The teacher said, 'Yes' and went into this whole speech about how interactions in the brain cause people to behave in certain ways."

After reading a philosophical article about the possibility of building conscious machines in Scientific American magazine, Sternberg said he knew he wanted to explore philosophical questions of artificial intelligence. "I think that philosophy is very useful in helping guide the questions and research."

Sternberg still seems awestruck as he recalls his introduction to the world of conscious machines. "It's a question that troubled me for some time," he said. His face relaxes for a moment. "As ridiculous as that sounds."

Though he said he always wanted to write a book, Sternberg said he never expected to get published. Are You a Machine? began as an essay that he submitted to his English teacher in 11th grade. That summer, Sternberg sent the paper to Prometheus Publishers, not expecting much in return.

"I was shocked to hear they were interested," he said. Sternberg spent the rest of that summer and the entirety of his senior year writing his book.

The book contains both philosophical inquiry into issues in neuroscience and artificial intelligence as well as biological research. Sternberg explores "what we are made out of" and theories of consciousness in his discussion of neuroscience. He also writes on the progress that has been made in the construction of robots.

Sternberg emphasized that "it's not an academic book at all. It's not meant to teach." He said the book is geared toward high school and college students, and readers don't need any background in the topics.

"When I wrote [the book], I knew absolutely nothing. I'm really writing the book at the level of the reader," he said. "What I really enjoy about writing is taking difficult topics and making them accessible to people."

In fact, after completing his book, Sternberg's foremost concern was how his peers would receive the book. "I wanted to make sure that every kind of person would find [the book] exciting."

Sternberg said he circulated his book prior to publication to different types of people in his high school to get a range of reactions. "I gave it to the jocks and I gave it to the nerds, and I gave it to every category of high schooler, and I got their opinions, and I was very happy to find out that even the people who I didn't even know could read English would find it exciting."

In fact, Sternberg said, even though he has learned more about the subject of the book since publishing, he has not altered any portion of his work. "I didn't want to change [the book] by adding additional understanding. [The book] doesn't express a mastery of the material; it expresses a curiosity."

He even tried to keep his 14-year-old brother Benny in mind while he wrote. "I sometimes have his picture by the computer," he said, smiling. "It's really corny."

"He's a really curious kid and he reads like crazy. He picks up books and he comes over to me and he's like, 'Guess what I just learned?' I want to try to elicit the kind of excitement he has in people."

For now, Sternberg is pursuing writing, though he said he's considering a career in neurobiological research. He's working on another book, Neurons Stole My Wallet: How Modern Neuroscience Threatens Moral Agency, which deals with how the concepts of moral responsibility and crime and punishment make sense in light of the theory of causality. Specifically, Sternberg said, he poses the question, "Is behavior a sufficient measure of consciousness?"

Like Sternberg, Lengsfelder's novel Dancing in the Rain: The Final Cut was inspired by her high school years. The semiautobiographical novel, which came out last October in the United Kingdom, chronicles her own adolescence, plagued by self-injury, pain and strife, though it is written from the perspective of the best friend of a troubled protagonist.

"Self-injury is something that really is just starting to be addressed," said the 22-year-old senior from California. Speaking at the Meet the Author Event last month, Lengsfelder said that 10 percent of teens hurt themselves purposefully.

She carries herself with a quiet confidence. Her voice is devoid of any euphemism or frivolity when she discusses her experience with self-injury. The novel, she said, helped her overcome the pain of her experience. "Writing is very valuable in helping to make your pain more real," she said. "By putting it into a story, it allows you to look at it from a different perspective."

Lengsfelder uses the pseudonym "Tara L. Nicole" to provide some "distance from [her] life," she said. Despite this, she said the autobiographical nature of the novel is a bit intimidating. "You pick up this book and you're reading my life. Literally, you're reading my journal entries from high school."

Lengsfelder's novel, which began as an English project in her senior year of high school, turned into a three-year project that she completed in July 2005.

She said she hopes it reaches adolescents who are experiencing similar struggles. "It's really scary, but it's also hopefully going to help people." Smiling softly, Lengsfelder described the novel as a "story of hope." Overall, her novel's message is that "life gets better." Since the novel's publication, she has received numerous e-mails from people asking for her help in overcoming their own struggles with self-injury.

She hopes that the novel will impact not only those who have struggled with self-injury, but also a wider community. "It's also just a coming-of-age story," she said of her novel. "Hopefully everyone can find something in it."

"It's not scary when I talk to people I don't know about it," said Lengfelder. "It's really scary when I have people close to me read it." Lengsfelder was especially concerned about the impact the book would have on her family. "When you're 16 and going through something, [your family] is obviously going to be very influential to you. When I finally got to the point where I was okay with it, I sent it back to make sure [my family] was OK with it."

Although Lengsfelder is a doublemajor in economics and business, writing has always been a significant part of her life. "I was brought up in a household where we wrote for fun. I have three different journals and I write in them all the time. I think it's really, really valuable to get the stuff out of your head and onto the paper and to let it out."

Lengsfelder said the United Kingdom, where her book was first published, is more progressive than the United States, and is currently "taking steps to rectify the problem" of self-injury, more so than in the United States.

Dancing in the Rain can be purchased through Amazon.com, at the Brandeis bookstore, through Lengsfelder herself and at the More Than Words bookstore in Waltham.

Currently Lengsfelder is working on a nonfiction book about her experience studying abroad in Ireland. She says she plans to continue writing and publishing, and may possibly write on another adolescent psychological difficulty.

"Books are a really powerful thing," she said. "Everyone can help the world in some way and I never thought mine could be through writing, but it very well could be.