Tag: Reading

Curious David

Curious David Redux: Booked for the Summer

on May 17, 2018

Home Study Book Shelf # 1

Christine Smallwood has a thoughtful review in the June 9 & 16 2014 New Yorker “Ghosts in the Stacks” of Phyllis Rose’s The Shelf: From LEQ to LES.

Smallwood raises some issues about reading books which is of considerable interest to me:

  • how we choose books today has been dramatically changed by technology (our preferences and reading habits are monitored and curated
  • what scholars read and how they read has changed (a distinction is made between close reading and surface reading)

I was appropriately admonished by her last paragraph:

And what about the books right in front of you that were published, even purchased, but, for all you know, might as well not have existed? My own bookshelves are filled with books I haven’t read, and books I read so long ago that they look at me like strangers. Can you have FOMO about your own life?…The alphabet is great, but there is nothing quite as arbitrary as one’s own past choices. Reading more books begins at home.”

Timeout on buying new books to read until I review what is filling my home office bookshelves. This is also a wonderful opportunity to use my LibrarianPro app.

Hmm—32 books in shelf # 1 beginning with father-in-law’s 1927 copy of the Best Known Works of Edgar Allan Poe and ending with Philip Tetlock’s Expert Political Judgment. How delightful!

Summer is a time for reading, reflecting, re-energizing, refocusing, and rejoicing about the beauty of living.

 

 

 

 

 

Curious David

Booked Until Mid January …

on October 5, 2016

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Though good literature is timeless and much nonfiction is time-dependent, it would appear that my backlog of pleasure reading is in need of more time than the hour or so I devote to reading before falling asleep! Alas, this weekend is the annual University Lake barn sale where I habitually succumb to walking away with several grocery bags stuffed with even more to read.

Among the books (some of which are pictured above) I plan to have read before 2nd semester begins in mid January are the following:

  1. Charles Duhigg’s Smarter, Faster, Better: The Science of Being Productive in Life and Business and also his The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. I try to read things of this sort because of my partnership in Schneider Consulting and out of interest in writing something like this. Greg, Jane, and I keep talking about publishing some of our accumulated wisdom from consulting the past 30 years.
  2. Cixin Liu’s Death’s End. I read the first two books of this science fiction trilogy and have eagerly awaited more than a year for the translation  of the third volume. I try to read several works from global authors every year and at the time I read the first book, I was under the understanding the Carroll was expecting an influx of students from China.
  3. Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth. I admire and envy her way with words.
  4. Jonathan Safran Foer’s novels Here I Am and  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I tonight will finish his creative first novel Everything Is Illuminated.
  5. Robert Sternberg’s What Universities Can Be: A New Model for Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership.I’ve always admired Sternberg’s depth of thinking and once had the pleasure reviewing his book on research dealing with wisdom. This year Carroll’s overarching theme is “Citizenship.”
  6. The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu’s The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World. I deeply admire both men.
  7. Alan Moore’s Jerusalem.
  8. Maria Konnikova’s The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time. 
  9. Kennth Mikkelson’s (with whom I just connected on LinkedIn): The NeoGeneralist: Where You Go is Who You Are
  10. J. K. Rowling’s: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: A Screen Play

And of course, for the next six weeks I continue to read, learn from, and interact online with the author Jane Hart of MODERN WORKPLACE LEARNING: A RESOURCE BOOK FOR L&D. It is a fascinating and a very new reading experience for me to be interacting with the author and a number of fellow readers across the world as we read, discuss, and try to apply the ideas in her book. So much value is added to the printed copy I bought by my  also having an online copy which I can annotate, explore the links and references, and perhaps even through my participation “refresh” it with ideas.

Lego, ergo sum.



Curious DavidJane Hart's Top 100 Learning ToolsReadingSkypetechnology tools

Rediscovering VoiceThread

on February 9, 2016

 

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I continue to be alerted to so many good ideas via my the personal learning resources on my twitter feed. Today I was reminded of the valuable potential of a learning tool I abandoned  and  hadn’t used for several years, Voice Thread. Here is a VoiceThread that I made in 2012 with my student research team precious memories of an early S-TEAM.

I am particularly intrigued by VoiceThread’s call for participation in “World Read Aloud Day.” THE reading event described reminds me of the wonderful work that Eric Whitacre has done with virtual global choirs. Skype provides a similar opportunity with a chance to interact with authors. Ann Morgan provides a cosmopolitan view of potential readings both for adults and for children.

 

Annie (1)I plan to participate and would be delighted if you did, too, and sent me a link to your shared reading. Books (reading) can indeed change the world. This I believe.


Curious David

What Good Books Have You Read This Year?

on December 15, 2015

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“What good books have you read this year?” recently asked my former student and fellow bibliophile, Susan Gusho recently on FaceBook. Susan, who like so many former students, continues to influence me in what I read and how I teach. Though I do not read as much or as widely as colleagues like Hugo Hartig, who since retiring, has often shared his annual reading list on FaceBook, I try to read books for pleasure on a regular basis.

Here are books I have read this year that were well worth my reading:

  • David Mitchell’s Slade House: A Novel
  • Lauren Groff’s Fate and Furies: A Novel
  • Robert Galbraith’s (aka JK Rowling) Career of Evil (Comoran Strike)
  • Carroll Colleague John Garrison’s Glass (Object Lessons)
  • Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest. Alas, I must wait until August for the translation of the third part of this science fiction trilogy.
  • Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman: A Novel
  • Steven Jarvis’ Death and Mr. Pickwick: A Novel
  • Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves: A Novel
  • Ann Morgan’s The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe 
  • Naomi S. Baron’s Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World.
  • Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.
  • Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See (Thank you, sister-in-law Becky O’Connor for giving this to me—and for instilling the love of reading in children and adults).
  • Kazuo Ishhiguro’s The Buried Giant
  • Sian Beilock’s How the Body Knows Its Mind: The Surprising Power of the Physical Environment to Influence How You Think and Feel. 

On my short list of books to read (or finish) over the holiday break—I don my invisibility cloak from Carroll on December 18 until January 19)—- are the following:

  • Brian Selznicks The Marvels
  • Mark R. Schwen’s Leading Lives that Matter: What We Should Do and Who We Should Be.
  • Douglas Rushkoff’s Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now (Thank you, Davis Endries, for calling my attention to this book.)
  • Jonathan Franzen’s Purity: A Novel
  • Oliver Burkeman’s The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking. (Thank you, David Lewis for alerting me to this gem).
  • Martin James’s A Brief History of Seven Killings. (Thank you, Susan Gusho, for sharing from Kansas your book recommendations. You know what I will like.)
  • Maria Konnikova’s The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time.
  • Roger Angell’s This Old Man: All in Pieces
  • Joan Hustace Walker’s Great Pyrenees (Complete Pet Owners Manuals) (Recommended by Leo The Great)

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Recommend to me some good books and prove to me that I have a reader or two:)

Happy Holidays.


Curious David

Adieu Summer Reading Time

on August 25, 2015

Tomorrow I’ll doff my invisibility cloak for a few hours while listening to President Hastad’s opening remarks. Then I’ll attend a talk about changes in the higher education market and trends in strategic enrollment management. It is always good to reconnect with colleagues and other members of the Carroll community after a rejuvenating summer.

I read a number of interesting books this summer (As always, I hope to give them away to those who love to read).

  1. Ann Morgan’s The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe could easily be a foundation for some of our global education courses. My bibliophile friends might enjoy her thoughtful reflections about books, reading, publishing, and the role of global/international literature. She writes well, thinks clearly, and raises important questions. (See also her marvelous blog documenting her ambitious project to read a book translated into English from each of 196+ countries in a year).
  2. Naomi S. Baron’s Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World. I published a PsycCritiques review of this marvelous book this summer.
  3. Neal Stephenson’s seveneves.
  4. Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.
  5. Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See.
  6. Kazuo Ishhiguro’s The Buried Giant.
  7. Cixin Liu’s first two translated books The Three Body Problem and
  8. The Dark Forest of his three part science fiction trilogy.
  9. Sian Beilock’s How the Body Knows Its Mind: The Surprising Power of the Physical Environment to Influence How You Think and Feel. I have a review of this interesting book scheduled for publication in PsycCritiques later this year.

I’ve begun exploring the marvelous Words Without Borders resources as an attempt to expand my reading diet. What books do you recommend that I read?

 



BooksCurious DavidLiteratureReading

Preparing for Bloomsday: Reasons for Reading James Joyce

on August 12, 2014
Abloom with Ideas of What to Read

Abloom with Ideas of What to Read

I recently purchased a five-year journal and I’m using it, as a planning tool for things I want to accomplish in the next five years. Inspired by my sister-in-law who a year ago told me that she might attempt to read my late father-in-law’s copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses, I’ve begun identifying “great books” which I’d like to have read in the next few years. Ulysses is on my short-list at the moment, though I vacillate on whether I should invest the time in READING it. If so, I want to finish reading it by next Bloomsday.

I just finished reading Kevin Birmingham’s excellent The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses and gained a fuller understanding of the importance of the book. I learned a lot from listening to James A. W. Heffernan’s  Great Courses lectures on Ulysses.  I have explored the James Joyce resources on Openculture.com including a recording of his reading from the book. I’ve read The Odyssey (but almost 50 years ago—perhaps I should read the critically acclaimed Fagles translation). My interest has been piqued by the virtual reality project to create an educational video game of Ulysses, and I have discovered Frank Delaney’s audio podcasts reading of the work.  I passed by the twitter edition! Perhaps I’ll attend Milwaukee’s Irishfest. I’ll definitely add in my five-year journal Ireland as one of the countries I wish to visit.

The question, now, is should I commit myself to reading Ulysses—or instead curl up with Robin the Newf and study my dog-eared copy of  Berke Breathed‘s Classics of Western Literature: Bloom County 1986-1989.

 

BooksReading

Booked for the Summer!

on June 14, 2014

Home Study Book Shelf # 1

 

Christine Smallwood has a thoughtful review in the June 9 & 16 2014 New Yorker “Ghosts in the Stacks” of Phyllis Rose’s The Shelf: From LEQ to LES.

Smallwood raises some issues about reading of considerable interest to me:

  • how we choose books today has been dramatically changed by technology (our preferences and reading habits are monitored and curated
  • what scholars read and how they read has changed (a distinction is made between close reading and surface reading)

I was appropriately admonished by her last paragraph:

And what about the books right in front of you that were published, even purchased, but, for all you know, might as well not have existed? My own bookshelves are filled with books I haven’t read, and books I read so long ago that they look at me like strangers. Can you have FOMO about your own life?…The alphabet is great, but there is nothing quite as arbitrary as one’s own past choices. Reading more books begins at home.”

Timeout on buying new books to read until I review what is filling my home office bookshelves. This is also a wonderful opportunity to use my LibrarianPro app.

Hmm—32 books in shelf # 1 beginning with father-in-law’s 1927 copy of the Best Known Works of Edgar Allan Poe and ending with Philip Tetlock’s Expert Political Judgment. How delightful!