Whatcha reading?

[Danger_Zone]

Just finished Post Office by Bukowski and Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus. Now I'm reading Building a Better Race by Wendy Kline. Also started How to Write a Thesis by Umberto Eco a little while back, reading that off and on now.. guess I won't be writing a thesis for a while but I like to read about these sorts of things and be well-prepared.

[Neist]

Since he was discussed fairly recently in this thread, I thought I'd chime in and say that I've found out that Jeffrey Selingo has a new book out in a few days, There is Life After College. I might have to pick it up considering how much I enjoyed College Unbound.

21 hours ago, Danger_Zone said:

Just finished Post Office by Bukowski and Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus. Now I'm reading Building a Better Race by Wendy Kline. Also started How to Write a Thesis by Umberto Eco a little while back, reading that off and on now.. guess I won't be writing a thesis for a while but I like to read about these sorts of things and be well-prepared.

Nothing wrong with being well-prepared!  I'm very similar. I often plan months or years in advance. I don't feel as if I'm an overly intelligent or qualified individual, so I do everything in my power to ease my future life.

[Klonoa]

Currently reading Edward Humes's Over Here: How The G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream, which is social history of the GI Bill. It's a more entertaining and easier read compared to Michael J. Bennett's When Dreams Came True: The GI Bill and the Making of Modern America, which is political history of the GI Bill. I'm also reading Yingjin Zhang's The City in Modern Chinese Literature & Film: Configuration of Space, Time, and Gender, a difficult read about Beijing and Shanghai literature and film culture that I'm still trying to understand the thesis and contribution of this monograph.

[gsc]

8 hours ago, Klonoa said:

Currently reading Edward Humes's Over Here: How The G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream, which is social history of the GI Bill. It's a more entertaining and easier read compared to Michael J. Bennett's When Dreams Came True: The GI Bill and the Making of Modern America, which is political history of the GI Bill. I'm also reading Yingjin Zhang's The City in Modern Chinese Literature & Film: Configuration of Space, Time, and Gender, a difficult read about Beijing and Shanghai literature and film culture that I'm still trying to understand the thesis and contribution of this monograph.

Related to this: The Rise of the Military Welfare State by Jennifer Mittelstadt follows military benefits (including and beyond the GI Bill) into the 1970s and 1980s. 

[Klonoa]

29 minutes ago, girlscoutcookies said:

Related to this: The Rise of the Military Welfare State by Jennifer Mittelstadt follows military benefits (including and beyond the GI Bill) into the 1970s and 1980s. 

I have this book and will be starting it in a few days. It has received some mixed reviews. Some vets really went at her book.

[mvlchicago]

A colleague and former instructor's first book came out about a month ago: Network Aesthetics by Patrick Jagoda. Especially worthwhile for the historian who is interested in reflecting on how "network" has suddenly become ubiquitous in historical writing. 

[Neist]

9 minutes ago, mvlchicago said:

A colleague and former instructor's first book came out about a month ago: Network Aesthetics by Patrick Jagoda. Especially worthwhile for the historian who is interested in reflecting on how "network" has suddenly become ubiquitous in historical writing. 

Looks pretty interesting.

Thanks for the heads up!

[Malthusian]

Reading three books at the moment (depends on my mood):

• Pomeranz: The Great Divergence;
• Beckert: History of Cotton;
• Darwin: After Tamarlane

 

[SunshineLolipops]

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  That way I get to slightly step away from work related reading while still staying in the period I enjoy most, and I get to reread a favorite from when I was a kid with a new perspective.

Edited April 12, 2016 by SunshineLolipops
Typo

[Neist]

2 hours ago, SunshineLolipops said:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  That way I get to slightly step away from work related reading while still staying in the period I enjoy most, and I get to reread a favorite from when I was a kid with a new perspective.

Fun reading, go!  If not already obvious from my posts in this thread, I try to get as much fun reading in as I can, or at least what I consider fun reading. I'm more cultural historian than anything, and my interests definitely border closer to popular culture. I tend to enjoy for-mass-consumption books because they let me view the perception of certain topics through a popular lens.

I just finished Hatching Twitter and now I've started The Soil Will Save Us by Kristin Ohlson. It's a relatively short audio book at the speed I listen, so I should finish it today. Will probably start Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance afterwards.

[Neist]

On 4/12/2016 at 10:02 AM, Neist said:

I just finished Hatching Twitter and now I've started The Soil Will Save Us by Kristin Ohlson. It's a relatively short audio book at the speed I listen, so I should finish it today. Will probably start Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance afterwards.

Finished The Soil Will Save Us. It was okay, but it wasn't very engaging, at least to me. Tried getting into Double Entry, and it's very dry, even if I find it topically interesting.  I think I'll have to ration it over time.

Decided to start Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie next. It's a short one, so it should be a quick one.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Neist

[Neist]

On 4/13/2016 at 10:51 AM, Neist said:

Finished The Soil Will Save Us. It was okay, but it wasn't very engaging, at least to me. Tried getting into Double Entry, and it's very dry, even if I find it topically interesting.  I think I'll have to ration it over time.

Decided to start Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie next. It's a short one, so it should be a quick one.

Burnt through Obsessive Genius in a day, and I've tackled The World's Strongest Librarian since. Both were good. I think I'm going to track down a copy of Marie Curie's biography on Pierre as I've always thought he was a fascinating individual.

I've now started The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter by Katherine Freese. I'm liking it so far. 

Go books go!

[Danger_Zone]

@Neist I've been meaning to read about Marie Curie so maybe I will check that book out. I enjoy biographies of scientists and one of the first things that really drew me to the history of science/medicine was patent medicine, particularly the things people used to do with radium!

I've also started Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day by Joan Bolker because apparently I really like to read about writing. But it's actually a very helpful book and has provided some tips that I will definitely try to incorporate into my own writing process (I've always been a bit too picky about my writing, so I am going to try the more messy, "free writing" approach and see how that works out for me.)

[HinH]

I just started reading the Professor is in. Highly recommend for any graduate student. Pithy, yet practical advice that destroys many myths that perpetuate the academic job market. 

Also am reading Jared Farmer's Trees in Paradise about California horticulture history and trees - both native and exotic. Quite good, but an interesting organization of the text. 

Edited April 19, 2016 by HinH
typo

[KLZ]

I just started Nancy Mitchell's Jimmy Carter in Africa: Race and the Cold War. Its part of The Wilson Center's Cold War International History series. 

[Danger_Zone]

Finished Writing Your Dissertation, as well as Ether Day by Julie M. Fenster (very interesting topic but I found the writing style a bit awkward and boring most of the time so it has taken me a long time to finish. There are probably better books on the subject anyway.) Think I will start The Plague by Albert Camus next.

[Neist]

On 4/18/2016 at 2:31 PM, Danger_Zone said:

@Neist I've been meaning to read about Marie Curie so maybe I will check that book out. I enjoy biographies of scientists and one of the first things that really drew me to the history of science/medicine was patent medicine, particularly the things people used to do with radium!

You should! It's pretty short, too, so it doesn't demand a huge investment.

12 hours ago, Danger_Zone said:

Finished Writing Your Dissertation, as well as Ether Day by Julie M. Fenster (very interesting topic but I found the writing style a bit awkward and boring most of the time so it has taken me a long time to finish. There are probably better books on the subject anyway.) Think I will start The Plague by Albert Camus next.

Ether Day looks interesting. I might have to attempt it via ILL and see if I like it, given your criticisms.

On 4/15/2016 at 4:55 PM, Neist said:

I've now started The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter by Katherine Freese. I'm liking it so far. 

So, I couldn't get through The Cosmic Cocktail. It's too much of a science lesson, and it comes across very dry. I'll finish it later. Instead, I started Alchemy of Air and My Year of Running Dangerously, the latter of which I only read because I bought the audio book for a few bucks on Audible's daily deal. I've finished both, and both were entertaining and enjoyable. I needed an entertaining book after The Cosmic Cocktail.

I'm now burning through Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms by Amy Stewart, purchased today via Audible's daily deal.  

[Danger_Zone]

@Neist Ether Day is probably worth reading if you're interested in the subject, I know a lot of people like it. There are some pretty fun things to read about (like ether parties!)

[BlackBear50]

War and Peace - Tolstoy

The State and Revolution- Lenin

 

I'm looking for some suggestions, though, on medieval and ancient European histories. It's not my field, but I'm just curious on some good surveys. I best get some "fun" reading before beginning grad studies next Fall!

[Neist]

On 4/22/2016 at 1:07 PM, Neist said:

You should! It's pretty short, too, so it doesn't demand a huge investment.

Ether Day looks interesting. I might have to attempt it via ILL and see if I like it, given your criticisms.

So, I couldn't get through The Cosmic Cocktail. It's too much of a science lesson, and it comes across very dry. I'll finish it later. Instead, I started Alchemy of Air and My Year of Running Dangerously, the latter of which I only read because I bought the audio book for a few bucks on Audible's daily deal. I've finished both, and both were entertaining and enjoyable. I needed an entertaining book after The Cosmic Cocktail.

I'm now burning through Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms by Amy Stewart, purchased today via Audible's daily deal.  

So, since posting last I've gone through The Storied Life of A. J. Fickry by Zevin, The Second Machine Age by Brynjolfsson and McAffee, and have started The Pluto Files by Tyson. The first was a nice, palate-cleansing piece of fiction, if not a little bit unremarkable; it was okay. The second I found fairly interesting. I'm not directly interested in economics, but they peripherally touch on a lot of topics that I find quite interesting. It was a good book, if you're into that sort of thing (as I am). The last title is quite interesting. I'm not a huge Tyson fan, but I am interested in taxonomies and classifications. The only real purpose of this book seems to be the justification of a taxonomic stance. I'm always amazed how taxonomies carry so much weight throughout history when they are often little more than clumsy labels.

Ah, yes. And I finished Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. A fantastic book, if one's interested in obscure book topics inspired by an oft-overshadowed Charles Darwin book.  

On 4/22/2016 at 3:16 PM, Danger_Zone said:

@Neist Ether Day is probably worth reading if you're interested in the subject, I know a lot of people like it. There are some pretty fun things to read about (like ether parties!)

As a fan of cultural history, that sounds pretty fun to me!  

On 4/23/2016 at 3:03 PM, BlackBear50 said:

War and Peace - Tolstoy

The State and Revolution- Lenin

I'm looking for some suggestions, though, on medieval and ancient European histories. It's not my field, but I'm just curious on some good surveys. I best get some "fun" reading before beginning grad studies next Fall!

I can't help with you surveys, unfortunately. That area is a little bit outside my boathouse.  Perhaps someone else here can?

Edited April 28, 2016 by Neist

[Danger_Zone]

@Neist Cultural history is great. I also love social history, it's always really interesting to read about individual experiences. I'm a bit picky about writing style I guess, though.

@BlackBear50 Unfortunately I know next to nothing about ancient/medieval topics or I would recommend something! I've only learned a bit on early modern Europe. I'm a very modern history kind of person I guess.

Still in the middle of The Plague but I'm also reading Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It by Gabriel Wyner. Hoping to apply the information in the book to my German language learning.

[BlackBear50]

No worries, friends! I'm sure if I stopped be lazy and looked more myself I could find plenty!

 

I have to say, though, that War and Peace is a great read. Long as heck, to be sure, but truly fun

[Klonoa]

Currently reading Dorothy E. Smith's The Everyday World As Problematic: A Feminist Sociology. Smith examines the field of sociology through a feminist lens. I am not enjoying this read whatsoever. Her jargon is over the top and it reads slow.

[pro Augustis]

On 4/23/2016 at 4:03 PM, BlackBear50 said:

War and Peace - Tolstoy

The State and Revolution- Lenin

 

I'm looking for some suggestions, though, on medieval and ancient European histories. It's not my field, but I'm just curious on some good surveys. I best get some "fun" reading before beginning grad studies next Fall!

What are you particularly interested in in ancient history? If you want Roman History narrative history type stuff, then I'd recommend checking out: 

A. Adrian Goldsworthy. He did military history for a time and then, so far as I can tell, set off to write narrative histories of every second of Roman History. I've just read his Roman Army and Caesar stuff, but I hear good things about him in general.

B. Mary Beard's SPQR. She ends in the early third century, which drives me nuts because Rome was still kicking for quite a while after that, but that is not a knock against the quality of the book so much as a pet peeve... 

C. David Potter's Empire at Bay if you want a sort of chronological sequel to SPQR.

[betwixt&between]

Hey all, I've really enjoyed scrolling through this thread, and would like to ask for book recommendations. I'm planning on shifting my period concentration, moving from early modern England to 19th/20th century US. I plan on continuing to focus on my research interests of poor relief administration, and marginalization. Can anyone recommend any titles that touch on those topics, as well as industrialization, immigration, nativism, or social movements? I'd like to cultivate a reading list to keep me fresh for the next application season.