Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction by Bernard Wood

I love the Very Short Introduction series. Experts in fields, such as evolution, write short books that make their very complex subjects simple. I have read one on globalization, and I hope that more will pass through my hands in the future.

Humans did not evolve from present day monkeys, but I just love this old picture.

Whiteness of a Different Color by Matthew Fry Jacobson

It's a standard thing in all of my graduate seminars to discuss the ways in which race (and gender) are social constructions. Jacobson tries to understand how European ethnics went from being Celts, Slavs, Italians, etc. to being white in the eventual racial bifurcation of the country along a black/white axis. It was difficult as a reader in modern America to reorient the way I think about race/ethnicity in order to understand Jacobson's argument. The book is mostly effective, but the middle section seems out of place.

I consider myself white, but I suppose at one point I would have been considered Irish? Maybe?

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

The title makes me giggle, and the researchers make me scratch my head a little.

I honestly have no idea how to take a photo for this book...so enjoy the light painting.

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

I read this book on my honeymoon in Costa Rica, so my memories of it are a bit obstructed by thoughts of zip lining and sitting on the beach.

Like Potok's other novels, this one gripped me from the beginning and did not let go. My heart broke for Asher like it did for Danny two years ago. If you have never read Potok, do it now; you won't regret it.

On The Beach by Nevil Shute

This book was delivered to my work mailbox after my boss thoughtful acquired it for me. We were talking about scifi books, and I mentioned that I had never heard of this one when it came up. It deals with how humans might handle knowing that they would certainly die from the fallout of a nuclear world war. It is incredible and most definitely a product of the late 1950s. So good on so many levels.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

I think Tina Fey is hilarious, and hearing her take on her life was awesome. There is no question in my mind that she deserved the Mark Twain Prize .

I get to boss my puppy around. His name is Zeb, and he is a lovable poop machine with a bladder the size of a peanut.

The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror by Beverly Gage

Gage examines why the first decades of the twentieth century was an anxious time when “the entire structure of American institutions…seemed up for grabs, poised to be reshaped by new movements and ideas” (8). She argues that the rise of corporations and Wall Street were coupled with intense economic discontent that led to the activities of revolutionaries who were dedicated to overthrowing the capitalist system through terrorism.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

I read this for my Atlantic World seminar as an example of literature that can illuminate the complexities of the Atlantic world and its multidirectional networks of exchange. Additionally, it gives a lot of insight into the economic thought of the period. Also, it freaking rocked to read some literature for a graduate seminar. Novels, I have missed you.

In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman A. Waberi

In thinking back over the books that I have read, I realized that I have a predictable tendency to gravitate towards American and English authors. Due to this revelation, I decided that I needed to broaden my literary choices. I have no idea how I discovered Waberi's book since Djiboutian authors are not normally on my radar, but I decided that reading fiction written from an African perspective could only be a positive thing.

This work is essentially a thought experiment. What would happen if Africa had been the colonizer instead of the colonized? It is the most complex 80 page book I have ever read.

The Participatory Museum by Nina Simon

Simon has some interesting ideas about museums. She wants museums to become places where people actively participate and connect over creating and sharing content. I agree with some of her ideas and think that, when implemented cautiously and with great consideration on the part of the institution, they have the potential to help people have more fulfilling museum experiences. That being said, I think that sometimes she goes too far in abandoning all institutional authority and that her vision for a fully participatory museum does not really seem to resemble a museum at all.

If you would like to check it out, you can read the full text of the book online here.