Question of the Week
What are you reading right now?
I don’t mean right this second, because obviously you’re reading this blog. That’s because you’re one of the heroes.
But in general, what have you been reading lately? Is it something for work? For school? For pleasure? Professional development? Have you read it before, or is it something new? How did you hear about it?
Or do you “not have time” to read?
Right now, I’m reading The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker and Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School by Georgia Heard.
I’m reading The Blank Slate for pleasure, mostly because I just taught a lesson on nature vs. nurture for my education students, and I’ve lately become very interested in Pinker. So far, I’m really enjoying it. Pinker is a brilliant mind with an engaging writing style, writing on topics that meet where science intersects with politics. Great stuff!
I’m reading Awakening the Heart in anticipation of a poetry unit I’ll be facilitating in various junior high school classrooms in New York City after Spring Break. I’ve really just started the book, so perhaps I’ll have more to say on it anon.
What are you reading right now?
March 27th, 2007 at 2:04 am
Well, I find that I have less and less time for reading for pleasure. What I’m trying to do lately is combine the dutiful with the fanciful; in that vein, I’ve just finished Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen. Highly recommend it for anyone interested in history (or rather the teaching of it).
I’m also enrolled in graduate classes in the hopes of (rather sooner than later get an ED.D in Culture and Language). Because of this, I’m doing a little more “dutiful” reading for the classes I’m taking. These are all required texts for my classes (linguistics, latin and medieval history).
I won’t bore you with the titles, as these are more dissertations than actual books.
And they’re in Italian.
Joy.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:09 am
after having to read for class assignments, i really needed to decompress. i just started reading “We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order To Live,” a collection of Joan Didion’s essays that include Slouching Towards Bethlehem, which I haven’t read in years, and The White Album, which I’ve been meaning to read for years.
Didion is my sigh of relief.
March 27th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I’m still – in bits and pieces – trying to finish The Fountainhead which Annalisa entreated me to read. I’m not good at reading fiction tho. I tend to fit and start it. Unless it’s some wonderful English mystery which I can wolf down in 2 days.
As for non-fiction, I’m flipping back and forth from sections of Wealth of Nations, Das Kapital, The Conservative Mind, Naked Economics and New Ideas from Dead Economists to inspire the writing of that play I told you about…. I read, then write, then read, then write…. :-)
March 27th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Main Train Ride = “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ” by Haruki Marakami
Waiting to be Finished = Harlan Ellison’s “Edgeworks 3”
Guilty Pleasure = The latest stack of new comic books.
Pleasurable Guilt = More than a back month of the New Yorker.
Work = They don’t pay me enough to read.
March 27th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Wow! What a response. Thanks to all for visiting and responding!
Ro, I absolutely loved Lies My Teacher Told Me and was actually surprised by it. I was expecting it to be an earnest attempt at a warts-and-all telling of American history, which in itself would have been worthwhile. Instead, it turned out to be an analysis of twelve popular history textbooks, what they get wrong, and why, organized by category of the errors. It was a real wake up call as to how textbooks get selected in our country, and the slipshod scholarship that gets passed along in the name of patriotism.
Now I’m thinking we should have a semi-regular book thread here.
Cynthia, I must confess I’ve never read any Didion, and The White Album has only Beatles-related meaning for me. Perhaps today’s Condundrum should be Beatles-related…
DeLisa, I’m with you – I’d rather read non-fiction than fiction. It’s so much more interesting. The selection of economics texts you mention sound very interesting, especially the naked one. Or the dead one. Or The Naked and the Dead one. Good luck on the play!
Sometimes Sebastian, welcome to the blog! If you are who I think you are, I think we can count the comic books as work-related.
April 1st, 2007 at 8:56 am
The mailman just delivered Edward Tufte’s new book, “Beautiful Evidence.” Tufte is an expert on presenting data – graphs, charts – really exciting stuff. He teaches at Yale, and campaigns against “chart junk,” and pointless PowerPoint presentations. My kinda guy!
April 1st, 2007 at 11:51 am
I’m a big fan of Tufte as well; I find all of that stuff fascinating. And Beautiful Evidence really goes into his whole PowerPoint philosophy.
I was introduced to Tufte’s work by JP, a former co-worker, and design enthusiast. Tufte is also used by Carl, who currently runs our creative department.
With graphic design being so much more in demand in today’s labor market, Tufte seems to be increasingly relevant.
Maybe someday I’ll even change the design of this blog away from its default.