The spring 2013 semester is at a close, and I am looking at three months of vacation. But this vacation is of course an opportunity to get back into the life of curiosity-driven reading that I have put off for years. I can of course read whatever I wish during a school semester, but the amount of time I have for such things is always secondary to reading for the classes I’m teaching. Every summer since 2006 has been a teaching summer. And for the last three years, that has been supplemented by tenure-track work and graduate classes. This summer, there are no obligations other than to myself.
I’m still grading papers, but I’m eager to dive into this list as soon as possible.
Here is the list, which is a work in progress:
Spinoza’s Theological Political Treatise. Spinoza’s other great book, of which I’ve only read bits and pieces. I’m doing a reading group this summer with another HWC faculty member. Very much looking forward to reading more from my favorite philosopher.
Steven Nadler’s A Book Forged in Hell. A historical book by the UW-Madison scholar on Spinoza’s Theological Political Treatise.
David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Been slowly reading this since January. Great book that hasn’t received enough of my attention.
Steven Nadler’s The BEst of All Possible Worlds. Another Nadler book, this one about the intellectual community surrounding Leibniz in Paris, 1672. Also the main basis for a new Reacting to the Past game I want to get working on.
Nate Silver The Signal and the Noise. About statistics and their application by the man who most successfully predicted the minutiae of the 2012 presidential election.
David Abrams, Fobbit. A humorous novel about the Iraq war.
Jon Meacham’s Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power.
Marge Piercy’s He, She, It. Sci-fi novel that I was assigned in a grad class last year that I never actually finished… I’ll finish my assignments eventually 🙂
Shop Craft as Soulcraft. An essay/book reminiscent of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Not a novel, making the basic argument that craftsmanship is ultimately more fulfilling than any amount of philosophical speculation. Written by a UChicago PhD philosophy alumn who resigned from the academic life to start his own motorcyle shop.
Janet Browne’s two big biographies of Darwin, Voyaging and The Power of Place.
Re-reading Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle and Origin of Species.
Some more books on the current theory of evolution.
Some more books on education.
Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. Because why not.
Hemingway’s Moveable Feast. On the persuasive recommendation from a student.
Yalom’s The Spinoza Problem. A novel based on everyone’s favorite philosopher.
The Philosophical Breakfast Club.
More…
Natural Causes 