Category Archives: Books

Two-Thirds Book Challenge Update 1

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[Minor edit: 24 November 2011 to add links to Helen's posts at her blog.]

Over two months ago, I dreamed up a reading challenge, My Two-Thirds Book Challenge, after finishing another over the previous year. The new one began on October 1st.

So far, four people have joined me: 3 friends, E, Helen, and Jen, and my wife. This post will serve as the pointer to everyone’s lists and as the first reading update.

E – 2/3 Reading Challenge

E has listed 10 titles and has given herself 5 wild cards. Thus, she hopes to read 10 books. She got off to a quick start having finished one book and posting a review within the first month.

2/3 Book Challenge: Netherland

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill

This is a book that E could neither put down, nor can stop thinking about. With 9/11 serving as a background, it is, she says, both a story of the American Dream, and one of “finding connection, finding home.” She writes:

One respondent to The New Yorker’s 9/11 project wrote that Netherland “seems to capture with great poignancy that powerful sense that a certain kind of world has slipped away.” This summarizes the book better than I possibly can. It’s wonderful and wonderfully written, full of sadness and loss and exploration.

Helen’s goodreads shelf

Helen is the most ambitious of us, at least publicly ambitious, with 75 titles on her list.

She appears to have finished one book so far.

The Believer’s Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies: How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths by Michael Shermer

I think she is going to post her reviews on her blog, Highway to Helen, but for now I am linking to her review at goodreads. [My Two-Thirds Book Challenge - Intro and My Two-Thirds Book Challenge - Book 1 added: 24 November 2011]

Helen gave it 3 of 5 stars and writes that: “I loved the first half, which explained in layman’s details how the human brain seeks patterns and forms beliefs in all kinds of things.” But, sadly, the second half focused “entirely on theories relating to cosmology and origins of the universe,” which seems to have left the subtitle a little overambitious and the text itself a little narrower than advertised.

Jen – 2/3 book challenge

I am unsure exactly how many books are on Jen’s list (13, I think), but that is perfectly OK as I told her that I am keeping this low-key. Nor is this a contest in any way, but simply a challenge to personally motivate the individual reader.

Jen has read two books so far and has short reviews at her post with her list.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak:

While slow at first, I ended up adoring this book. Set in Nazi Germany and narrated by Death, the book centers around a young girl and the family that has taken her in. At times funny and, of course, quite sad, it’s a wonderful ride and an interesting perspective.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery:

I bought this book while in Seattle based on a reader review that was posted with it. The book lived up to the review and I devoured it on my flights home. Like the reviewer, I found myself getting unashamedly teary-eyed while on a flight surrounded by strangers. A secretly intelligent concierge and a young suicidal girl who lives in the building both have life-changing experiences when a new tenant from Japan arrives. A lame review, but I’m worried about giving up too much. I finished this book a couple of weeks ago and the characters still come to mind and I wonder how they’re doing.

Sara – Two-Thirds Book Challenge

Sara’s list is even squishier than Jen’s. She is pursuing themes instead of specific titles as she has learned that if she doesn’t get around to reading a book she put on a list within 6 weeks or so then it will not get read. Her themes are: Creativity, Language, Writing, Erudition, Tech, and Fiction; and, she has links to her shelves at goodreads with possibilities within each theme at her post.

Mark (me) – My Two-Thirds Book Challenge

I have 30 titles on my challenge shelf at goodreads. I will, of course, read many more than 30 books over the next year. Since the challenge began I have read and finished 9 books and have begun 5 books which I am still reading. Three of those in process books are from my challenge list: Nabokov’s Pale Fire, Stafford’s The Way It Is, and Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. None of the finished books, though, are from my list.

My books are also divided into themes but, in my case, that division is a post hoc grouping after the titles were selected.

Pale Fire – Sara suggested I read the poem first and then go back and reread the poem along with its commentary. I have read the poem all the way through, and did so within the first few days of the challenge beginning, but now need to go back and reread/read the book in its entirety.

Hero with a Thousand Faces – I am a little over halfway through with this. It is somewhat slow going as I can only stomach so much of the psychoanalytic mumbo jumbo. Also, Campbell’s writing in some sections is crystal clear and in others it is as murky as can be. The murkier sections tend to dampen my enthusiasm for reading it. I wanted to read it during the fall semester, though, as it ties in well with my Classical Lit and Mythology class that I’m taking. The class is, well, myth and our text book authors also stress the psychoanalytic interpretations.

The Way It Is – I am at least 7/8 or so done with this. It is hard to say as it is one of those poetry collections that some editor decides is best in whatever whacky arrangement they’ve dreamed up instead of simply in the order in which were poems were published. As I chose to read them in chronological order, I have to jump around the book a lot, by and within sections, and that makes it difficult to know exactly how far I am.

Future Updates

I hope to get a bit more regular and have monthly updates. With any luck they will be posted within the first 10 days of each month. I know that E has a few things read to post reviews of, and I will certainly finish Stafford very soon and post a review.

If anyone still wants to join us make a list somewhere, in some form, that contains a smattering of things which you think you can finish 2/3rds (or more) of between October 1st 2011 and September 30th 2012 and post your reviews somewhere. Of course, let me know where this happens so I can add to you to our monthly updates.

Good reading to you all!

Further adventures in education at BCU

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Registration time is soon upon us at BCU. This time it will be for J-Term (January 3-20) and Spring semester. I am open to any feedback you might have but here is what I am considering for both. Descriptions, where provided, are from my discussion with the profs—trying to take notes while also being courteous and having a discussion; thus, minimal and gappy.

J-Term

Grimm’s Fairy Tales with Dr. Jeanne Emmons. I am taking this. It will be conducted much like the 1st class I took with Jeanne, Madwomen Poets. All but 2 of my classes so far have been with Jeanne. I am really excited to read and discuss Grimm’s.

Briar Cliff Review with Dr. Tricia Currans-Sheehan. Putting the magazine together. Along with a partner would get 3 or so stories to shepherd through fully to print (proofing, author contact if necessary, writing author bio, etc).

I could take this for a credit but Why? I am in this class right now helping with the editorial selection of the fiction (primarily), nonfiction and poetry, so I will sit in and help with shepherding next year’s issue through to the final stages.

Both of these classes are 5 days a week for those 2 weeks.

Spring Semester

Studies in British Literature with Dr. Adam Frisch. (Meets 1/25-2/24 only) Is actually history of theory/criticism. Who knows why the Registrar lists it as such? Plato/Aristotle > Roman > Renaissance > Enlightenment > 19th c > Tolstoy > assorted 20th c. theories. About half of course pre-20th c. and half on the 20th c. Assignments/Grade: Class discussion & Final.

I am probably going to audit this as I have been interested in theories of lit crit for a while now. Just what is it that makes something “good” and how has that changed across time? It will be a whirlwind tour (4 weeks) but that’s OK as I assume I will be pointed at things I want to explore in more depth, and those that I don’t will be gone before I know it.

Studies in Contemporary Literature with Dr. Jeanne Emmons. Meets 1/24-4/10 only. Seminar-style. Literature from the last 3 years, primarily from lit mags, selected by students. Assignments/Grade: Class discussion & write responses as to which is best & why/evaluation.

This sounds interesting; although, primarily because I am already making these sorts of judgements with the reviewing process for the Briar Cliff Review. I am really not all that interested in contemporary lit and I have had several courses with Jeanne already. I do really like her as a prof but I need to experience some of our other profs, too. And, honestly, I wonder about the readiness of my fellow students for a seminar, which is my favorite kind of course. If I took it I would audit it.

Intro to Literature with Dr. Matthew Pangborn. Vocabulary of literary criticism. Exposure to a bit from each genre. Use of quotations in English/Writing papers (rhetorically, & mechanics of). There was more but I was trying to converse and not focus on note taking so much as it is the stuff that makes up an Intro to Lit course. Did not ask what the grade will consist of.

I would like to take this as I have not had any of this. Certainly I am aware—well aware in some cases—of many of the concepts that constitute the fundamentals of literature from almost 50 years of reading and over 25 years spent in higher ed. but I still feel that a better, more formal, grounding in them would serve me well. If I take this I will audit it.

Enlightenment Literature with Dr. Matthew Pangborn. British & American lit. Satires (Swift/Pope) > Franklin > poetry > novels > Crusoe (sections) > Walpole (Castle of Otranto) > Comedy. Enlightenment values; their influence on the US founders. Did not ask what the grade will consist of; assuming paper, midterm and final probably.

It is pretty much a given at this point that I am taking this class for credit. Things could change but I don’t expect them to. Some of what Matthew mentioned I have already read (and love) and most of the rest I have wanted to read. I am also highly interested in the Enlightenment. Matthew is new to BCU but I have heard only great things so far.

British Romanticism with Dr. Adam Frisch. ~1800 until just pre-Victorian era. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron, Blake, The Blue Stockings, Frankenstein, some prose & poetry. Shift from collective to individual. Assignments/Grade: Paper, Midterm, Final.

I would love to audit this class with Adam but, for now, think I would be better served by taking his lit crit/theory course. Plus, that would be over in four weeks and I’d be able to concentrate on Enlightenment Lit since I’ll be taking it for a grade.

Intro to Theatre with Dr. Jenna Soleo-Shanks. I didn’t take any notes in my discussion with Jenna but I have a feel. She also showed me textbook. If I took this it would also be an audit. I have been to a fair few plays by now but I really have no idea how it all “works,” or of theater’s history, criticism, etc.

Overview

As a friend pointed out, I can probably live without the Intro courses. I agree but also feel that my appreciation for these art forms would deepen by formally broadening my education and, thus, knowledge of them. While it is the sort of knowledge one can easily pick up from assorted sources, I know that sitting in a class is, in many ways, best for my lazy self if I truly want to get around to it.

As it stands, I am fairly certain that I will take Enlightenment Lit for credit and will audit the Lit Crit/Theory class.

Thoughts? Concerns? Recommendations? Registration opens next week.

My Two-Thirds Book Challenge

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At the beginning of September I “finished” the 12 Books, 12 Months Challenge.

While I did not actually read all of the books on my list it seems that I was not alone.  As I wrote in my followup post I think that this is perfectly fine. Continuing in that spirit, I have devised another challenge for myself, which I am calling the Two-Thirds Book Challenge.

Folks are certainly welcome to join me in this endeavor and I will list some “criteria” below if you should be of a mind to do so. Then again, I have no illusions that people will be jumping at it.

Criteria

  • Make a list of books that you would like to read in the next year. It can be as long or as short as you like. Post it somewhere, if moved to.
  • Read 2/3rds of them between now and 30 September 2012.
  • If you like, write about them on your blog, in goodreads, in your journal, or wherever you like. If you so desire, let me know where you post your writing and I will compile a sort-of-monthly post here that aggregates them. If you want to join me publicly then please feel free to comment on this post to let me know (or email, tweet, etc.). Of course, feel free to comment whether or not you intend to join me.

Why 2/3rds? Why not? It seems like a decent enough fraction. Make your list as long as you like and, in particular, 150% longer than you think you can actually accomplish and then read 2/3rds of the (hopefully) wonderful and intriguing books that you have chosen for yourself.

I would suggest that you leave yourself plenty of wriggle room by limiting the length of your list to account for titles you simply are not yet aware of, for changes of mind/heart, or any other sort of reason for meandering reading.

My list – 2011-2012 Possibles

My list can be found on my goodreads 2011-2012 Possibles shelf (and below). One of the interesting things about using goodreads (or a similar service, I imagine) is that one can easily link to the shelf and the shelf can be sorted in several ways—author, title, cover, average rating, rating, shelves, date read, date added, and number of pages. [Netflix, are you paying attention? Why can't I sort my queue by running time?]

I have broken my list down into some very gross categories with the applicable books listed under them. As usual, several titles easily fit in other categories; e.g., Jolley and Wilson in Philosophy.

My main interest in doing this rough categorization was to ensure that I have a diversity of books to choose from and, secondarily, to pull out the titles I need to reserve for evening reading (poetry and fiction/lit) when my mind often balks at more “serious” reading.

Also, taking fewer notes, as is usual for me with poetry and fiction/lit, means less use of the iPad in the evening which is necessary. [I have a 1st gen iPad and it bothers me for sustained reading/use, particularly at night. Sara's iPad 2 dims far more than mine does, although I am unsure whether the problem is the backlit screen, period, or whether it is simply too bright.]

There are, of course, many more books on my To Be Read shelves but these are the 30 titles from which I am challenging myself to read, at least, 20 of over the next year.

History / Anthropology / Religion

  • The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community by William H. McNeill
  • The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
  • The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History by Mircea Eliade
  • The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm
  • Tragic Sense of Life by Miguel de Unamuno

Science / Language

  • The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist
  • The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind’s Greatest Invention by Guy Deutscher

Philosophy

  • Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought by George Lakoff
  • Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-up Idealists by Susan Neiman
  • The Era of the Individual by Alain Renaut
  • The Power of Ideas by Isaiah Berlin
  • The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by David Abram

Literature / Fiction / Poetry / Criticism

  • Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
  • Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
  • The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
  • Pale Fire (Everyman’s Library, #67) by Vladimir Nabokov
  • The Way It Is by William Stafford
  • Transformations by Anne Sexton
  • Theories of the Symbol by Tzvetan Todorov
  • Why Read the Classics? by Italo Calvino
  • How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One by Stanley Fish
  • Culture and Anarchy & Other Writings by Matthew Arnold
  • You Must Change Your Life: Poetry, Philosophy, and the Birth of Sense by John Lysaker
  • Figures of Thought: Speculations on the Meaning of Poetry and Other Essays by Howard Nemerov

Technology (and Education)

  • The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology by Todd Oppenheimer

Professional Reading

  • Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet by Christine L. Borgman
  • Language and Representation in Information Retrieval by D. C. Blair
  • Dismantling the Public Sphere: Situating and Sustaining Librarianship in the Age of the New Public Philosophy by John E. Buschman
  • Second-Hand Knowledge: An Inquiry into Cognitive Authority by Patrick Wilson
  • Fabric of Knowledge by J.L. Jolley

How about you? Is completion overrated in your life? Set yourself a goal and trick yourself into accomplishing most of it. Or simply think of it as providing yourself plenty of wiggle room for meandering reading choices, which are the best kind.

12 Books, 12 Months Challenge Follow Up

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A year ago a friend of mine suggested a new kind of ‘book club.’ See my post here for the background. Many of us joined her, and her write-ups of, and links to, everyone’s reading can be found at her blog here.

My reviews and my initial post can all be found here.

Here’s my list (minus my selection commentary):

  • Ronald Gross, Peak Learning
  • Catherine C. Marshall, Reading and Writing the Electronic Book
  • Carol Collier Kuhlthau, Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services
  • Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening
  • Michel Meyer, Of Problematology: Philosophy, Science, and Language
  • George Lakoff and Mark Turner, More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor Metaphor and Poetry
  • Anthony Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious History
  • John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information
  • Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse
  • Jorge Luis Borges, Seven Nights
  • Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions
  • George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
  • S. R. Ranganathan, Classification and Communication

Being me, I selected a baker’s dozen instead of twelve. I managed to read 10 of my selected 13 books. I began another but got interrupted by the start of my spring semester and have never gotten back to it (Of Problematology).  One could, in essence, say I began another (Borges’ Collected Fictions) as I read Borges’ A Universal History of Iniquity, which ends up being the 1st section of the Collected Fictions. Ranganathan never got started.

By the most direct reckoning one could say that I failed as I did not finish my 13 (nor even 12) books. But I do NOT consider it a failure; mostly due to giving myself this leeway in my original post:

Thus, I am going to reserve the right to substitute any book for one on this list.  As I see it I will probably read more than 12 books in the next year anyway so maybe they’ll only be additions. One can hope.

In fact, I consider it a rip-roaring success! Over the last year, I was able to read 10 books identified in advance—some of which have been on my To Be Read list for several years. I would definitely participate in a similar book club again.

As to the out I gave myself above regarding “probably read[ing] more than 12 books in the next year” that was easily accomplished. From 1 September 2010 when the challenge started to the end of the calendar year I finished 33 books (7 were Challenge books) and began 1 which is not yet finished. So far in 2011 (with the Challenge ending tomorrow, 5 Sep) I have finished 75 books (3 were Challenge books), began 2 (1 Challenge), gave up on 2, reread 2, and am currently actively reading 4.

Thus, since the Challenge started I have finished 108 books, 10 of which were Challenge books. I don’t think anyone can complain about the amount of my reading. I certainly am not going to.

My reviews can all be found here.

Many other reviews can be found by browsing the Books category on my blog. Reviews of the following books read during the Challenge period appear on my blog:

  • Abbas, Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Martignette and Meisel, The Great American Pin-Up
  • Bauer, jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams At Home
  • Peterson, Understanding Exposure 3rd ed.
  • Jacobs, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction
  • Sontag, On Photography
  • Armstrong, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life
  • Nardi and O’Day, Information Ecologies
  • Maines, The Technology of Orgasm
  • Plath, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams
  • Armstrong, A Short History of Myth
  • Jewel, A Night Without Armor: Poems
  • Hey, How It Seems to Me

Of course, all of my Challenge book reviews can be found via that Books category link, as can older reviews and other posts related to books.

More, usually shorter, reviews of even more books can be found at my goodreads account. I do not post them all on my blog.

I am posting this ~30 hours before the end of the Challenge as there is no way I can finish Meyer’s Of Problematology, nor can I read Borges or Ranganathan before then. I won’t even consider trying to do so. I am reading other things currently, much of which is homework and must take precedence. All 3 of those are still on my TBR ‘shelf’ and I hope to get to them in some version of soon, as I hope to get to many others.

 

Abbas, Structures for organizing knowledge

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[Full disclosure: I personally know and greatly respect the author of this text. I have met and talked with her at 5 conferences from 2006 to 2009 (4 ASIST Annuals and the 1st NASKO). I have seen her present and moderate panels and have read some of her articles. While the topic of her book is of great interest to me, with my current level of involvement in the field, if it had been written by most anyone else I probably would have skipped it.]

The first thing I want to say about it is that it is edited quite well. I wanted to say that up front as it is increasingly difficult to be able to say that any more. There are a few minor issues but I am sending those directly to the author.

Contents:

  • Preface
  • Part I. Traditional Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Ch. 1. Introduction to Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Ch. 2. Historical Perspectives and Development of Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Ch. 3. Standards and Best Practices
  • Ch. 4. Disciplinary Uses and Applications of Knowledge Structures
  • Part II. Personal Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Ch. 5. Structures for Organizing Knowledge in Personal and Professional Contexts
  • Part III. Socially-Constructed Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Ch. 6. Social Knowledge-Organizing Behaviors and Socially-Constructed Structures for
  • Organizing Knowledge: Research and Discussion
  • Ch. 7. Extending Our Thinking: Creating a Structure for Organizing Knowledge from Various Threads
  • Ch. 8. Thinking Ahead: Are We at a Crossroads?
  • Index

According to the Preface, the book:

“Explores and explains how we organize knowledge by looking at three broad questions: (1) How do people organize objects in personal and professional contexts so that they make sense and are useful? (2) What roles do categories, classifications, taxonomies, and other structures play in the process of organizing? (3) What do information professionals need to know about human organizing behaviors in order to design useful structures for organizing knowledge” (xv-xvi)?

It is organized into 3 major threads:

  • Traditional Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Personal Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Socially-Constructed Structures for Organizing Knowledge (xvi)

The intended audience is LIS students as well as the practicing professional. It” is not meant to be a “how-to” guide for developing, applying, or implementing …; rather it is designed to present a conceptual discourse and to inspire thinking about taxonomic behavior, or how and why people organize knowledge, in various contexts. It also serves as a textbook on the historical development of structures for organizing knowledge and the current interdisciplinary theories and research related to the creation and application of structures for organizing knowledge” (xix). “A secondary audience for the work is that of researchers in library and information science and related fields” (xix).

So, basically, it serves as a textbook. Personally, I see it serving as an excellent foundation for a structures of info/knowledge organization course. Mind you, I do not mean a basic information/knowledge organization course like many LIS schools require, although it could work there also. In my opinion, the basic course should be broader than the contents of this work.

In a follow-up course, one which looks at the various structures in which information and knowledge are organized, this book would excel. Flesh it out with some other readings ranging from the highly philosophical (Svenonius or Beghtol, perhaps), to some stuff on XML/RDf and related technologies such as open data and open linking, and even some “how-to” articles depending on what kind of projects and assignments the course included and you would have a great and highly flexible backbone (depending on which supplementary readings used) for an advanced course in the structures used for information organization across time and domains. Of course, the text itself suggests many possible supplementary readings depending on which aspects of the text and the research it covers one wants to stress.

This book fits in a kind of middle ground, I want to say. It is neither a “how-to” as the author said, nor is it any where as deeply philosophical as Svenonius’ The Intellectual Foundation of Information Organization. With some judicious selection of supplemental readings one could fashion at least a score of courses around this topic but with highly different focuses.

Definition

Def: organizing structures (for our purposes) as “either a physical or a computerized information space that represents an entity or collection of entities, and the patterns and relationships between entities, within the context of the life experiences, connections, understandings, and applications of the organizer” (8).

“[C]an also think of them as ways to recognize, observe, and make sense of the information being organized within the structure” (8).

Further comments

The author rightly points out that “The differing perspectives on the concepts of information and knowledge remain the most problematic and passionate discussions in the field of information science” (9) and then goes on to cover only two, although she did point to what I would agree is “perhaps the most comprehensive overview of the debate and varying perspectives presented by multiple disciplines in their attempts to define information and knowledge” (9). Since the book is not a text on either information or knowledge this is legitimate. As much as would like to see other views covered in this section, it is not in the scope of this text to do so.

Part I, Traditional Structures for Organizing Knowledge, contains four chapters looking at (1) some definitions and scope, (2) historical perspectives and influences on, and kinds of, structures for organizing knowledge, including contributions from philosophy, natural history, and cognitive science, (3) standards and best practices, including the standards development process, and (4) various disciplinary uses and applications of knowledge structures, focusing particularly on biology, library and information science, and the social sciences.

Part II, Personal Structures for Organizing Knowledge, contains one chapter which looks at personal structures for organizing knowledge, but splits this into the two contexts of the personal (home, mostly) and the professional (work).

Part III, Socially-Constructed Structures for Organizing Knowledge, contains three chapters and looks at (1) social knowledge-organizing behaviors and systems, such as social bookmarking and cataloging sites (delicious, Flickr, LibraryThing) and tagging, more generally, (2) a review so far and (3) some thought exercises on how we might combine the threads of the traditional, personal, and social.

Each chapter begins with a list of questions as “Focus Points” and ends with some others as “Thought Exercises.” References are placed at the end of each chapter.

I have no comments on the index as I had no cause to use it while reading the book or in writing the review, although it does appear rather thorough.

I think this book could serve well as a textbook for an introductory class on information and knowledge organization, but that it is far better suited to a follow-on course focusing more specifically on structures for organizing information. This is, in my not so humble cataloger, metadater, taxonomist, indexer, et al., heart of hearts an extremely important topic; one which I wish far more LIS students took seriously.

If you are a practicing professional or an LIS researcher needing to think more broadly about knowledge organizing structures or are looking for an entrée into the current literature on tagging and knowledge organization (KO) or those of personal information management (PIM), human-computer interaction (HCI), and human information behavior (HIB) as they pertain to this topic then this book would serve you as a valuable resource.

Martignette and Meisel, The Great American Pin-up

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I quite enjoyed this coffee table book, which left me wanting more. Certainly wanting more pinups and glamour art but also to see the other artworks, including commercial art, created by these talented artists.

The book begins with some illustrated historical essays, “Pin-Up Art: A Historical Commentary” by Walt A. Reed (2 pages), “The “Fine” Art of Illustration” by Louis K. Meisel (4 pages), and “The Great American Pin-Up” by Charles G. Martignette (18 pages). The book is then divided into 3 sections, with individual artists placed within these sections: Art Deco Era 1920-1940, From World War II to 1970 Pin-Up & Glamour Artists, and Additional Prominent Artists 1930-1980.

The book is available in several editions, including the Barnes & Noble edition which we have, which is often available in their Bargain Books section and is, well, a bargain.

There are 100s of images in the book, many of which are full-page. Seeing as the book is an oversized coffee table book (32.5 x 25 cm; 12.5 x 10″) those are large enough to be suitable for framing; assuming one wanted  to cut up their copy of the book. Then again, if it is still available in the B&N Bargain Books section buying two copies would be an option.

One thing brought home by this book was the sheer ubiquity of pinup art in American society from about 1930 to 1970, especially in the 30s to 50s. Pinups illustrated everything from advertising for the full gamut of products, to illustrations for magazine articles, book covers whether romance, fantasy, pulp and other genres, to magazine covers (all kinds, including all of the major ones), to billboards, to the sides of WWII airplanes, and so on. Calendars, of course, were the biggest selling and most prolific form for pinups.

These talented artists produced many other forms of art, including photography, fine art paintings (landscapes, portraits, etc.), commercial illustrations of all stripes, etc. Many of the most iconographic images of the 20th century commercial world were produced by these talented men and women, from the Coppertone girl, the Quaker Oats man, the Coca-Cola Santa Claus, to the Bruce Jenner Wheaties box, among many others. They produced much art for Hollywood, from portraits of stars to movie posters (e.g., The Maltese Falcon). One of them painted a presidential portrait which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.

It is much of this non-pinup art, along with many of the pinup & glamour images described in the text but not included, that I long to see. In many cases, due to copyright issues, the most famous images by these artists are not included. While understandable, it is a sad comment on the US copyright situation. Inclusion of those images in a book like this can only increase the value of these images by increasing exposure of them to new generations.

I also understand why none of the non-pinup or glamour art is included. This already large book would need to be even larger or would have to include fewer images which constitute the actual subject of the book. While a fully justifiable trade-off, for reasons of permissions for use to size of book and what is included, I still would like to see some of the iconic images which are described but not shown.

At the time this book was written only Alberto Vargas had received the full treatment of a monograph representing his career and work. Hopefully many more of these talented artists will receive their due soon.

Upcoming fall semester

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Thought I’d post a little update regarding my plans for fall. First, a quick update on where I am currently.

Update

My hours at the BCU library were bumped up to 6 (from 5) hours/week so I could take on a weeding project of my own. I had already cataloged the backlog and current acquisitions and I was removing bibs and holdings from our Sirsi catalog and from WorldCat.

About a month ago I started weeding the PZs. I began with the PZ7s and up, skipped the small amount of PZ5s for now (less than one shelf), did the PZ4s, and am now a bit over halfway through the PZ3s. This leaves the PZ1s, which are mostly sets, to do when I finish the PZ3s. So far I have weeded approximately 1000 titles from the collection. Many of these books have not circulated in 30-40 years (or more). Some, of course, had never circulated. A few were in lovely editions over 100 years old. But if they haven’t been checked out in 50-60 years and no one teaches them anymore (if ever) then our small library does not need them. Of course, I have also been removing the bibs and holdings for these.

The wife

The wife is keeping especially busy and is reasonably stressed; reasonably as in she has good reason to be, and also as in not breaking down stressed. All of this year’s incoming freshman at BCU are getting iPads, as are many of the graduate and some of the returning undergrad students, along with many of the faculty and staff. There will be another opt-in period for returning students who have not done so shortly after school starts. As the Director of Educational Technology, this project is kind of her baby. Other folks certainly have their own crosses to bear in this als0; like the head of IT and the hoops she’s jumped/ing through to get the campus wireless upgraded to handle ~500-600 wireless devices where before there were only a handful.

Added on top of that stress for the wife is that we are leaving the country for close to a week right before/as school starts. So she has spent most of this weekend on campus trying to do all that she can to make this all go as smoothly as possible without her direct input when it happens.

Wedding in Germany

We are heading to Heidelberg, Germany for my sons wedding! Both the bride and groom were born there so it is a particularly apt setting. We only wish we had a lot more time to spend in Deutschland; we both miss it dearly.

My fall semester

I am taking one class, which I was asked to take by the professor. Advanced Briar Cliff Review is a one-hour credit class in which interested students, primarily English and Writing majors, do much of the selection work for the short fiction that makes it into the Briar Cliff Review.

I will also be sitting in on 2 classes; Modern Grammar, and Classical Literature and Mythology. I was, as of a couple months ago, planning on sitting in on Shakespeare also but have decided I would actually like some sort of life. Shakespeare is taught regularly and frequently, so I hope to catch it the next time around. There are, of course, several other classes I am interested.  Most were winnowed out earlier due to scheduling conflicts but, despite freeing up some time, I see little point in rebooking that time.

I am looking forward to the upcoming semester. I’ve had a mythology class but this one will focus on myth through the classical lit itself, instead of being condensed versions of folktales, and I can use more exposure to classical lit. As a critic of orthodox grammar and linguistics I can definitely use a formal class. More importantly, I hope it will help me describe and discuss that which I have known at a deep and intuitive level for most of my life. I’m also looking forward to reading the BCR short fiction submissions. I don’t read much short fiction, at least not for a long time, and I look forward to discussing and engaging with it critically. Also, how often does one get asked to take a class by the professor?

Bauer, jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home

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Full disclosure: I have yet to actually make anything from this lovely cookbook. Quality ingredients are difficult to find, to say the least, in Sioux City, Iowa.

This is a beautifully designed, easy-to-understand cookbook for making some of the best tasting foods I have ever had the privilege of eating.

It starts with a promise, Jeni’s story, a quick (2 p.) illustrated guide to the basics of ice cream making, a short discussion of ingredients and equipment [BTW, you probably have most of the needed equipment and the ice cream maker is quite affordable. Ours was a gift from my daughter.], followed by a couple page overview of “The Craft of Ice Cream.”

Next follow 160+ pages of recipes for the best ice creams I have ever tasted. Jeni’s commentary on each recipe is also invaluable. This section is divided into the four seasons, as what is available at any moment in Jeni’s stores is fully dependent on what is freshly available to her.

The last approx. 20 pages cover the basics of bases & techniques, nuts & dried fruits, variegates & fruits, baked goods & candies, sundae accessories and cone making. Also included is a list of sources for quality ingredients.

Once back from my son’s wedding in Germany, I hope to use the source list to acquire some decent ingredients and begin making my own delicious, high-quality ice creams.

For the record, this is NOT a vegetarian or vegan cookbook. You will be using dairy. That said, there are 10 sorbet recipes here along with guidance for making your own sorbet base to be flavored as you like. So, perhaps not strictly off-limits to the vegan.

Peterson. Understanding Exposure. 3rd ed.

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This was a pretty decent book which, while I already knew a fair bit of this info regarding exposure, did provide me with some useful tips and techniques.

It does contain a couple of minor editing/typo issues in the first few pages but then I didn’t notice any more after that. Of far more consequence, the images on p. 23 in support of “Understanding the Exposure Info in Your Viewfinder” are a complete mess. It took me a minute or so to figure out what the problem was and I understand this bit. I have real concerns for those to who are experiencing it for the first time and still need to learn it; they will be highly confused.

There are four images of a viewfinder which between them are trying to show correct exposure, 1-stop over- and 1-stop underexposure and 2/3-stop underexposure. All of the annotations/arrows to show this are in the right place on each image, but only one of the sets of labels is correctly matched as to what the light meter is actually showing. This, in my opinion, is a major blunder and might even be the most important thing in the book to have gotten correct.

I find his way of thinking about shots—storytelling, isolation, Who cares?, motion, etc.—to be a quite useful starting point. It’s not that I hadn’t been considering the reasons/techniques for my photos but this higher-level grouping/thinking adds a useful layer for me. Maybe that’s just the classifier/librarian in me, but I think this kind of thinking in advance of shooting might have led to a few of my (technically correct) shots being creatively better. More importantly, it will lead to better photos in the future; those I still have control over.

This book is probably most useful for beginning and fairly experienced photographers, or those new to or wanting to learn how to use a camera which provides a fair bit of creative control, but even those of us photographers in the great middle can learn something from this book.

Also includes access to a website currently with 12 videos on topics of exposure and 2 on important composition tips.

Contents:

  • Introduction
  • Defining Exposure
    • What is Meant by “Exposure”?
    • The Photographic Triangle
    • The Heart of the Triangle: The Light Meter
    • White Balance
    • Six Correct Exposures vs. One Creatively Correct One
    • Seven Creative Exposure Options
  • Aperture
    • Aperture and Depth of Field
    • Storytelling Apertures
    • Isolation or Singular-Theme Apertures
    • “Who Cares?” Apertures
    • Aperture and Macro Photography
    • Aperture and Specular Highlights
  • Shutter Speed
    • The Importance of Shutter Speed
    • The Right Shutter Speed for the Subject
    • Freezing Motion
    • Panning
    • Implying Motion
    • Implying Motion with Stationary Subjects
    • Making “Rain”
  • Light
    • The Importance of Light: The Importance of Exposure
    • The Best Light
    • Frontlight
    • Overcast Frontlight
    • Sidelight
    • Backlight
    • Exposure Meters
    • 18% Reflectance
    • The Sky Brothers
    • Mr. Green Jeans (the Sky Brothers’ Cousin)
    • Night and Low-Light Photography
  • Filters, Special Techniques & Flash
    • Polarizing Filters
    • Neutral-Density Filters
    • Graduated Neutral-Density Filters
    • Multiple Exposures
    • HDR: High Dynamic Range Exposures
    • Fill Flash
    • Ring Flash
    • Rear Curtain Sync
  • Index

Jacobs. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

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The pleasures of reading in an age of distraction The pleasures of reading in an age of distractionAlan Jacobs; Oxford University Press 2011WorldCat•LibraryThing•Google Books•BookFinder 

 

I read this aloud to Sara (and myself) from 22 May – 8 June. I quite enjoyed this book despite being familiar with some of the author’s argument due to reading his blog Text Patterns at The New Atlantis.  I recommend his blog.

Jacobs is the author of several books:

  • The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction
  • The Age of Anxiety, by W. H. Auden — a critical edition
  • Wayfaring: Essays Pleasant and Unpleasant
  • Original Sin: a Cultural History
  • Looking Before and After: Testimony and the Christian Life
  • The Narnian: the Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis
  • Shaming the Devil: Essays in Truthtelling
  • A Theology of Reading: the Hermeneutics of Love
  • A Visit to Vanity Fair: Moral Essays on the Present Age
  • What Became of Wystan: Change and Continuity in Auden’s Poetry [See his tumbler for links to all of them: http://ayjay.tumblr.com/ ]

I have a copy of Original Sin: a Cultural History from the library and am looking forward to reading it soon. Shaming the Devil and Wayfaring are also on my list to read. Perhaps I oughtn’t mention my TBR list as Jacobs’ has quite a bit to say about lists as he isn’t particularly a fan of them. His dislike goes more toward the lists of books that one ought read. I’m not so sure he’d be as anti to lists which are based on one’s own personal Whim and which remain fluid. Even if he is, I find my list to be quite useful for keeping track of things I am interested in. If by the time I might get to something I am no longer interested, or more likely less interested in it than in something that has come to my attention more recently, so be it. My list is nothing if not fluid.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

The author’s “commitment [is] to one dominant, overarching, nearly definitive principle for reading: Read at Whim!” (15). Later in the book, he distinguishes between whim and Whim.

In its lower-case version, whim is thoughtless, directionless preference that almost invariably leads to boredom or frustration or both. But Whim is something very different: it can guide us because it is based in self-knowledge— …. (41)

The book is prefaced with a warning, if you will, to its potential readers.

Caveat lector : Those who have always disliked reading, or who have been left indifferent by it, may find little of interest here. But those who have caught a glimpse of what reading can give—pleasure, wisdom, joy—even if that glimpse came long ago, are the audience for whom this book was written ([vii])

I believe this is apropos. This book is for readers, especially those feeling like they have either lost their connection to reading or, at a minimum, are finding it difficult to concentrate and engage in reading in this day and age.

Many of the usual suspects are to be found here: Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, Nicholas Carr, Harold Bloom, Steven Pinker, Charles Dickens, Edward Gibbon, Rudyard Kipling, William James, Cory Doctorow, David Foster Wallace, Abbot Hugh of St. Victor, Clay Shirky, George Steiner, Ann Blair, W.H. Auden, and many others.

There are a lot of intriguing ideas to be found in this volume. For instance:

  • 3 lessons taught by humility for the reader: hold no writing or knowledge in contempt; not blush to learn from anyone; when has attained learning, not look down on anyone else. (Abbot Hugh, 92)
  • Deep attention reading has always been a minority pursuit (106);  teaching of vernacular literature in university only ~150 years old (106); “the reading class” artificially high from 1945-2000 (107)
  • the idea that one of the purposes of education is to instill a love of reading “is largely alien to the history of education” and of reading (113).

All in all, I found this an enlightening and entertaining read. While personally I feel a bit of the pull of distractions away from my pleasurable, long form, reading, I also know full well that the choice is mine. I can choose to step away from the technologically-generated “blooming, buzzing confusion” or not. I can choose to engage with the sustained thought of another or to allow myself to be psychologically conditioned to become unable to do so. I know which outcome I choose. Alan Jacobs makes an eloquent case for that choice if you find yourself as a reader needing some gentle help in making yours.

My main complaint is that I found his many asides/tangents distracting. Sara mentioned that perhaps that it was an artifact of the reading aloud. As in, reading to myself would be quicker and I would be able to keep the part prior to the aside/tangent in mind better so that it more easily matched up with the part of the sentence after the aside/tangent. Perhaps. Lord knows I use more than my fair share of asides/tangents in this blog and sometimes even in my academic papers.

So I’m not trying to be the pot calling the kettle black here and I did find that the asides/tangents often contained valuable information. It was just that the experience of reading through them distracted me and I often had to go back to the beginning of a sentence and reread it without the aside to make sense of it. I should mention that the book is written in a very conversational tone generally.

After looking back through the book, I believe that Sara is correct that it was my experience of reading aloud. She said she rarely felt confused by them and upon searching for specific examples I found it hard to find any good ones, although they seemed fairly prevalent while I was reading aloud. It seems the process of reading silently to myself while looking for them is an entirely different experience. Then again, I had read them once (and twice, often) already. Perhaps that is part of it.

A second minor issue I had is definitely my own fault. At the end of the book is “An Essay on Sources.” Now I should know enough to check the apparatus of each individual book before beginning it but I did not. Then again, a book that has footnotes seems like it would be clearer about its supporting apparatus. In the end, though, it is my own fault. Reading the source comments on each section as we respectively finished them would have been more useful than reading the comments for the whole book at the end. Perhaps I’ve learned a lesson.

Third, no index. I know not everyone uses or believes in indexes but they still serve a purpose; actually they serve several purposes. I have had need of one while writing this review (and my review is less than I wanted as I was unable to find what I was looking for) and no doubt I will have need of one in the future when I consult the book again. Even if this were an ebook it would still need an index. Full-text searchability would help but that is still not a conceptual index and can only find the strings that exist and not the concepts expressed via another string.

Sections:

  • Yes, we can!
  • Whim
  • All in your head
  • Aspirations
  • Upstream
  • Responsiveness
  • Kindling
  • Slowly, slowly
  • True confessions
  • Lost
  • Abbot Hugh’s advice
  • The triumphant return of Adler and Van Doren
  • Plastic attention
  • Getting schooled
  • Quiet, please
  • Once more, with feeling
  • Judge, jury, executioner
  • In solitude, for company
  • Serendip
  • How it all started
  • An Essay on Sources

Summary: This was quite enjoyable; learned, yet casual, supportive and forgiving. If you are or, once, were a reader, you will find enjoyment and comradeship in this slim volume to help ease some of the anxiety you may be feeling in this age of distractions.

Lastly, for another, and a more ‘professional,’ review of this book see On the Desire to Be Well-Read by Timothy Aubry at The Millions. Honestly, professional or not, this is a sad little review and shows far more of the author’s personal issues with reading for pleasure than it serves as a review of the book Jacobs’ wrote. See the comment by Dan for a good refutation of the points in Aubry’s ‘review.’