> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • The Evolution of Race in Admissions
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
Profhacker Logo

ProfHacker: Crowdsourcing Your Summer Reading List(s)

Teaching, tech, and productivity.

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Crowdsourcing Your Summer Reading List(s)

By  Billie Hara
April 5, 2011
reading

Popular lore has it that professors spend summers on “vacation.” We spend these long lazy months lounging on tropical beaches with umbrella’d drinks and lots of sunscreen. That, or we travel to mountains where we camp, hike, and commune with nature. We might travel foreign locales and experience all the world has to offer.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

reading

Popular lore has it that professors spend summers on “vacation.” We spend these long lazy months lounging on tropical beaches with umbrella’d drinks and lots of sunscreen. That, or we travel to mountains where we camp, hike, and commune with nature. We might travel foreign locales and experience all the world has to offer.

For most of us, images of professors lounging on a beach, taking extended hikes, or traveling the world over—or having the time to do these things—are laughable. We typically spend the summer spending time with family, working, writing, planning for fall classes, researching. The work never seems to stop. However, over a summer—or an extended span of time—we do have a little more control over how we spend that time.

Reading for pleasure over a summer is an activity that we can plan now . . . so we have the books on hand when we have a lull in our schedules. The books can be hardback, paperback, Kindle, Nook, e-reader forms. The point is that we have them available to us. Of course, we can choose our own books, but crowdsourcing your reading lists can bring about many new types of books.

Recently, fellow ProfHacker Brian Croxall recommended that I check out Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. I bought a copy, mentioned the purchase on Twitter, and many on my Twitter stream chimed in about the wonder of the book. A flip through the book and I’m struck by the visual similarities between it and Derrida’s Glas. Then I’m reminded of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass: The First (1855) Edition. Just with the one purchase (and a couple of mental associations), I have the start of a summer reading list.

ADVERTISEMENT

For fun, I might reread Patti Smith’s Just Kids (because I loved this book so much). I’m interested in memoir, so I’ll read Michele Norris’s The Grace of Silence: A Memoir. I might also include books I haven’t yet had time to read (that are research related), Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration; Karl Marlantes’, Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War; Tim Barnwell’s work on Appalachia, The Face of Appalachia: Portraits from the Mountain Farm and On Earth’s Furrowed Brow: The Appalachian Farm in Photographs. My reading list is shaping up nicely.

But how about you? What are your reading plans for summer? What is the one book that you’ll read while on beach this summer? What might you recommend to other ProfHacker readers? Please leave comments and suggestions below.

[Image by Flickr user David Goehring and used under the Creative Commons license.]

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
    Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
  • The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
    The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
    Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin