One Month One Book - December 2025

Reader Group Book Title Book Author Book review or favorite quotes
Jason Douglas Todd Faculty How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology Philip Ball This book is a fascinating critical survey of recent research in biology by a former editor at Nature. It ranges from questioning the utility of the genes-as-blueprint metaphor to the crucial importance of agency, information, and robustness in defining life from non-life. Here are a few of the quotes that resonated with me:
“The more we understand about the universe, wrote physicist Steven Weinberg, ‘the more it also seems pointless.’ … … … [A]version [to words like purpose, meaning, even function] has often led biology to deny its own nature. For one of the best ways to characterize living entities is not via any specific features–replication or evolution, say–but the fact that for them, there is meaning. Things in their environment may take on meaning. Life, we might say, is that part of the universe that is not “pointless.” (35-36)
“The popular view that science is the process of studying what the world is like needs to be given an important qualification: science tends to be the study of what we can study. Its focus is biased toward those aspects of the world for which we have experimental and conceptual tools. The most populous organisms on the planet–single-celled bacteria and archaea–were not just unstudied but unknown until, in the late seventeenth century, microscopes were developed with sufficient resolution to seem them. Viruses, being even smaller, weren’t discovered for a further two hundred years. So for most of history, zoologists were, despite their zeal and diligence, ignorant of most of the biosphere. It is no different today: it’s not just that we are limited by our tools, but that this limitation skews our perception of how the world, and how life, works.” (160)
“[T]hat life might make use of effects like [condensate-forming disordered proteins] is disconcerting for some biologists. It seems to put a disturbing amount of control in the hands of processes that seem to messy and vague, too analog and contingent–and in consequence, hard to entrust with the important task of directing the cell. What’s the point of loading all that digitally precise information into the sequences of DNA, RNA, and proteins if you end relying on vague molecular affinities and floppy, ill-defined structures?
It’s a good question, and cuts to the core of why we need new narratives for how life works. At first glance, there’s a real puzzle here. Why give molecules such precise information encoded in their atomic-scale structure if it’s only going to be read out in a hazy environment? It’s like telling each committee member exactly who they may talk to and what they may say, only to then create extremely lax rules for who comes to the meetings, how long they stay, and so on.
But with closer thought, such flexibility and vagueness of instructions is exactly what might be expected to work well. What are the chances of getting a good committee decision if each member is so constrained in what they can do and say? What’s more, the decision-making process needs a range of skills and behaviors. Sure, you want some folks to arrive at the table with precise and specific information: the treasurer with the accounts, say. But a good decision also needs generalists and experts in broad areas. It needs individuals who are good at connecting others and reconciling their points of view.
In any case, many committees are tasked not with coming up with some extremely detailed action plan that demands strict adherence to every point, regardless of whether it fits the specific context, but rather, with finding broad strategies or with making blunt binary decisions based on a range of detailed inputs: yes or no? This, in fact, is very much what life is like as we ascend through the hierarchy of its mechanisms. The need is for reliable generic decisions amid a tremendous diversity of experience and circumstance. This typically demands that lots of details be weighed, filtered, and integrated.
In the end, what we are talking about here is the management of information: how it flows, how it is combined and integrated, and how it copes with the unexpected. If life’s informational schemes are overspecified, their outputs are liable to be brittle: too fine-tuned to withstand variations and noise. What’s required instead is robustness–which in general demands adaptability and flexibility. It requires not a concentration but a dispersal of power. Gene regulation by condensate hubs might be influenced at several levels: for example via changes to the segregating propensity of proteins (by transcriptional control of alternative splicing) or of chromatin (by epigenetic markings to DNA and histones), or via changes to expression levels that alter the mix of RNA and proteins in the nucleus, or via the transcription of particular noncoding RNAs. Genes themselves play a role in such things, but it’s not obviously meaningful to ask who is ultimately in control. The process works as an integrated whole.” (202-203)
Jason Douglas Todd Faculty Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone J. K. Rowling I’m not going to write a book review for one of the best-selling books of all time. Although this came out when I was 10 years old — essentially the perfect age for it — I never read it as a kid. In fact, I didn’t read it until I had kids of my own. During Covid, I read this book (and the rest of the series) to my (then) six-year-old older son through many hours of quarantine and school closures. This year, I wanted to challenge my younger son, who is now eight years old, to try to read something a bit harder than the Magic Tree House and Wings of Fire books he prefers. So I started reading Harry Potter to him, figuring that although the several-hundred-page book without pictures looked daunting, that he would eventually get sucked into the story enough to try reading it on his own. I read the first few chapters aloud to him, and then when I went to work, he picked it up and read another chapter on his own. It worked! We then read a few chapters by alternating pages, until he read ahead again when I was back at work. He read most of it by himself, and I caught up to his bookmark every night, and then read the final chapter to him. It was good exercise for him, and great fun for both of us — it really is a fun book.
Jason Douglas Todd Faculty Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J. K. Rowling Again, it’s a bit silly to write a book review for such a cultural phenomenon. My son and I are still reading the series together, and just finished book two. I really look forward to the quality time involved in finishing the rest of the series. One thing that struck me more while reading The Chamber of Secrets for a second time was the antiracism message about “mudbloods”, “half-bloods”, “pure-bloods”, etc. Reading this with my son, it provided a great springboard to talk about what it means (and what it doesn’t mean) to be different. It’s also somewhat relatable, given that he himself experiences life being called “hunxue” or “mixed-blood” here in Kunshan. I look forward to reading the rest of the series again and seeing what catches my eye the second time around. It was also interesting, for example, to pay closer attention to how Rowling writes about the interactions between Harry and Prof. Snape, knowing as I do now that he’s not exactly what Harry thinks he is.
Keping Wu Faculty Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City Philipp Demgenski This book examines Qingdao’s Dabaodao district to reveal the slow, fragmented realities of urban redevelopment in contemporary China. Based on a decade of ethnographic research, the book traces Dabaodao’s shift from a poor, inner-city neighborhood to a planned heritage and tourism zone, highlighting tensions among residents, migrants, officials, and preservationists. Demgenski introduces the “preservation predicament,” showing how officials struggle to balance heritage protection with economic pressures, inconsistent planning, and public expectations. The book argues that redevelopment often displaced vulnerable groups and faltered by prioritizing architectural authenticity over social needs, offering sharp insight into China’s urban transformation
Xin Jin Faculty Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson A successful theory, then, does not faithfully reproduce details, but provides a useful and empirically well-grounded explanation for a range of processes while also clarifying the main forces at work.
Anonymous Staff 问道全球 刘润 刘润在2024年的实地商业探索之旅，通过洞察中东、美国、日本、墨西哥、越南等不同地区国家的企业，发现商业趋势，记录中国出海企业的经验得失，视角独特，很有启发
Anonymous Staff 人口与日本经济 【日】吉川洋 Book review: 《人口与日本经济》这本书是我读的经济学领域的第一本书。了解其他国家（日本）少子化、人口老龄化对经济和社会的影响。
n作者指出经济增长取决于劳动生产力的提高，不直接由人口决定。
社会对现有产品和服务的需求一定会饱和，因此只有“产品创新”（新的产品和服务）才能催生经济增长。
另外，除了GDP（Gross Domestic Product, 国内生产总值）之外，我第一次了解到GNP（Gross National Product，国民生产总值）这个概念。
GDP指不区分本国还是其他国家的人或企业在该国境内一年创造出的经济价值总和。
都是一个国家的经济整体规模的重要信息。
GNP指一年内由该公民或企业创造出的经济价值总和，包括活跃于海外的该国公民或企业。
Anonymous Staff 地外文明探索 穆蕴秋 江晓原  人们曾经非常真诚地相信过、非常认真地思考过关于月球上的高等生命；但是随着观测手段的发展，人们知道月球上没有大气、没有液态水，因而也就不可能有类似人类这样的高等生物生存在月球上
Anonymous Staff 食南之徒 马伯庸 唐蒙以吃货之姿闯入南越权谋漩涡，借着吃的细节查到一桩桩陈年旧案。从“躺平”县丞到拓土使者，尽显小人物的历史重量。借用书中的事来讲，身边的友人在真相浮出水面之时也一个个死去，唐蒙还不得不以大局为重，不能揭露真凶。友人生前的期待，上司的劝说还有大局的形式，都化为了内心的坚持让唐蒙修了二十二年路，最开始南越以天堑自傲，它最终的落败也是以大局为重的结果，也算得上是大快人心。
但是小人物的复仇几乎占据了一生，大多数几乎不能成功。而吕嘉作为南越的丞相在位期间一直把持着南越朝政。两相比较，唐蒙作为县丞越发显得心酸，明明他当初只想一辈子做一个碌碌无为的小官而已。
Anonymous Staff Harry Potter:Chamber of secrets JK Rowling You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog
Anonymous Staff 全球视野下的投资机会 时寒冰 最近的一本畅销书。全篇是作者一以贯之的趋势分析和宏观的方法论。虽然是一家之言，但从超长期的视角看，确实有可圈可点的部分。
Anonymous Staff 易卦-类万物的数学模型 欧阳维诚 最魅力的经典叫做《周易》，它对我国古代的哲学思想、伦理道德、法律、宗教、文学艺术乃至科学技术，一言以蔽之。
Anonymous Undergraduate student The Fault in Our Stars  John Green  “The marks humans leave are too often scars.”
John Green is one of the writers that always makes me wish I could write like him. I love how the teenagers dying of cancer are forced to think existentially, something most people are fortunate to dismiss due to perceived longevity. My favorite message is that while most people want to make a lasting impact on the world, maybe that’s not always the best mindset to have. Sometimes other people are hurt by our influence, and sometimes just noticing the world is enough. 
Coco Zhang Undergraduate student Goodbye to Berlin Christopher Iserwood “‘Mein liebes, armed Kind,’ the letter began. Klaus called Sally his poor dear child because, as he explained, he was afraid that what he had to tell. her would make her terribly unhappy…. All the same, he knew he was right. In a word, they must part.”
HMOB Undergraduate student Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011): Queen of the Silver Screen Ian Lloyd This book included beautiful photos from Elizabeth Taylor’s life and provided a lot of insight into her impact on the industry.
HMOB Undergraduate student Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City Guy Delisle A wonderful way to learn about a place that is incredibly hard to visit, looking forward to reading his other works.
Ceyun Zhang Undergraduate student 地海传奇 厄休拉.勒古恩 这是本人看过最好的奇幻作品。
作为所谓西方三大奇幻之一，知道这部作品纯属巧合。在下早就听过瑟鲁之歌，但是在前一阵子看《罗小黑战记2》的解说时，才知道《地海传奇》。后来发现，瑟鲁之歌是宫崎骏的儿子根据《地海传奇》改编而成的《地海战记》里面的曲子。
系列共6本书，第5本是一个短篇故事集，承前启后。全书都是一种淡淡的哀伤。最喜欢的一点就是虽然世界观很庞大，但是并没有写的繁杂，与《指环王》完全不同。同时几本书环环相扣，循序渐进。
虽然并不太了解欧洲中世纪生活，但是看完之后觉得就是在中世纪框架下的奇幻体系。生活非常缓慢简单，但却有一种难以言说的神秘在里面。
安 Undergraduate student 我在北京送快递 I deliver Parcels in Beijing 胡安焉 Hu AnYan

This book isn’t about an underdog who makes it big in high society, nor is it a story about a poor and lowly soul who’s stuck in a pit of suffering. Rather, it’s an honest account of moving through life, between jobs, and reflecting on one’s mental state and relationships. I admire his honesty and clarity in storytelling. If you enjoy hearing someone’s account of life devoid of flowery emotions, then this may be a good book for you to read.

His book inspired me to get back into writing, because he tells life how it is. It doesn’t need to be excessively detailed, but it can be a way of looking inwardly and reflecting on one’s inner state.

“This book required none of the effort of invention, I just put down things as they were. Cooking up stories out of thin air is not a skill I ever had . . . Here, every choice I made over those years is laid bare — the lead-up, the motive — and I examine my feelings and mental state myself, and give more context about the settings and environments.”
Kenneth Richie Jr. Undergraduate student Teaching Games and Game Studies in the Literature Classroom Tison Pugh and Lynn Ramey This book was extremely eye opening in many ways. It caused me to rethink the way i look at games from the perspective of both a developer and an English major. The book opens up by giving a background on video games on a medium and how it relates to the other types of media then opens it up to discussion between many different Professors and researchers alike. I valued how this helped bring the answers to ideas I was trying to express in my INFOSCI 103 class as well as in my daily life. I respect how educated the authors are in the medium and how they expand on it in multiple different ways, It shows all the time and care they put into this. It also talks bout the Japanese game of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu which was an extremely interesting connection. Long story short this needs to be added to curriculum discussing technology in our university as it gives a fresh perspective on gaming and how it can be used in teaching of all varieties.