| Reader | Group | Book Title | Book Author | Book review or favorite quotes |
| Anonymous | Faculty | The Soul of Care | Arthur Kleinman | This book is both an autobiography and a critique of care that is treated in American biomedical system. Kleinman argues that care is both an embodied relationship and it is essential part of being human. To be able to care is to expose the vulnerability of the carer and posse a kind of risk. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | J. K. Rowling | “The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed.” – Albus Dumbledore. Although I started rereading the Harry Potter series with my younger son, he has now risen to the challenge is reading them by himself, ever so slightly behind my pace. Although these books are a delight to read aloud, I think any book is better when you can enjoy it in some quiet solitude – and then discuss it with someone else. So I’m now happily reading the series a second time by myself, but with ample discussion just a few days delayed, as my son catches up. As a social scientist, I was impressed by the above quote from Dumbledore. Part of our job is explaining the past – not necessarily the deep past, but at least things have already happened, for that’s the province of cause and effect. Another part is predicting the future, on the basis of a causal understanding gleaned from the past. But given that social, economic, and political systems are fundamentally complex systems, prediction is basically a fool’s errand. So I was tickled by Dumbledore’s little quip about the hurdles of prediction. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future | Dan Wang | This book was recommended to me by Amazon’s algorithm when I purchased “Abundance” by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. At the time, I didn’t really understand why. But because I’m always down for another book on China, and because it received pretty strong reviews, I went ahead and bought it anyway. Eventually, the linkage became clear – in fact, Wang directly cites the Klein & Thompson book, despite the fact that both are quite new. And it was a great follow-up. In “Breakneck,” Wang undertakes to understand contemporary China better by contrasting it with the contemporary United States. He writes from a very interesting perspective – China-born, but having immigrated to Canada at age 7. Although he moved to the US with his parents for high school and college, his Chinese childhood and Canadian upbringing allow him to somewhat straddle the divide between insider and outsider when examining both the US and China. His takes on China’s infrastructure fetish – what he calls the engineering society – and American polarization and paralysis – what he calls the lawyerly society are vivid, well-argued, and fresh. I won’t write more here, but I highly recommend this book. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | J. K. Rowling | [spoiler alert?] I think I enjoy this book a bit more than the earlier entries in the series because Harry begins to really grow up – not by choice, necessarily, but still. After Cedric Diggory is thoughtlessly slaughtered by Voldemort, his ghostly vapor or whatever it is asks Harry to return his corpse to his father at Hogwarts. Harry obliges, and then acts rather bizarrely, bawling and swatting away at those who first reach him upon his return. I’ve never been in a remotely similar situation, so I don’t know what ‘normal’ behavior is, but I was struck by Harry’s response. Basically, that’s some real grown-up stuff that Harry has to deal with, in real-time and surrounded by his entire school community. Afterward, he feels (and acts) like someone set apart. That’s some growing up that happened. It’s not really a child’s fantasy story after that, for better (I think) or worse. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States | Albert O. Hirschman | Hirschman was an economist, and this little (only 126 pages!) book is jam-packed with thought-provoking ideas about economics, politics, society, and human psychology. His basic thesis is that economists traditionally assume that the dissatisfied can only “exit” – or ditch a product/brand for an alternative – and that political scientists assume that the dissatisfied can only leverage “voice” – or attempt to influence their circumstances through complaints and constructive criticism – but that both options are relevant in some circumstances and that their interrelation is worth studying. Although I’d heard the nutshell version of this in grad school, I’d never actually read Hirschman’s book until this week. I read it because the nutshell version has been rattling around in my brain as I consider a new project on the political behavior of North Carolina local law enforcement officers. What started as a look at how joining the force affects voting and donating behaviors (voice) could become something larger, as officer roster data revealed that there’s a surprising degree of churn (exit) across local law enforcement agencies. I’m still uncertain whether the mapping from Hirschman’s concepts will be helpful for this project, but the dense little tome will undoubtedly give me food for thought one way or another – it’s just that kind of book. And for that reason, I recommend it without reservation. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | J. K. Rowling | This is perhaps my least favorite of the series. To me it just feels like a necessary filler as the larger story builds toward a crescendo. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | J. K. Rowling | [spoiler alert] This one may be my favorite in the series, mostly because I enjoy seeing Dumbledore finally begin to confide some of his conjectures and plans in Harry, and seeing Harry develop and learn from him. It’s also, of course, fun to see the Rachel and Ross moment, however brief, between Harry and Ginny. Finally, there’s the death of Dumbledore, a wrenching moment but one that feels absolutely necessary for Harry’s own further growth and development. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | The Curious Bartender’s Cocktails at Home | Tristan Stephenson | This beautifully illustrated coffee table book has gone a long way towards educating me in the art of cocktail making. I like that it mixes recipes with historical sleuthing – Who invented the such and such? Is there a definitive recipe for the blah blah blah? I also appreciate that the author disagrees with some of the recipes and offers his own take. And finally, given the way my brain works, I’ve been helped immensely by his discussion of (what are essentially) equivalence classes. This family of drinks involves x parts liquor, y parts sour, and z parts sweet, and within that framework, one can get creative. I reckon anyone who aspires to a home bar ought to have a look at this book. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | J. K. Rowling | When I set out to (re)read this last book, I misremembered the relative emphasis on horcrux hunting and tales of Hogwarts under Death Eater conservatorship. Both of those stuck out in my memory and I expected much more of the book to revolve around those. Instead, I was struck by how much more action than inaction there was. I think this is somehow a legacy of having read it the first time around during Covid lockdowns. It was nice to see things wrapped up, and I appreciate that Rowling included an epilogue so that readers who’d invested so much in the characters over the years could see how things worked out (like the Ross and Rachel story). |
| 读书很慢的人 | Other | 活着 | 余华 | 一本不是很厚的书，用了几天的片段时间就读完了，是一本一读进去就很想看下去的故事。这本书鼎鼎有名，一直想去读，朋友说是一本读完之后就想拼命运动才能摆脱那种压抑的小说，所以也有点不太敢尝试。主人公福贵，一个含着金钥匙出生的人，从衣食无忧的前半生到穷困潦倒后来，看似对前半生的一种还债。从父母到妻儿甚至孙辈一个个的在他见证下离开他，无尽的痛苦，难以用言语表达，生活只要过的稍微顺遂一些，就必定会有悲剧发生，好像命定一样。在经历了种种磨难之后，老人却活出了一种豁达，可以云淡风轻的跟外人讲诉自己的人生经历，在黑土地中跟自己的老牛一起向死而生。 |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 生育制度 | 费孝通 | 彻底为自己利益打算的，就得设法避免生殖。我想厌恶生殖的苦修和禁欲主义多少是在想解脱这种自我牺牲的根源。维持得住自我的完整和自由的该是一种无性生活。梁漱溟先生曾说：“一个人的生命究竟还是完全无所不足的。此意甚深。高明的宗教，其所以持禁欲态度之真根据，即在此。他是有见于生命的完全无所不足而发挥之，在别人谓之禁欲，在他则不看是如此。他之所以反对男女之事，乃是反对自己忘记自己的完全，失掉自己的完全。人在生理上虽然好像不完全，其实不然；每一男性在心理上生理上都有女性，每一女性在心理上生理上亦都有男性，只是都偏一点——都有一点偏胜。”两性的分化，使个人成了一个不完全不自足的部分，确是人生种种矛盾的起源。社会和个人的对立，灵肉的对立，天上人间的对立——根本上不还是这营养和生殖的对立吗？梁漱溟先生把生命的完整寄托在个体，使他想在排除性别，归元于无性，以达到完全无所缺的境界。他的企图里同时也消除了时间的因素。若是个体的完整能超出于时间的巨流，此种打算自可成立。但是常暂的问题一发生，生物免不了死亡，个体的完整只是暂时的，死亡也成了这种完整的威胁了，求得了还得失去。 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 康熙的红票-全球化中的清朝 | 孙立天 | 不愧是豆瓣年度历史文化图书和凤凰网年度推荐图书，是一看就手不释卷，可以一口气读完的那种书。作者从北京春季艺术品拍卖会上出现的康熙红票讲起，展现了在华传教士与清朝宫廷的交流进程在许多一个个个人选择中走向不可预料的偶然。书中提供了大量史实，相当”有料”，读来收获很多且丝毫不觉枯燥。 |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 恶意 | 东野圭吾 | 即使赌上全部的人生，也必须达成目的。这股恶意深不见底，连自己都无法解释。 |
| Zhongqiu Shen | Staff | 每个人的花期不同，不必焦虑有人比你提前拥有 | 万特特 | 少跟自己讲“算了吧”， 多跟自己说“往前走 别回头”。千万不要轻易后退，你以为退的是一小步，其实你很难再有心气往前迈进了。不为外界无关的事物所烦扰，只是稳稳地把该做的事做下去，让每一处细缝里都填满你用心过的痕迹。就像一颗树木，只要有了深邃根系和停滞主干，无论余下的日子里怎样骤雨急下，都能撑过去。 成长不是把哭声调成静音的过程，是一个把难过缩短的过程。人并不会因为强大和刀枪不入，人往往是因为强大和敢于脆弱。 爱不是拿着红笔一项一项去对标，不是情感专家里的交换游戏，而是你在彼此相处中发现对方的某种特质治愈了你的隐疾，融化了你的心伤。 大家不要太执着于人与人之间的关系，不管是友情还是爱情，预设长期都是不太现实的，就自然的相处。风吹那些读哪页，人来人往任由之，命运把我们带到哪里，就是哪里。没有人会为你的人生负责到底，父母不行，爱人更不行，他们最多只能陪你走一段路。 |
| Ashley | Staff | The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research | Co-authors: HARALD A. MIEG, Elizabeth L. Ambos, Angela Brew, Dominique M. Galli, Judith Lehmann, | For those who would like to look into undergraduate research, this book would be perfect to read to have thoughts on research under different disciplines and developments of research in different areas of worlds. |
| Weiwei Duan | Staff | 额尔古纳河右岸 | 迟子建 | 这本书通过“我”的视角写了鄂温克这个民族的兴衰。从小时候到我的老年，我身边的人的一生来搭建了整部作品。看见了人心的善良与责任，读到萨满为了救治别人而牺牲自己孩子的时候泪流满面，在想值得吗？看大自然被开发砍伐，树林中的动物栖息地被一步步缩小时的矛盾。读完书会让你更豁达吧。 |
| Clara | Staff | 押沙龙，押沙龙！ | 福克纳 | 没有《喧哗与骚动》那种耳目一新的新鲜感，一个简单的故事，在不同人口中的叙述、重复、回旋，读起来阻滞异常，文字里有着令人生厌的故弄玄虚，但另一方面是真正深入大脑深处对人物的刻画，细枝末节之处拼凑出所有人的动机、信念和思想的转变。 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 投喂AI-人工智能产业的全球底层工人纪实 | James Muldoon, etc. | 挖掘AI产业链的全球劳动力剥削与社会不平等问题，从一个很独特的视角观察AI的演进对人类社会的影响，值得一看 |
| PengCheng Tan | Staff | 有趣得让人睡不着的基因 | 作者: [日]竹内薫；[日]丸山笃史 | 本书以简明易懂的、风趣幽默的形式来向大家介绍从起源到最新研究的各种遗传相关的趣话。本书并不是什么艰深难懂的教科书。大家从自己感兴趣的内容开始读起就好~ |
| Anonymous | Staff | 我才不想做家务 | 纪静蓉 | 有很多家庭矛盾，比如婆媳之间和夫妻之间的矛盾，都和儿子或者丈夫在家务方面极其缺失甚至是从不染指有关。另外，操心也是一种隐形家务。希望所有的女性，都不要为了任何名义的家庭和谐而牺牲掉那个鲜活的自己。 |
| Tao | Staff | A Bend in the River | V.S. Naipaul | QUOTES: I thought when I went to England I would put all that behind me. I had no plans beyond that. The word “university” dazzled me, and I was innocent enough to believe that after my time in the university some wonderful life would be waiting for me. At that age three years seems a long time – you feel that anything can happen. But I hadn’t understood to what extent our civilization had also been our prison. I hadn’t understood either to what extent we had been made by the place where we had grown up, made by Africa and the simple life of the coast, and how incapable we had become of understanding the outside world. We have no means of understanding a fraction of the thought and science and philosophy and law that have gone to make that outside world. We simply accept it. We have grown up paying tribute to it, and that is all that most of us can do. We feel of the great world that it is simply there, something for the lucky ones among us to explore, and then only at the edges. It never occurs to us that we might make some contribution to it ourselves. And that is why we miss everything. |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 绝叫 | 叶真中显 | 人不是通过战斗争取自由，而是人生来自由，所以才要战斗;人生来自由，所以才要活下去。姐姐，你能自由地活下去，自由死亡，自由战斗，自由放弃，所有的选项都在你面前……这是一个无法选择的世界，可是你拥有无限的选择。 |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 命运 | 蔡崇达 | 我告诉你一个秘密，我难过的时候，闭上眼，就可以看到自己飞起来。轻轻跳出躯壳，直直往上飘。浮到接近云朵的位置， 然后往下看啊，会看得见你的村庄在怎么样一块地上，你的房子在怎么样一个村里，你的家人和你自己在怎么样一个房子里，你的人生在一个怎么样的地方，会看到，现在面对的一切，在怎么 样的命运里。然后会看到命运的河流，它在流动着。就会知道， 自己浸泡在怎么样的人生里。这双眼睛是我的命运给我的。看到足够的大地，就能看到足够的自己。 |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 嫌疑人X的献身 | 东野圭吾 | 你我都不可能摆脱时钟的束缚，彼此都已沦为社会这个时钟的齿轮。一旦少了齿轮，时钟就会出乱子。纵然渴望率性而为，周遭也不容许。我们虽然得到了安定，但失去自由也是不争的事实。在游民当中，应该有不少人不想回到原来的生活。 这个世界上没有无用的齿轮，只有齿轮自身才能决定自己的用途。 |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 镖人 | 许先哲 | 在光明和黑暗的斗争之中， 每个人都有选择自己道路的自由。 或是以善念、善行、善言加入善的王国， 或是相反，加入恶的王国。 善者死后很容易走过裁判之桥， 进入无限光明的天堂。 恶者过桥时，桥面会变得如同利刃， 使他们堕入地狱受到与罪恶相等的苦。 而那些善行与恶行相互抵消的人们， 会留在中间地带。 无痛苦，亦无欢乐。 |
| HMOB | Undergraduate student | Wonder | R.J. Palacio | “…it’s not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed.” “…your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of stone.” |
| HMOB | Undergraduate student | The Martian | Andy Weir | Incredible read! It’s very inspiring, lighthearted, and humorous despite the insanity of the protagonist’s situation. Would most definitely recommend. |
| HMOB | Undergraduate student | The Death of Vivek Oji | Akwaeke Emezi | “Somewhere, you see, in the river of time, I am already alive.” A devastating and complex read that had me riffling back and forth through the pages as I connected the dots. Emezi is a wonderful writer and I will always want to read their work. |
| Yanran Zhan | Undergraduate student | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | This book talks about the protagonist Amir’s growth against the background of Afghanistan’s shift from peace to war and unrest. Many details reveal authentic humanity that resonates with readers, making the story deeply moving. When Amir was young, he deeply betrayed and wronged Hassan, even though Hassan had always stood by him and faithfully said, “For you, a thousand times over.” As Amir grew older, he realized his mistakes and resolved to redeem himself. He risked everything to rescue Sohrab, Hassan’s son, who had suffered terribly under the Taliban’s oppression. It is deeply moving and profoundly sorrowful to watch Amir try to reawaken Sohrab’s innocence, only to hurt him again unknowingly. When Amir finally flies the kite with Sohrab and whispers, “For you, a thousand times over,” the scene connects Hassan and Sohrab. At this moment, Amir’s long-overdue redemption finally comes full circle. |
| Ceyun Zhang | Undergraduate student | 诺兰变奏曲 | 汤姆.肖恩 | 诺兰变奏曲 此书极其详尽地展现了诺兰的电影历程，并且分析了他的创作手法。对于拍电影的人来说，可以说是一个不可多得的宝典。对于像我这种业余爱好者也能看个热闹。 诺兰看似跨度很大的电影，实则一脉相承，其手法也渐次提升。 由于本书的原稿是20年出版的，因此直到《信条》为止，并没有后面的《奥本海默》和今年将要上映的《奥德赛》。 |
