| Reader | Group | Book Title | Book Author | Book review or favorite quotes |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Abundance | Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson | Abundance makes the argument that the institutions produced by the success of American liberalism in the mid-20th century are now fetters holding us back from solving 21st century problems like climate change, housing affordability, and scientific progress. Especially relevant for academics was the chapter on invention, which argues that funders are too risk-averse and that grant applications and reporting requirements are onerous to the point of distracting us from productive scholarship. While the book doesn’t attempt to propose policy solutions, the authors do an excellent job diagnosing some of America’s contemporary ailments beyond the usual handwringing about partisanship and polarization. (For a good take on that, try Ezra Klein’s first book, “Why We’re Polarized”.) |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | Scarcity: The True Cost of Not Having Enough | Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir | I stumbled upon this, knowing nothing about it. Somehow, when I searched for a much newer and very different book, entitled “Abundance,” the algorithms thought I might also enjoy a book entitled “Scarcity.” Recognizing one of the coauthors (Mullainathan) and a reputable press (Penguin), and feeling generous as I shopped for a few books for myself at Christmas, I bought it without further investigation. Boy did I luck out. Scarcity is very much in the behavioral economics vein. The authors argue that there’s a psychology of scarcity that sets in across multiple contexts, regardless of what is scarce. While they spend most of their time talking about a scarcity of money (poverty) or a scarcity of time (as experienced by many students and faculty), they also make a (less compelling) argument that the same logic applies to a scarcity of social connections (loneliness). Their arguments are not only cogently made and well illustrated, but also backed up by years of lab, field, and survey experimental work published in solid econ and psych journals. The bottom line is that this book gave me the conceptual apparatus and language to assess my own time management practices in a way that was refreshing and enormously practical. I highly recommend it. |
| Jason Douglas Todd | Faculty | The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China | Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li | This book argues that the gaokao system is a centralized, hierarchical tournament; that the gaokao system is only the most salient of several such tournaments central to Chinese life; and that increased Chinese immigration to the US has produced sociolegal clashes over contrasting educational values. Written by two well-published economists and published this year, I wanted to read it for a deep factual introduction to the gaokao system. There’s some of that in this book, but most of it is dedicated to making an argument. In sum, while it was an interesting read, and I appreciate one of my colleagues for suggesting it to me, it wasn’t quite what I was looking for, as I still have questions about the gaokao system itself. |
| Kaley Clements | Faculty | Rare Earth Frontiers | Julie Klinger | This book is a great guide to understanding the environmental damage and geopolitical positioning that rare earth has had on our current society. The thing we need to keep in mind about rare earth elements is they are not rare! |
| Anonymous | Faculty | Stranger in the Shogun’s City | Amy Stanley | This book adopts a very attractive point of view that combines historical account and storytelling. Details of lighthearted, warm, and relatable daily lives of Japanese people are woven into historical events at the dawn of Japan’s westernization. It is an easy read and fun read. |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | Kinderland | Mawil | The first time I read this Max & Moritz Award–winning comic book, I was completely unimpressed. The art felt overly cartoonish, and the ping-pong game scene became repetitive at times. I picked up the book for a second reading after discovering, much to my surprise, that it was also included in the Shanghai Library’s German collection. This time, I began to notice many fascinating details embedded in the illustrations, closely tied to the political climate in the final days of the GDR regime. Gorbachev appears in newspaper, as do the Young Pioneers, gossip about events in China, social outcasts, churchgoers, and, of course, the collapse of the Wall, all seen through the eyes of a primary school student. By coincidence, a few days after finishing the book, I visited a former GDR prisoner in Erfurt with who had personally lived through part of that history. Both the exhibition and our conversations resonated deeply with what I had read. The Wall finally came down. The boy bought a ping-pong bat on his first trip to the West for his best friend (the non-red-scarf-wearing kid whom I liked a lot), and on his way back, Kinderland is no more. What a beautiful and moving ending! |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | Habibi | Craig Thompson | This is the third book by Craig Thompson that I have read. The art is stunning, among the very best I have ever seen. The story unfolds within a cultural setting that is completely unfamiliar to me (the irony being that the notion of the Silk Road is so deeply embedded in our history education, yet I know almost nothing about the cultures and peoples along the route beyond its easternmost starting point). There are many visually beautiful scenes in this book that invite artistic discussion, but what struck me most was the moment when the boy undergoes surgery to become a eunuch. In the world of Habibi, and perhaps also in the world we live in, this surgery functions as a cleansing ritual, a charge against the dominant sex, and an escape that transcends biological boundaries. |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | Epileptic | David B. | This is another real find at the Shanghai Library. The book chronicles the author’s family’s long struggle with his brother’s epilepsy. The entire work is gloomy, dark, and deeply sad. Throughout the book, the author reflects on his brother’s illness at different stages, and this reflection is so deep as to be almost brutal. The family’s desperation is conveyed through page after page documenting their trials with alternative medicines and treatments. When the brother finally surrenders to (or perhaps accepts?) his epilepsy, the author’s somber drawings seem to scream in complete silence. Yet beneath it all lies love: distorted and disoriented by years of struggle, but still unmistakable. This is a rare kind of comic book. It is simply art. |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | 我的凉山兄弟：毒品、艾滋与流动青年 | 刘绍华 | 过去几年读人类学社会学的议题很感兴趣，但是苦于没有学术训练，读专业的著作很吃力。友人就推荐了这本书，说是少有的在两岸都畅销的严肃人类学作品。因为议题，已经不再重版，所幸在上图找到了一本库藏。没有读过作者的英文原著，中译本里能读到作者冷峻的讨论背后强烈的感情。文章里结尾处有截图里的这么一段话，振聋发聩。 |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | Bottomless Belly Button | Dash Shaw | It’s a very cute comic book about how a sudden divorce announcement by the parents ripples through a family. “Dysfunctional” may not be the right word: every family is dysfunctional in one way or another. There’s a constant awkwardness running beneath each character, but that very awkwardness is what makes them feel genuine and oddly likeable. Overall, it’s an easy read, though my 10-year-old and I spent quite some time trying to decipher the father’s love letter: “Dear Maggie, Warning: This is a love letter. I’ve never written one before. We’ll see how it goes: I love you and your cackle laugh and your pale pony hair and your bottomless bellybutton and your long smooth fingers and your cheek skeleton bones and your weird claw toes and your perfect circle glasses. I love watching you eat and reading next to you. I’m sorry I’m not a poet. Apologies, David” When we finally managed to make sense of it, my boy asked why there were so many “and”s. Yes, there are so many “and”s. It’s an extremely awkward letter, awkward enough to make it a poem. |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | Return to Eden | Paco Roca | This is the third book by Paco Roca that I’ve read, and once again a pleasant surprise, this time found at an open shelf of Shanghai Library. Roca’s signature melancholy runs through the entire book. Everything revolves around a single family photograph. The grandmother’s story can easily be cliché, but the family’s travails are skillfully interwoven with the country’s history. The author never floods the narrative with overt depictions of political repression or social tension, yet you feel their presence everywhere. And then there are the familiar sibling frictions and parent–child tensions, all unfolding from that one family photo. The guy is truly a master storyteller. |
| 读书很慢的人 | Other(Affliliate) | 一句顶一万句 | 刘震云 | 很有意思的一本小说，刚开始读后半部时看似独立，以为是另外一个故事，读到后面才清楚与前半部的联系与呼应，很巧妙也很有趣。一句话，可能不经意或者出于一种原因说出来，传到别处却因为听到的人的不同处境或心境或误解而产生了与说话人可能是完全相反的理解，而这种误解却因为彼此直接无法直接沟通而变成了阻隔，甚至永久的断绝关系。 |
| 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。 |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 流俗地 | 黎紫书 | 拉祖倒是说话了，他说，银霞，银霞。 什么？ 告诉我，迦尼萨断掉了哪一根象牙？ 银霞一怔，脸上的表情哭笑不得。她说你还拿这种小孩子问题考我，我们都不是小孩了。 所以，你记不得了？拉祖问。 她一定还记得。细辉说。 我当然记得，断了的是右牙。银霞笑。说着竖起右掌，举到胸前靠近肩膀处，是为象头神的手印。 断掉的右牙象征迦尼萨人类做的牺牲。她说。 这么说的时候，银霞忽然忆起小时候拉祖时常与她玩这种问答游戏，有一回问到迦尼萨的断牙，她也这般作答，迪普蒂在旁大声叫好。“你看啊银霞，迦尼萨断一根牙象征牺牲呢，所以那些人生下来便少了条腿啊胳膊啊，或有别的什么残缺的，必然也曾经在前世为别人牺牲过了。” |
| Anonymous | Staff | 无罪辩护 | 朱明勇 | 以律师手记的叙事方式记录了作者执业经历中的几个标志性案件。挑选的这些案件，从接受委托到辩护终结，客观地还原了刑辩律师的生存样态：既有执业初期“不起眼”的普通伤害案件，也有开启冤狱平反之路的标志性大案。既要纠结纯粹的法律问题，也要冲破法律之外的各种潜规则。 |
| Sicen Ye | Staff | The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will be Glad That You Did) | Philippa Perry | 这本书让我更清楚亲密关系中的沟通交流和处理问题的方式，无论是夫妻、父母还是孩子。很多我们生活中习以为常的举动，可能正影响着孩子的一生。我们的成长经历，也往往会影响到未来的亲子教养方式。例如书中说：就像我们不该评判自己一样，我们也应该尽量避免评判孩子。对孩子做任何评判都无助于让他变得更好，因为在“文静”“笨拙”“吵闹”等标签的限制下，孩子很难健康发展。 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 回归故里 | Didier Eribon | 当迪迪埃最终取得大学教职，他的母亲也终于为他所代表的智识成就感到激动时，却发现迪迪埃将要教授的学科已经不是当年遭到家人不解与反对的哲学，而是另一个对他母亲而言同样陌生的领域——社会学。这何尝不是对书中提到的“结构位移”的一次回响，阶级与知识区隔的隐性差异沿着一条隐形的轨道继续延续，尽管表面的情境似乎已发生了改变。 |
| PengCheng Tan | Staff | 黄帝内经 | 佚名/张凤娇 译 | 张凤娇译的《黄帝内经》在整体观上来论述医学，呈现了自然、生物、心理、社会整体医学模式。 《黄帝内经》分《灵枢》、《素问》两部分，是中国最早的医学典籍，传统医学四大经典著作之一。其基本素材来源于中国古人对生命现象的长期观察、大量的临床实践以及简单的解剖学知识。 学习黄帝内经，有利于我们运用自然规律调解身体，养生，知阴阳，五脉，四季！ |
| Anonymous | Staff | 孩子你慢慢来 | 龙应台 | 知道这本书书名是很多年以前，今天在图书馆偶然遇到，就借过来读了。两个孩子的妈妈，在教育和陪伴孩子长大的途中有各种情绪，开心快乐幸福焦虑不安难过，整个就是痛并幸福着，希望能像龙应台一样，做个好妈妈，引导孩子健康向上地成长，处理好孩子的每一次“犯错”，自己也跟随孩子一起成长，适当放下自己的焦虑，好好陪伴孩子。就拿看书这件事，就是在陪孩子写作业看书才重拾书本。 |
| Honey | Staff | Train to Pakistan | Khushwant Singh | Reading Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh felt like watching a quiet village slowly lose its breath. Set in the fictional Mano Majra, where Sikhs and Muslims have lived like family for generations, the story begins with stillness. There’s routine, prayer, superstition, and an undercurrent of trust. But then a ghost train arrives, its silence louder than any violence, and the air starts to change. Suspicion creeps in. Neighbors become strangers. Harmony, once taken for granted, collapses under the weight of Partition. I’ve read about 1947 in school textbooks, where it’s reduced to dates and decisions made by men in Delhi. But Singh doesn’t write about leaders; he writes about people. Simple, flawed, frightened people. Villagers who don’t understand why they must choose a side when all they’ve known is each other. The novel slowly builds and then crashes into a haunting climax—one I never saw coming, yet felt deeply. The prose is unadorned, almost indifferent at times, and that’s what makes it so powerful. It never begs for your emotion; it earns it. The sorrow is immense, but so is the humanity. In small acts of love, resistance, and sacrifice, the book reminds us that even in the darkest hours, light flickers through. It answered questions I didn’t know I was carrying: What did freedom mean to the forgotten villages? What happens when violence is handed to the powerless? What do people do when history chooses them as collateral? For anyone who wants to understand what Partition meant on a human level, not through numbers but through people, this book is a must-read. It left me with learning, sorrow, and, strangely, hope. Hope that stories like this still exist to remind us of the price of division and the courage of those who, in moments of madness, chose humanity instead. |
| Honey | Staff | Whereabouts | Jhumpa Lahiri | Whereabouts is a novel that doesn’t demand your attention; it quietly awaits it. Once you settle into its rhythm, it begins to seep into you. Reading it feels less like following a story and more like inhabiting a state of mind, one shaped by solitude, memory, and a longing that never fully names itself. Originally written in Italian and translated into English by Jhumpa Lahiri herself, the book unfolds in brief, poetic vignettes, each anchored to a place or moment: In the Piazza, At the Stationery Store, In My Head. There is no traditional plot to speak of. Instead, we follow an unnamed woman in her mid-forties as she moves through an unnamed city, observing others while remaining quietly apart from them. Her days are filled with small rituals: getting coffee, teaching, visiting her aging mother, remembering her father, running into people from her past. These moments seem ordinary, even insignificant, yet Lahiri captures them with such precision and emotional clarity that they begin to feel weighty. The narrator’s solitude is not loud or dramatic; it is practiced, disciplined, and deeply ingrained. She is both comfortable with it and weighed down by it. What makes Whereabouts so affecting is its restraint. Lahiri never forces emotion onto the page. The writing is spare, almost austere, yet every sentence carries a quiet ache. At times, it feels as though words are barely enough to hold what the narrator is feeling, and that tension gives the novel its power. I found myself pausing often, not because I was lost, but because I felt seen. As the book approaches its end, there is a subtle shift. The narrator decides to leave the city she belongs to and feels alienated by it in equal measure. It isn’t a triumphant ending, nor a neatly resolved one. But it carries a fragile sense of movement, of possibility, of choosing change even when certainty is impossible. Whereabouts isn’t a book for everyone. But for those who have lived with unspoken grief, emotional isolation, or the quiet weight of reflection, it is deeply touching. It doesn’t offer answers or healing. It offers recognition. And sometimes, that is more than enough. |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 奇想之年 | Joan Didion | “妈的，”约翰合上书，对我说道，“以后别跟我说你没有写作的才能。这句话是我送你的生日礼物。” 我记得泪水涌上了我的眼眶。 我现在还能感受到它们的湿润。 回顾往事，这便是我的预兆、我的信息，那提早而至的降雪，那份没有其他人可以送我的生日礼物。 约翰的生命还余下二十五个夜晚。 |
| Librarian | Staff | 黑牢城 | 米泽穗信 | 氛围塑造好，文笔不错，当作历史衍生小说来读很有趣，但是推理部分经不起推敲。 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 摩托一扔跳进那绿海 | 阎鹤祥 | 你所经历的每一段迷茫和焦虑，每一段的孤独，都比那些可以在地理上进行标注的尽头更珍贵。我们真正的终点，也许就是把生活变成一条没有尽头的路。 |
| 安 | Undergraduate student | Number One Chinese Restaurant | Lillian Li | I initially thought the book might stir some nostalgic memories of my own time in a Chinese restaurant, but I instead was brought along on a chaotic journey that follows a dysfunctional family and staff of a Chinese-American restaurant that attempts to plan for the future while being held down by the past. Dark, chaotic, and somewhat sarcastic. I would probably never eat at a restaurant with this kind of drama. |
| Coco Zhang | Undergraduate student | East of Eden | John Steinback | “It is possible that if in the night the frog sound should have stopped, everyone in Salinas would have awakened, feeling that there was a great noise. In their millions the frog songs seemed to have a beat and a cadence, and perhaps it is the ears’ function to do this just as it is the eyes’ business to make stars twinkle.” |
| Anonymous | Undergraduate student | The complete filmmakers guide to film festivals | rona edwards | Let those in the industry understand that in addition to the current movie, you have also done forward-looking thinking. It will also make them think that you are a potential person and that you are thinking about some follow-up projects that they want to make. |
| kairui x | Undergraduate student | 献给阿尔吉侬的花束 | 丹尼尔凯斯 | 3.25/5. 文章由17篇日记组成。以查理接受手术后智力的成长，探讨在这个过程中失去的和留下的东西。 作为60年代的科幻作品，文章的主题之一便是借查理和阿尔吉侬（老鼠）的变化（可以说是悲剧）来反思那个脑叶切除手术风靡，社会心理实验无底线进行的时代，人的主体性还剩下什么？ 但也正是这个主题体现了这本书的局限性。文章明显想要表达某种思想，但这种思想的深度非常有限——智力不等于幸福/人类应当坚守主体性。此外作者对智力发展的描写无聊到了极点，笨就是错别字和艰难完成工作，智力高就是理性思维过目不忘和快速写出论文。情节的贫瘠，可谓悲哀 |
| HMOB | Undergraduate student | Howl’s Moving Castle | Diana Wynne Jones | This is my friend from Japan’s favorite book, and I’ve wanted to read it ever since I met him in 2019. The world building and narration was beautiful, and now I’m excited to watch the movie! |
| kairui xiang | Undergraduate student | 反俄狄浦斯：资本主义与精神分裂 | 吉尔德勒兹/菲利克斯瓜塔利 | 1月18日是德勒兹诞辰的第101年。在这一年，anti oedipe的中文译本终于问世，千高原总算不再孤身一人。 只言片语难以概括本书的内涵。这是去中心化的哲学。德勒兹想要展现疯狂/流/欲望，是如何运作的（偏执狂/激情狂），是怎样被捕获的（帝国/游牧的战争机器）。以及俄狄浦斯——为什么德勒兹认为这不是一个真实的心理过程，而是被强行框嵌在资本社会之中被迫的欲望流向。 本书广受批评。尽管如此，它展现了另一种看世界的方式 |
| Ruizhi Zhang | Undergraduate student | 龙族 | 江南 | 每个人心里都住着魔鬼，幸福是它的牢笼，当一切幸福都化作泡影，魔鬼就会冲破牢笼高唱着血腥的圣歌浮现。那时候，绝望的人将所向无敌。 |
| Kadori04 | Undergraduate student | Circe | Madeline Miller | The author reimagines the Greek myth from the perspective or a woman who has always been overlooked. The novel follows her journey from isolation to self discovery as she learns to define her own power. I believe the writing is lyrical and emotional making Circe’s inner world feel lively and human. What stood out to the most was how the story explores strength through vulnerability rather than violence |
| Kadori04 | Undergraduate student | Get Smart! | Brian Tracy | This book is a practical guide to improving the way we think and make decisions, as it emphasizes that success comes from clear, intentional thinking rather than working harder. The author explains simple strategies like focusing on high-value tasks, planning ahead, and taking responsibility for your choices. |
| Ceyun Zhang | Undergraduate student | 都柏林人 | 乔伊斯 | 看之前对于乔伊斯的全部了解只来源于《死者》里面那一场雪，以及对于这个名字的好感。（由于崩三里面第一任理之律者就叫乔伊斯，所以本人对所有叫乔伊斯的都有一种亲近感）。 即便是单看《死者》里面最著名的片段也会觉得不过如此，什么叫做雪同时落在每一个生者和死者身上？？但看完之后就会觉得不仅是这个片段，整本书都在讲述一种沉默的灰色。 在下以为这种灰色是脱离了网络时代的，由无数个个体组成的。或者说这种灰色就是网络时代灰色的母体。不同的是，现在的灰色并不是沉默而安静的，而是一种喧闹而疯狂的灰。 虽然写的是一种灰色，许多评论家认为他敢于抨击这种灰色本身就是一种对于美好的希望。但是在现代，我觉得还是独善其身的好。因为现在渴望灰色的退却是不现实的。 |
| Anonymous | Undergraduate student | 大众传播理论：范式与流派 | 刘海龙 | a、能引起整个社区普遍关注的议题，该议题的知识更可能均衡分配b、议题在社会冲突条件下产生，知识均衡可能性更大c、知识均衡更可能在小型、单一的社区出现 d、公众的关注衰减时，某议题造成的知沟可能趋于减小 |
| Anonymous | Undergraduate student | 你喜欢勃拉姆斯吗 | Francoise Sagan | |
| Anonymous | Undergraduate student | Caligula | Albert Camus | |
| Xu Bingqing | Other | 旧时光里的外婆 | 许冬林 |
