The Rise of Universities

I picked up The Rise of Universities by Charles Homer Haskins after seeing a recommendation on Amazon. I was looking for other books related to higher education and its history when I saw this book. The title intrigued me and I thought it might be an interesting read.

The book is a rather quick read, primarily based off of three lectures given by Haskins, a Harvard professor. The first chapter focused on the earliest universities, giving attention to Bologna, Paris, and Solerno. The second chapter provided insight into the mediaeval professor, focusing on textbooks teaching, and academic status. The third chapter focused on the mediaeval student, giving attention to sources of information, funding, letters, poetry, etc.

The book was interesting and provided a lot of a anecdotal information related to mediaeval universities. I regret reading it after the conclusion of the semester, as some of the information contained within would have been useful in one of my papers focusing on the residential college model. This book could have provided some interesting facts related to the mediaeval colleges.

The Rise of Universities

Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning

I received a copy of Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning by Jose Antonio Bowen from my friend Eddie Watson, after a lively discussion related to a research project on which we are working. Eddie serves as the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning here at UGA. We were having a discussion about pedagogy and Eddie suggested the book, which was written by a recent guest speaker on UGA's campus.

As the title implies, the book is focused on providing college professors strategies for removing technology from the classroom in order to improve student learning. Bowen is by no means anti-technology, and actually advocates for its use in education, but he believes it should be used outside of face time with instructors. Essentially, Bowen's argument is to "flip" the classroom, using technology and digital media to deliver information that might otherwise be delivered through a lecture while students are away from the class. This allows in-class time to be dedicated to group work, attempting problems, and asking reflective questions. The book provides numerous strategies for positive implementation of this approach.

This book would be of interest to anyone interested in reading more about technology in higher education or student centered learning environments.

Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning

Changing Places

I received David Lodge's Changing Places as a gift last Christmas from Terry Papillon, Director of University Honors at Virginia Tech. Terry has a tradition of giving the Honors staff specially selected books during the winter holiday party each year. He indicated that he selected this particular book for me as he knew I was about to pursue my PhD in higher education. He told me he thought as it was a novel about higher education, that I should read it.

I'm glad that Terry shared this book with me. I found it to be rather entertaining, from several different levels. At times, Lodge's writing reminded me of Douglas Adams' satire, a form I greatly enjoy. I found myself laughing frequently. Additionally, Lodge uses different styles of writing during the various sections of the book, with the conclusion written as a screenplay. Finally, Lodge also shows his knowledge of varying campus typologies and his description and comparisons are equally humorous.

Set in the 1960s, the plot of the book focuses on two professors of English, one from a small university in England and the other from a large state university on the West coast, who swap positions for a semester. This changing of posts at the university ultimately impact more than just their academic careers and the resulting antics are what make up the meat of the novel.

This would be a good read for anyone who works at or studies institutions of higher education and is looking for a laugh.

Changing Places

State of the Union

I picked up Brad Thor's State of the Union in the bargain section of Barnes & Noble. I was intrigued by the cover of the book, which depicted a double headed eagle on some form of crest. It looked to somehow combine Masonic imagery with that of the American government. I did not read the description on the back, but as I enjoy political action/suspense novels, I purchased it without much other thought.

It took me a few months to get to it on my queue, but I finally found time to read the novel. Now that I am in my doctoral studies, I am aware that my time for pleasure reading will be significantly diminished. However, a colleague from Virginia Tech, who is a part-time doctoral student, advised me that finding time to occasionally read for pleasure is a gift to myself. As such, I thought that this would be a fun and accessible pleasure read.

I great enjoyed this story. I do not believe I have read any other novels by Brad Thor, and I was not aware that this was the third book in a series, but I found it easy to quickly become interested in the narrative. This story follows Agent Scot Harvath as he works to quickly stop a terrorist plot that threatens to severely cripple the United States as a player on the global scene. Harvath travels all over the globe in his efforts to do so. The book is full of action and adventure. I found it to be an enjoyable, and consequently quick, read.

State of the Union

Satan is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers

I'm not sure where I first heard about Satan is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers by Charlie Louvin with Benjamin Whitmer. It was likely while looking at other music (auto)biographies on Amazon. However, I know I had recently been listening to some Louvin Brothers on Pandora, so thought it would be a nice compliment to the music. And, as those who have previously read this blog will know, I am a fan of biographies about music or artists.

I found Satan is Real to be a rather interesting read. It is arranged mostly chronologically as Charlie Louvin recounts how the Louvin Brothers got their start. He recounts interesting stories of growing up on their parents' cotton farm, learning how to sing from his mother and at church, and sneaking out to see Roy Acuff. The narrative continues and provides detailed stories of the brothers' music careers. There are also interesting stories about Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Elvis, and Hank Williams. I found this to be one of the more fun and interesting autobiographies I have read lately.

Satan is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers

Riding the Rap

Those who know me know that I am a fan of FX's show Justified, about US Marshal Raylan Givens as he returns to his childhood stomping ground of Harlan County Kentucky and deals with numerous outlaws in the area. As such, it should be no surprise that I read another of Elmore Leonard's books featuring Raylan. This time, the novel is Riding the Rap. This book features Raylan Givens investigating the kidnapping of his "friend" Harry Arno. The novel features some incredibly interesting characters including a Latino gardener turned bounty hunter, a Caribbean man who used to pretend to belong to the Nation of Islam, and a psychic. As usual, Leonard's dialogue is gritty and real. The book was a fun read.

Riding the Rap

The Everything Home Recording Book

I picked up The Everything Home Recording Book by Marc Schonbrun after Eddie and I made plans to do some demo recording in his basement. While recording studios and project studios are topics and concepts I am familiar with from my undergraduate education, it has been about 7 years since I have done anything hands-on with them. I wanted something that could easily job my memory and hopefully refresh my knowledge. And, Eddie has ProTools, with which I do not have a lot of familiarity.

The book served its intended purpose, at least from my perspective. Admittedly, it is written for beginners with little-to-no experience with recording, so hopefully I would understand it after studying it in college for four years. It presented the various concepts with clarity and helped to refresh my memory about microphones, recording technique, and effects usage in the recording process. Of course, nothing actually tops hands-on experience in recording, but I now feel that I can handle some basic recording with relative ease.

This is a great book for those interested in learning about home recording, or like me, who wish to refresh their memory.

The Everything Home Recording Book