My Most Recent Reads - November, 2015

November has been a slow month for reading.  I came in at just under 15 books but there are some good reasons for that.  The first is that one of the books was King's Bazaar of Bad Dreams--a thicker book than others.  Also, this month has been heavy on the research and reading and writing related to that.  But I still got in some fantastic reads than I'm recommending to folks!

Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs by Lauren Rivera

Book image
from publisher.

If you work in higher education and believe in any kind of social justice mission that higher education is to fulfill, then this book is worth picking up.  Furthermore, if you plan any role in hiring employees, it would be equally important for you to check out this book.  Rivera explores and deconstructs the "magic" of job hiring to illustrate how social and cultural capital often allows for more privileged people to acquire prestigious jobs, regardless of their actual skill and ability.  She shows how low and working class students who do attend prestigious and ivy league institutes are still significantly disadvantaged when going into the job market.  The implications of her book are something we all need to consider when we consider how education and employment relate to achievement in our culture.

The Myths of Nutrition and Fitness by Anthony Goodman

This lecture series from the Great Courses series is a great primer for understanding nutrition and fitness.  Goodman provides good clear explanations about why it's benefitial to pursue certain types of exercise, habits, and dietary preferences.  He's clear about what is validated through research and what is merely myth.  Anyone looking to just get clear and simple advice and understanding about their own nutritional and fitness choices would do well with this short (about 3 hours) worth of listening.

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

A lot of people were disappointed with this novel as any kind of sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird and I can get why.  It doesn't feel as inspiring and whimsical as the original novel did and to a degree, that's what I appreciate about it.  It grapples with racism in a different way and in doing so, recognizes that the blatant racism of To Kill a Mockingbird is not easily resolved.  It captures the nuance of racism and how it pervades even people whom we assume could not be racist or hold racist views (consciously or unconsciously).  There is also something to be said about the message about how we come to our own personal codes and firm beliefs about the world and who we allow (or forbid) to shape such codes and beliefs.  

Here's my ongoing list of books read this year on GoodReads.  Also, here 2015's reading reflections thus far:

• January 2015's Reads
• February 2015's Reads
• March 2015's Reads
• April 2015's Reads
• May 2015's Reads
• June 2015's Reads
• July 2015's Reads
• August 2015's Reads
• September 2015's Reads
• October 2015's Reads

AUDIOBOOKS

• Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs by Lauren Rivera
• Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin
• The Deep by Nick Cutter
• Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath by Tod Koppel
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
• If Someone Says "You Complete Me," Run!: Whoopi's Big Book of Relationships by Whoopi Goldberg
• The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King
• America Needs Talent: Attracting, Educating & Deploying the 21st-Century Workforce by Jamie Merisotis
• The Myths of Nutrition and Fitness by Anthony Goodman

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• The Walking Dead, Vol. 24: Life and Death by Robert Kirman
• Bodies by Si Spencer
• Star Wars:  Shattered Empire by Greg Rucka
• Star Wars, Vol. 1: Skywalker Strikes by Jason Aaron
• Flash Gordon Omnibus, Vol. 1 by Jeff Parker

By Any Other Nerd Blog by Lance Eaton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.