Princeton UP Ideas Podcast
Episodes
Michael Ruse, “On Purpose” (Princeton UP, 2017)
12 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Can we live without the idea of purpose? Should we even try to? Immanuel Kant thought we were stuck with purpose, and while Darwin’s theory of natur...
Alexander Thurston, “Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement” (Princeton UP, 2017)
05 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Boko Haram is one of the most well known global terrorist organizations. They have killed thousands of people and displaced millions of West Africans....
Alexander Knysh, “Sufism: A New History” (Princeton UP, 2017)
01 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sufism, like many terms in the study of Islam, can be difficult to define and even more difficult to handle, but Alexander Knysh, in Sufism: A New His...
Emily C. Nacol, “An Age of Risk: Politics and Economy in Early Modern Britain” (Princeton UP, 2016)
29 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Emily C. Nacol has written a fascinating interrogation of the idea of risk, the concept of vulnerability, and the evolution of probabilistic thinking ...
Adam Mestyan, “Arab Patriotism: The Ideology and Culture of Power in Late Ottoman Egypt” (Princeton UP, 2017)
15 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Studies of Arab nationalism populate the field of Middle Eastern studies, perhaps even overpopulate it. However, what Adam Mestyan does in Arab Patrio...
Kieran Setiya, “Midlife: A Philosophical Guide” (Princeton UP, 2017)
01 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Middle-agedness is a curious phenomenon. In many ways, one is at one’s peak and also at the early stages of decline. There is much to do, but also d...
Yuri Slezkine, “The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution” (Princeton UP, 2017)
04 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Before the revolution that—very unexpectedly—brought them to power, the Bolsheviks lived nomadic lives. They were always on the run from the autho...
Lawrence R. Douglas, “The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War Crimes Trial” (Princeton UP, 2016)
27 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In his new book, The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War Crimes Trial (Princeton University Press 2016), Lawrence R. Douglas, ...
Jonathan Morduch and Rachel Schneider, “The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty” (Princeton UP, 2017)
21 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Volatility. Instability. Insecurity. Precarity. There’s a burgeoning lexicon seeking to capture the grim economic state of more and more Americans. ...
Tore C. Olsson, “Agrarian Crossings: Reformers and the Remaking of the US and Mexican Countryside” (Princeton UP, 2017)
23 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Tore C. Olsson‘s Agrarian Crossings: Reformers and the Remaking of the US and Mexican Countryside (Princeton University Press, 2017) tells a remarka...
Walter Scheidel, “The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality” (Princeton UP, 2017)
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 2017 half of the world’s wealth belongs to the top 1% of the population. In his new book, The Great Leveler Violence and the History of Inequalit...
Bruce B. Lawrence, “The Koran in English: A Biography” (Princeton UP, 2017)
16 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As the basis for a major world religion, the Qur’an is one of the most influential books of all time. But when it first appeared, the Qur’an was i...
Clayton Childress, “Under the Cover: The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel” (Princeton UP, 2017)
29 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How does a book come into being? In Under the Cover: The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel (Princeton University Press, 2017), Clayton Ch...
Michael Allan, “In the Shadow of World Literature: Sites of Reading in Colonial Egypt” (Princeton UP, 2016)
14 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Allan‘s In the Shadow of World Literature: Sites of Reading in Colonial Egypt (Princeton University Press, 2016) challenges traditional perc...
Kiran Klaus Patel, “The New Deal: A Global History” (Princeton UP, 2016)
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
There are as many New Deals as there are books on the subject. Yet only recently have historians begun to dig into the international dimensions of the...
Jeanine Michna-Bales, “Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad” (Princeton Architectural Press, 2017)
23 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
When the Sun comes back And the first quail calls Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd. For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow ...
Oscar Fernandez, “The Calculus of Happiness” (Princeton UP, 2017)
11 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The book discussed here is entitled The Calculus of Happiness: How a Mathematical Approach to Life Adds Up to Health, Wealth, and Love (Princeton Univ...
Or Rosenboim, “The Emergence of Globalism: Visions of World Order in Britain and the United States, 1939-1950” (Princeton UP, 2017)
23 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The world order was in crisis at mid-century. Intellectuals in England and the United States perceived the rise of totalitarianism, the Second World W...
Richard E. Ocejo, “Masters of Craft: Old Jobs in the New Urban Economy” (Princeton UP, 2017)
22 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Readers will want to grab a cocktail and charcuterie board when they sit down to read Richard E. Ocejo‘s new book, Masters of Craft: Old Jobs in the...
James Q. Whitman, “Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law” (Princeton UP, 2017)
12 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
James Q. Whitman, Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law at Yale Law School, began researching the book that became Hitler’s Ameri...
Lewis Glinert, “The Story of Hebrew” (Princeton UP, 2017)
11 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For this episode, New Books in Jewish Studies interviews Lewis Glinert, Professor of Hebrew Studies at Dartmouth College, where he is also affiliated ...
Edward J. Balleisen, “Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff” (Princeton UP, 2017)
27 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s podcast is a fraud or at least about a fraud. Edward J. Balleisen has written Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff (Princeto...
Michaela DeSoucey, “Contested Tastes: Foie Gras and the Politics of Food” (Princeton UP, 2016)
25 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A heritage food in France, and a high-priced obscurity in the United States. But in both countries, foie gras, the specially fattened liver of a duck ...
Robert Jervis, “How Statesmen Think: The Psychology of International Politics” (Princeton UP, 2017)
20 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Jervis is the author of How Statesmen Think: The Psychology of International Politics (Princeton University Press, 2017). Jervis is the Adlai E...
Raffi Grinberg, “The Real Analysis Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Understand Proofs” (Princeton UP, 2017)
15 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If ever there were a course that needs a book like Raffi Grinberg’s The Real Analysis Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Understand Proofs (Prince...
Nancy Weiss Malkiel, ‘Keep the Damned Women Out’: The Struggle for Coeducation” (Princeton UP, 2016)
13 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Within the context of the social upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, elite institutions of higher education began to feel pressure to open their doors to...
Andrew Scull, “Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity” (Princeton UP, 2015)
20 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The wish to understand mental suffering is universal and requires an appreciation for its history. Since Biblical times, humans have understood madnes...
Noah Salomon, “For Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan’s Islamic State (Princeton UP, 2016)
17 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In popular discourse today, few concepts are more sensationalized and maliciously caricatured than that of the Islamic State. In his fascinating new b...
Jeremy Adelman, “Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman” (Princeton UP, 2013)
29 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Although defined throughout his professional career as a development economist, Albert O. Hirschman’s intellectual scope defied classification. In W...
Richard Bourke, “Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke” (Princeton UP, 2015)
30 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Bourke, Professor in the History of Political Thought in the School of History at Queen Mary University of London, began developing his histor...
James E. Campbell, “Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America” (Princeton UP, 2016)
26 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
James E. Campbell has written Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America (PrincetonUniversity Press, 2016). Campbell is UB Distinguished Professor o...
Paula S. Fass, “The End of American Childhood: A History of Parenting from Life on the Frontier to the Managed Child” (Princeton UP, 2016)
11 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Paula S. Fass is a professor of history emerita at the University of California, Berkeley. Her book The End of American Childhood: A History of Parent...
Dov Waxman, “Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict Over Israel” (Princeton UP, 2016)
08 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict Over Israel (Princeton University Press, 2016), Dov Waxman, professor of political science, inte...
Eric Schickler, “Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965” (Princeton UP, 2016)
01 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Schickler is the author of Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965 (Princeton University Press, 2016). Schickler...
Elizabeth Hurd, “Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion” (Princeton UP, 2015)
27 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Among the most frequent demands made of Islam and Muslims today is to become more moderate. But what counts as moderate and who will decide so are que...
Michael Barnett, “The Star and the Stripes” (Princeton UP, 2016)
27 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of American Jews (Princeton University Press, 2016), Michael Barnett, University Profes...
Thomas Knock, “Rise of a Prairie Statesman: The Life and Times of George McGovern” (Princeton UP, 2016)
19 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
George McGovern is largely remembered today for his dramatic loss to Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential campaign, yet he enjoyed a long career cha...
Jon D. Levenson, “The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism” (Princeton UP, 2016)
09 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism (Princeton University Press, 2016), Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. Li...
Beineke and Rosenhouse, eds., “The Mathematics of Various Entertaining Subjects: Research in Recreational Math” (Princeton UP, 2015)
23 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Jennifer Beineke and Jason Rosenhouse‘s new book The Mathematics of Various Entertaining Subjects: Research in Recreational Math (Princeton Universi...
Todd Endelman, “Leaving the Jewish Fold: Conversion and Radical Assimilation in Modern Jewish History” (Princeton UP, 2015)
23 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In Leaving the Jewish Fold: Conversion and Radical Assimilation in Modern Jewish History (Princeton University Press, 2015), Todd Endelman looks acros...
Robert Holub, “Nietzsche’s Jewish Problem: Between Anti-Semitism and Anti-Judaism” (Princeton UP, 2016)
09 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In Nietzsche’s Jewish Problem: Between Anti-Semitism and Anti-Judaism (Princeton University Press, 2016), Robert Holub, Ohio Eminent Scholar and Pro...
Duncan Pritchard, “Epistemic Angst: Radical Skepticism and the Groundlessness of Our Believing” (Princeton UP, 2016)
01 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Many are introduced to philosophy by way of a confrontation with the kind of radical skepticism associated with Rene Descartes: Might I right now be d...
John M. Efron, “German Jewry and the Allure of the Sephardic” (Princeton UP, 2016)
29 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In German Jewry and the Allure of the Sephardic (Princeton University Press, 2016), John M. Efron, Koret Professor of Jewish History at the University...
David Grazian, “American Zoo: A Sociological Safari” (Princeton UP, 2015)
20 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Urban zoos are both popular and imperiled. They are sites of contestation, but what are those contests about? In his new book, American Zoo: A Sociolo...
Jefferson Cowie, “The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics” (Princeton UP, 2016)
18 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Jefferson Cowie is the James G. Stahlman professor of history at Vanderbilt University. His book The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of A...
Justin E. H. Smith, “Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference: Race in Early Modern Philosophy” (Princeton UP, 2015)
02 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Justin E. H. Smith‘s new book is a fascinating historical ontology of notions of racial difference in the work of early modern European writers. Nat...
James D. Stein, “L.A. Math: Romance, Crime, and Mathematics in the City of Angels” (Princeton UP, 2016)
24 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Romance. Crime. Mathematics. These things do not go together. Or do they? James D. Stein thinks they do, and he admirably shows us how in his wonderfu...
Adam Seth Levine, “American Insecurity: Why Our Economic Fears Lead to Political Inaction” (Princeton UP, 2015)
24 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Seth Levine has written American Insecurity: Why Our Economic Fears Lead to Political Inaction (Princeton University Press, 2015). Levine teaches...
Ron Grigor Suny, “They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else: A History of the Armenian Genocide” (Princeton UP, 2015)
19 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Anniversaries are funny things. Sometimes, as with the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, they are accompanied by a flood o...
Lynn Gamwell, “Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History” (Princeton UP, 2015)
05 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today I’m talking with Lynn Gamwell about Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History (Princeton University Press, 2015). This book is a breathtaking co...
Marcia C. Inhorn, “The New Arab Man: Emergent Masculinities, Technologies, and Islam in the Middle East” (Princeton UP, 2012)
18 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Winner of the 2015 American Anthropological Associations Robert B. Textor and Family Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology and the 2014 JM...
Maud S. Mandel, “Muslims and Jews in France: History of a Conflict” (Princeton UP, 2014)
11 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In Muslims and Jews in France: History of a Conflict (Princeton University Press, 2014), Maud S. Mandel, Dean of the College at Brown University, chal...
Peter van der Veer, “The Modern Spirit of Asia: The Spiritual and the Secular in China and India” (Princeton UP, 2013
07 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What are the differences between religion, magic, and spirituality? Over time, these categories have been articulated in a variety of ways across diff...
Saba Mahmood, “Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report” (Princeton UP, 2015)
07 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It is commonly thought that violence, injustice, and discrimination against religious minorities, especially in the Middle East, are a product of reli...
Anna L. Tsing, “The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins” (Princeton UP, 2015)
06 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Anna L. Tsing‘s new book is on my new (as of this post) list of Must-Read-Books-That-All-Humans-Who-Can-Read-Should-Read-And-That-Nonhumans-Should-F...
Carlos Fraenkel, “Teaching Plato in Palestine: Philosophy in a Divided World” (Princeton UP, 2015)
01 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
We tend to think of Philosophy as a professional academic subject that is taught in college classes, with its own rather specialized problems, vocabul...
Daniel Schlozman, “When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History” (Princeton UP, 2015)
27 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Schlozman is the author of When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History (Princeton University Press, 2015). Schlozma...
Eric H. Cline, “1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed” (Princeton UP, 2014)
07 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It quickly sold out in hardback, and then, within a matter of days, sold out in paperback. Available again as a 2nd edition hardback, and soon in the ...
Derek J. Penslar, “Jews and the Military: A History” (Princeton UP, 2015)
01 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In Jews and the Military: A History (Princeton University Press, 2015), Derek J. Penslar, the Stanley Lewis Professor of Israel Studies at the Univers...
Stephen Macedo, “Just Married: Same-Sex Couples, Monogamy, and the Future of Marriage” (Princeton UP, 2015)
01 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
There has been a lot of talk in the United States recently about same-sex marriage. One obvious question is sociological: What are the implications of...
Leah Wright Rigueur, “The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power” (Princeton UP, 2015)
16 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Leah Wright Rigueur is an assistant professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Her book The Loneliness of the Black Repub...
James Turner, “Philology: The Forgotten Origins of the Modern Humanities” (Princeton UP, 2014)
10 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
James Turner is Cavanaugh Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, at Notre Dame University. His book Philology: The Forgotten Origins of the Modern Humanit...
Derek Sayer, “Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History” (Princeton UP 2013)
24 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Prague, according to Derek Sayer, is the place “in which modernist dreams have time and again unraveled.” In this sweeping history of surrealism c...
Madeline Y. Hsu, “The Good Immigrants: How the Yellow Peril Became the Model Minority” (Princeton UP, 2015)
23 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
With high educational and professional attainment, Asian Americans are often portrayed as the “Model Minority” in popular media. This portrayal, t...
Jason Stanley, “How Propaganda Works” (Princeton UP, 2015)
01 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Propaganda names a familiar collection of phenomena, and examples of propaganda are easy to identify, especially when one examines the output of total...
Andrew Needham, “Power Lines: Phoenix and the Making of the Modern Southwest” (Princeton UP, 2014)
26 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Last month, VICE NEWS released a short documentary about the Navajo Nation called “Cursed by Coal.” The images and stories confirm the title. “S...
Michael Gorra, “The Bells in Their Silence: Travels through Germany” (Princeton UP, 2006)
24 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Despite being Germany’s most famous literary lion, in 1786 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had to jump on a mail coach incognito to begin his travels to ...
Lital Levy, “Poetic Trespass: Writing Between Hebrew and Arabic in Israel/Palestine” (Princeton UP, 2014)
06 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Jewish settlement in Palestine and the revival of Hebrew as a national language have profoundly impacted the ...
Michelle Nickerson, “Mothers of Conservatism: Women and the Postwar Right” (Princeton UP, 2012)
18 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, historians have shown that the modern conservative movement is older and more complex than has often been assumed by either liberals or hist...
Bill T. Jones, “Story/Time: The Life of An Idea” (Princeton UP, 2014)
17 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
When does a dance become a book? How does choreography lend itself to the page? What discontents exist in theorizing performance that are best explore...
Udi Greenberg, “The Weimar Century: German Emigres and the Ideological Foundation of the Cold War” (Princeton UP, 2015)
09 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
American policymakers and scholars alike have looked to the rapid transformation of Germany, specifically West Germany, from a defeated Nazi state int...
Seana Shiffrin, “Speech Matters: On Lying, Morality, and the Law” (Princeton UP, 2014)
02 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It is generally accepted that lying is morally prohibited. But theorists divide over the nature of lying’s wrongness, and thus there is disagreement...
Kenneth Prewitt, “What Is Your Race?: The Census and Our Flawed Efforts to Classify Americans” (Princeton UP, 2013)
13 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The US Census has been an important American institution for over 220 years. Since 1790, the US population has been counted and compiled, important fi...
Henry Nau, “Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy under Jefferson, Reagan, Truman, and Polk” (Princeton UP, 2013)
28 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have raised important questions about the future direction of U.S. foreign policy and how Americans can best e...
Jacob N. Shapiro, “The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organizations” (Princeton UP, 2013)
27 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob N. Shapiro‘s The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organizations (Princeton University Press, 2013) is a welcome addition to a fi...
Michael Cook, “Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective” (Princeton UP, 2014)
05 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Cook, a widely-respected historian and scholar of Islam begins his book with a question that everyone seems to be asking these days: is Islam ...
Angela Stent, “The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twentieth-First Century” (Princeton UP, 2014)
03 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In 2005, the Comedy Central Network aired an episode of “South Park” in which one of the characters asked if any “Third World” countries other...
Colin Adams, “Zombies and Calculus” (Princeton UP, 2014)
15 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The book discussed in this interview is Zombies and Calculus (Princeton University Press, 2014) by Colin Adams. This is a truly unique book; a no...
Stephen Yablo, “Aboutness” (Princeton UP, 2014 )
15 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
A day after Stephen Yablo bought his daughter Zina ice cream for her birthday, Zina complained, “You never take me for ice cream any more.” Yablo ...
Adam Ewing, “The Age Of Garvey: How A Jamaican Activist Created A Mass Movement And Changed Global Black Politics” (Princeton UP, 2014)
09 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Ewing acknowledges the enduring, if reductive, image of Garveyism – “the parades and shipping lines and colonization schemes” – in its ea...
John L. Campbell and Ove K. Pedersen, The National Origins of Policy Ideas: ” (Princeton UP 2014)
04 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
John L. Campbell and Ove K. Pedersen are the authors of The National Origins of Policy Ideas: Knowledge Regimes in the United States, France, Germany,...
Judith Kelley, “Monitoring Democracy: When International Election Observation Works, and Why It Often Fails” (Princeton UP, 2012)
21 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Judith Kelley is the author of Monitoring Democracy: When International Election Observation Works, and Why It Often Fails (Princeton University Pre...
Simon Blackburn, “Mirror, Mirror: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love” (Princeton UP, 2014)
01 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
At the heart of our moral thinking lies trouble with our selves. The self lies at morality’s core; selves are intimately connected to the proper o...
Olivier Zunz, “Philanthropy in America: A History” (Princeton UP, 2014)
16 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Olivier Zunz is the author of Philanthropy in America: A History (Princeton University Press 2014). The paperback addition of the book has recently be...
David Reimer, “Count Like an Egyptian: A Hands-on Introduction to Ancient Mathematics” (Princeton UP, 2014)
09 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
[Re-posted with permission from Sol Lederman’s Wild About Math] I love novel ways of looking at arithmetic. I’m fascinated with how computers co...
Lucia Trimbur, “Come Out Swinging: The Changing World of Boxing in Gleason’s Gym” (Princeton UP, 2013))
25 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine a boxing gym. What probably comes to mind is a large, run-down room on the upper floor of an old brick building, somewhere in a trash-strewn, ...
Oscar E. Fernandez, “Everyday Calculus: Discovering the Hidden Math All around Us (Princeton UP, 2014)
17 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The book discussed in this interview is Everyday Calculus: Discovering the Hidden Math All around Us (Princeton University Press, 2014) by Oscar ...
Tim Chartier, “Math Bytes: Google Bombs, Chocolate-Covered Pi, and Other Cool Bits in Computing” (Princeton UP, 2014)
08 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
[Re-posted with permission from Wild About Math] My favorite kind of math challenges are those that children can understand and professional mathema...
Adrienne Martin, “How We Hope: A Moral Psychology” (Princeton UP, 2013)
01 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
From political campaigns to sports stadiums and hospital rooms, the concept of hope is pervasive. And the story we tend to tell ourselves about hope i...
David Edmonds, “Would You Kill the Fat Man?” (Princeton UP, 2014)
01 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The trolley problem is a staple of contemporary moral philosophy. It centers around two scenarios involving a runaway trolley. In the first, a tro...
Ellen D. Wu, “The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority” (Princeton UP, 2014)
17 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Ellen D. Wu‘s The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority (Princeton University Press, 2014) charts the complex emer...
John Ahlquist and Margaret Levi, “In the Interest of Others: Organizations and Social Activism” (Princeton UP, 2013)
17 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
John Ahlquist and Margaret Levi are the authors of In the Interest of Others: Organizations and Social Activism (Princeton University Press, 2013). Ah...
Chuck Adler, “Wizards, Aliens, and Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction” (Princeton UP, 2014)
14 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
[Re-posted with permission from Wild About Math] I’ve admitted before that Physics and I have never gotten along. But, science fiction is something ...
Eli Maor and Eugen Jost, “Beautiful Geometry” (Princeton UP, 2014)
11 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Beautiful Geometry (Princeton UP, 2014), by the mathematician prof. Eli Maor and the noted artist Eugen Jost. It’s a fascinating collaboratio...
John Sides and Lynn Vavreck, “The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election” (Princeton UP, 2013)
06 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
One of 2013’s most important new books in political science was The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election (Princeton UP 2013...
Leora Batnitzky, “How Judaism Became a Religion: An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought” (Princeton UP, 2011)
08 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
From her first book about the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig, Leora Batnitzky has been heralded as a rising star in contemporary Jewish thought...
David Tod Roy, “The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P’ing Mei” (Princeton UP, 1993-2013)
16 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
By any measure, David Tod Roy‘s translation The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P’ing Mei, Vol. 1-5 (Princeton University Press, 1993-2013) is a ...
Ken MacLeish, “Fort Hood: Life and Uncertainty in a Military Community” (Princeton UP, 2013)
12 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Ken MacLeish offers an ethnographic look at daily lives and the true costs borne by soldiers, their families, and communities, in his new book Making ...
Helene Landemore, “Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many” (Princeton UP, 2012)
01 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
We’re all familiar with the thought that democracy is merely the rule of the unwise mob. In the hands of Plato and a long line of philosophers since...
Simon Keller, “Partiality” (Princeton UP, 2013)
01 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Our moral lives are shaped by a deep commitment to the moral equality of all persons. This thought drives us to think, for example, that each person...