College and University Books

Robert Wolff's The Ideal of the University is a very interesting and stimulating book. He proposes an ideal model of undergraduate education from the perspective of a socialist, philosopher, and educator. The interesting thing about his book is not only his super-creative and somewhat crazy ideas, but also how he honestly presents his ideas and responds to the anticipated questions and concerns over his arguments. Several times I found myself questioning his arguments and then in the next paragraph or two he would respond to my questions. I do not necessarily agree with his points, but I found this "conversation" very thought provoking and interesting.

This speech, delivered to the Illinois Historical Society in 1908, with the American Civil War still only a few generations removed, provides specific insight into one of the most important rasons for that war, the slavery issue. It is an interesting read.

I'm a Wesleyan alum who checked this book out for the nostalgia aspect and maybe a few laughs. In the course of its wickedly sardonic (yet easily navigable) pages I not only learned many belatedly useful secrets about my alma mater, but I also had my faith reinstilled concerning the quality of a Wesleyan education. Ultimately, all I can say is "Thank you, Diego Baez, for the sophistication and wit you brought to a project that will prove an invaluable boon to any student wise enough to use it."

This is a very good book. I needed it for a class that I'm taking in college. It has a lot of helpful stuff in it.

Deborah L. Rhode, Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Ethics at Stanford University, provides a reasoned inquiry into the academic life and its discontents. By rejecting hyperbole and trying to base her contentions as much as possible on facts rather than anecdotal evidence, she avoids the partisan slant which so frequently mars popular writing on higher education. She focuses primarily on two pervasive but rather mundane problems: the jostling of scholars and institutions for status and the increasing commercialization of institutions of higher education.

Rhode devotes chapters to all of the major dimensions of academic life: scholarship, teaching, administration, and the role of the public intellectual. She makes many points worth pondering along the way. For example, she notes that scholars tend to write primarily for other scholars because popular writing does not increase their status in their respective fields, which is ultimately what leads to tenure and wider recognition within the academy. This narrowing of academic scholarship contributes to a growing gap between academics, many of whom have deep knowledge but only in very specialized fields, and "public intellectuals," some of whom opine with great authority on a wide range of subjects about which they all-too-frequently know all-too-little.

"In Pursuit of Knowledge" is written by a scholar for scholars. There is a faintly Aristotelian quality to Rhode's study; she presupposes her readers have sufficient experience of the academic existence to make informed judgments about her reflections and recommendations. This book will likely thus appeal primarily to professors and administrators, who will no doubt also appreciate her many illustrative references to comic novels about the academic life.

This book is an excellent guide to understanding many of the issues and challenges confronting those who work with students from underserved backgrounds. Although there's a great deal of statistical data, it's easy to skip it unless you're a data geek (not me) and get right to the clear and humane conclusions stemming from what appears to be excellent research. Well written and focused, the various writers have been well paired so the book appears to be one whole rather than many essays. In particular I appreciated the attention to "cultural capital" in the book and ways to evaluate programs geared to the underserved. This is a useful and I think essential guide for those working with student and counselor populations outside the highly privileged. I underlined a great deal and plan to use it as a handbook in the future.

J.J. Creighton has written a fascinating book on a largely unknown encounter between a group of art students and instructors and a group of traditional Native Americans. This happened in a rather remote area of the state (the Colville Reservation) in the 1930s when gravel roads were the norm. A wonderful record of life on the reservation has been preserved in the form of portraits and landscapes, many of which are illustrated in this book.

This book describes and analyzes one of the most improbable stories in American education - how did it come to pass that the preeminent music school in the United States, probably in the world, came to be situated in southern Indiana - Bloomington to be exact, at Indiana University. George M. Logan, Head of the English Department at Queen's University, Canada became intrigued by this question and wrote a brilliant book to answer it. As an American living in Europe I am often surprised that musically aware people here not only have heard of Bloomington and Indiana, but react so favorably to it. Its performing faculty (like Janos Starker or Menahem Pressler, or students from Indiana like Joshua Bell) are well known here and heard in concerts or on the radio. Here is one American success story well and interestingly told. Not only is the cast of musical charaters in this history fascinating, but Logan has weaved into the narrative the issues and analyses that confronted the Indiana administration and faculty and the outcomes of their decisions. This a colorful book describing high culture, but it is also a kind of ongoing management manual on successful cultural organization, although Logan is well balanced, recording not only successes but failures as well. I loved reading this book, learned a great deal about cultural management and just plain management, and warmly recommend it.

I just finished this book tonight, and it's one of the best sports autobiographies I've read in ages, and I read most of them. Wayne Embry is a pioneer, and a man that overcame a tremendous amount of racism and adversity in his life to become a power player (GM) of 2 NBA ballclubs.
I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Embry in passing at camps, and he was a kind gentleman. I always admired him but never knew all that he went through. To be fair in my review, I must say that in reading the book, he seems at times overly-sensitive in his analysis of some situations, especially those with Cavs ownership, and that he often seems to have felt slighted, when he may have just been a casualty of an underachieving ballclub, and NOT the victim of racism.
Either way, the man is an intellect, and also found success in business as a big-time McDonald's franchisee and sat on the BOD of several Fortune 500 companies, as well as a trustee of his alma mater, Miami of Ohio. A man who has been married to the same woman for almost 50 years. A man of conviction.
I say this for Embry, whether or not you agree or disagree with his views, he pulls no punches. He tells it like it is, and does not sugar coat things in this book. There's nothing worse than shelling out $20 or $30 for a book, and then you get nothing but cliche nonsense, or the same old fuzzy stories you already knew from the sports pages or internet.
This book is a must for old-time/vintage NBA fans or those who wonder what it's like to be a GM of a team. Wayne Embry was not only a physical specimen, but a cerebral giant of a man, and this is one helluva read. Kudos, Big Wayne. Regards, James R. Acho, Esq. www.cmda-law.com

Research on the effect of the college experience on students has often been done, but the UW SOUL study is the best and most comprehensive of these projects. What brings this project to life is the sections of interviews with students that are presented. As you read the words of these students and match that with the survey data, the reader begins to discover what really goes on during a students' university experience. We begin to see why the academic adjustment can be so difficult and, more importantly, the authors provide suggestions on how this can be remedied. As the reader examines the data and absorbs the students' responses given in interviews, it becomes possible to see what it is that students learn in college and how this learning takes place.
Inside the Undergraduate Experience is essential reading for instructors, administrators, student development personnel, and anyone who wants to better understand the college experience from the viewpoint of the student.