Books for Discussion
Edited by Torie Bosch
Authors in the News
Ben Wildavsky in The New York Times
Ben Wildavsky, author of The Career Arts: Making the Most of College, Credentials, and Connections, wrote a guest essay for the New York Times about college degree requirements in job listings (August 21, 2023).
Kate Clancy in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Undark
Kate Clancy, author of Period: The Real Story of Menstruation, was interviewed for a New York Times article about the trend of menstrual “cycle synching” workouts. Period was also reviewed in The Atlantic and Undark (June 9, 2023).
Kate Clancy on KERA, On Health, and This Podcast Will Kill You
Kate Clancy, author of Period: The Real Story of Menstruation, was interviewed for “Think” on KERA, the On Health podcast, and This Podcast Will Kill You (May, 9 2023).
Jennifer Carlson on PBS NewsHour
Jennifer Carlson, author of Merchants of the Right: Gun Sellers and the Crisis of American Democracy, was on PBS NewsHour (May 1, 2023).
Emily Hund on NPR and CBC
Emily Hund, author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media, spoke with Wailin Wong and Adrian Ma for NPR’s Planet Money’s podcast The Indicator. She also spoke with Nora Young for CBC’s Spark (April 24, 2023).
Emily Hund in Dissent Magazine
Emily Hund, author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media, was interviewed in Dissent Magazine (April 20, 2023).
Kate Clancy in the Washington Post, WIRED, Gloria, and on Science Friday
An adapted essay from Period: The Real Story of Menstruation ran in the Washington Post’s opinion section (April 25, 2023). WIRED ran a second serial excerpt from the last chapter of the book about the future of periods (April 20, 2023).
Kate Clancy spoke to the health website Gloria for a feature on periods after age 35 and did an interview with Science Friday (April 20, 2023).
Merchants of the Right in Science
Merchants of the Right was reviewed in Science by Matthew Lacombe (April 20 2023).
“Carlson takes on a topic of crucial importance: the relationship between conservative gun culture and the core commitments of American democracy. Along the way, she sheds fascinating new light on the factors that galvanized the largest gun-buying spree in the country’s history in 2020 and shaped how many Americans responded to the tumult of that year.” —Matt Lacombe, Science
Chris Bail in The New York Times Magazine
Chris Bail and Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing, were mentioned in an NYT Magazine article on the strange legacy of Twitter (April 18 2023).
Emily Hund in The Observer
Emily Hund, author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media, was interviewed in The Observer by Alice Fisher (April 2, 2023).
Kate Clancy in TIME
Kate Clancy, author of Period: The Real Story of Menstruation, was interviewed in TIME about Long COVID and reproductive health (April 4, 2023).
Emily Hund in The Atlantic and Vox
Emily Hund, author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media, spoke with Anna North at Vox about scolding advice on TikTok as well as Rebecca Jennings about influencers teaching online classes (March 24, 2023).
Kaitlyn Tiffany wrote about the influencer industry’s existential crisis for The Atlantic and cited Emily Hund and The Influencer Industry in her article (March 31, 2023).
The Sounds of Life in Scientific American
The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants, was mentioned on the Scientific American podcast Science Quickly (March 17, 2023).
The Influencer Industry in Vox, Harvard Business Review, and The Source
Emily Hund, author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media, spoke with Alison Beard for the Harvard Business Review podcast HBR IdeaCast, Rebecca Jennings for Vox, and Texas Public Radio’s The Source (March 7, 2023).
The Influencer Industry in the Financial Times
The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media by Emily Hund was mentioned a Financial Times piece: ‘What de-influencing tells us about the state of the creator economy’ (February 28, 2023).
The Profit Paradox in FiveBooks
The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work by Jan Eeckhout was featured in the New Economics Books listing for FiveBooks (February 28, 2023).
The Influencer Industry in WIRED
The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media by Emily Hund was excerpted for a piece in WIRED: ‘Influencer Is a Real Job. It’s Time to Act Like It’ (February 15, 2023).
Karen Bakker in Scientific American
Karen Bakker, author of The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants was interviewed about the book by Scientific American (February 7, 2023).
You Are Not Expected to Understand This reviewed in Nature
“You Are Not Expected to Understand This”: How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World, edited by Tori Bosch, was reviewed in Nature by Andrew Robinson: “[An] intriguingly human collection of articles … [from] contributors, including programmers, technologists, historians, journalists and academics” (February 3, 2023).
The Influencer Industry in Boston Globe and NYT
Emily Hund, author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media spoke with Evan Selinger about influencers for the Boston Globe, Jessica Grose cited The Influencer Industry in her newsletter on parenting for New York Times, and Town & Country called The Influencer Industry one of the best books to read this February (January 31, 2023).
Chen on ‘Thinking Allowed’
Carolyn Chen, author of Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley, has been interviewed by Laurie Taylor on BBC Radio Four’s ‘Thinking Allowed’ (January 25, 2023).
Breaking the Social Media Prism in Washington Post
Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing was mentioned in a Washington Post article on polarizing social media algorithms. The piece also includes a brief interview with author Chris Bail (January 11, 2023).
Karen Bakker in WIRED and New Statesman
Karen Bakker, author of The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants wrote an op-ed on using digital listening technology in the natural world for WIRED: ‘Nature’s Soundtrack Reveals the Secrets of Degradation’ (January 5, 2023). She was also interviewed in the New Statesman: “I am insatiably curious about Earth’s long-term future” (January 11, 2023).
The Sounds of Life reviewed in Nature
The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants by Karen Bakker was reviewed by Andrew Robinson in Nature: “In this beautifully written study, Karen Bakker… . compares digital technology that can reveal these sounds with the microscope’s effect on vision. By extending our hearing, the technology allows us to encounter ‘new soundscapes around the world and across the Tree of Life’ (December 16, 2023).
The Genetic Lottery one of “The Best Health Books Experts Read in 2022”
The Washington Post has included The Genetic Lottery by Kathryn Paige Harden as one of “The Best Health Books Experts Read in 2022”, along with a review by Daniel Pink: “A provocative, and often brilliant, look at how the randomness of the genes we inherit affects the course of our lives — and why acknowledging this uncomfortable fact is essential in understanding who we are and how we can build a more just society” (December 16, 2022).
The Secret Syllabus Forbes Best Higher Education Book
The Secret Syllabus: A Guide to the Unwritten Rules of College Success by Jay Phelan and Terry Burnham received an honorable mention in the list of “Forbes Best Higher Education Book of the Year”: “Written in a refreshingly conversational style, this book offers students advice for how to understand what many will encounter as an “alien” culture upon entering college and how to navigate the unwritten rules and expectations that are key to college success” (December 1, 2022).
The Influencer Industry reviewed in Kirkus
The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media by Emily Hund was reviewed by Kirkus: “A penetrating, well-considered look behind the polished scenes of the influencer industry” (December 1, 2022).
The Genetic Lottery reviewed in The Guardian
Kathryn Paige Harden’s The Genetic Lottery paperback has been reviewed in The Guardian by PD Smith: “A book that is closely argued and packed with compelling scientific and statistical evidence… . this is a fascinating and detailed discussion of how genetic and environmental factors are braided together in all of us, shaping our destinies for good or ill. Harden’s ideas challenge existing orthodoxies, and she is also aware that complex research such as this is often misused. But her passionate commitment to tackling inequality and changing society is not to be doubted” (December 1, 2022).
Doing the Right Thing in INSIGHT into Diversity
Doing the Right Thing: How Colleges and Universities Can Undo Systemic Racism in Faculty Hiring by Marybeth Gasman was included in a list of content to read, watch, and listen to this December by INSIGHT into Diversity (December 1, 2022).
The Joy of Science awarded “Best Science Book of the Year”
Jim Al-Khalili’s The Joy of Science has been selected as a Waterstones “Best Science Book of the Year” by Mark Skinner: “The acclaimed physicist and bestselling author of Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed delivers a practicable and inspiring approach to navigating life’s uncertainties and controversies” (December 1, 2022)
You Are Not Expected to Understand This in Fast Company and Endgadget
“You Are Not Expected to Understand This”: How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World was excerpted at Fast Company and Endgadget. Three of the contributors were interviewed for the Tech Policy podcast. Editor Torie Bosch was also interviewed on The New Stack (December 1, 2022).