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Measuring the Progress of Women with The XX Factor
This semester, students taking “Social Scientific Perspectives on the Family and the Market”, a History course at the Catholic University of America, read Alison Wolf’s The XX Factor as a core text for the class. In the book, English economist and journalist Alison Wolf examines why educated women are now working longer hours and how feminism has actually created a less equal world. Professor Jerry Z. Muller, who incorporated the book into his curriculum, remarked that the book “not only draws together research from a wide range of social sciences, but combines it with well-grounded speculation and sound judgment.” To read an excerpt from the book, click here.
Alison Wolf is an academic and writer living in London. She is currently the Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College, London. She also advises the UK government on education policy.
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Order a desk or examination copy here
Philosophy Department Uncovers the Source Of Spontaneity With Trying Not To Try
This spring, more than 35 students in North Central College’s introduction to philosophy course will use Edward Slingerland’s Trying Not to Try. The book, which blends Eastern thought and cutting-edge science to explain why we find spontaneity so elusive, will support students as they learn the tenants of philosophy. Although the text goes on-sale in March, complimentary advanced reader copies (ARCs) are available by request here.
Author Edward Slingerland was educated at Princeton, Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley. He currently is a Professor of Asian Studies and Canada Research Chair in Chinese Thought and Embodied Cognition at the University of British Columbia.
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The Broken Spears: UC Irvine Anthropology Course Tackles The Conquest of Mexico
The Origins of Global Interdependence, an anthropology class at the University of California at Irvine, will be using Michuel Leon-Portilla’s The Broken Spears during the fall 2013 semester. Examining the Aztec perspective of the Conquest of Mexico, Leon-Portilla’s book expands the Conquests history to include the voices of the indigenous peoples, and includes accounts from native Aztec descendants across the centuries. All 300 students enrolled will be required to read the book.
The Broken Spears, called “[a] moving and powerful account” by the Los Angeles Times, will allow UC Irvine students to bear witness to the extraordinary vitality of oral tradition.
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The 300-pound Gorilla in the Room: University of Arizona Philosophy Class Selects The Invisible Gorilla
The University of Arizona has selected The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons as a required text for their Philosphy Department’s Logic & Critical Thinking Course. Based on the authors’ “Gorillas in Our Midst” study, The Invisible Gorilla highlights the work of Chabris and Simons, as well as other researchers, as they investigate attention, perception, memory, and reasoning. The authors ultimately show students how and why the perception of the mind is often at fault.
Both Chabris and Simons, have received PhDs from Harvard and Cornell respectively.
“A fascinating look at little-known illusions that greatly affect our daily lives…offers surprising insights into just how clueless we are about how our minds work and how we experience the world…Bound to have wide popular appeal.”—Kirkus Reviews
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University of Texas at San Antonio Students Release Inner Animal with The Age of Empathy
Roughly seventy-five students in the University of Texas at San Antonio’s anthropology department will soon be using Frans de Waal’s The Age of Empathy to investigate shifting human behavior. The book, which examines how empathy comes naturally to a great variety of creatures, including humans, studies social behaviors in animals, such as bonding, the herd instinct, the forming of trusting alliances, expressions of consolation, and conflict resolution. The author uses these findings to assert that, contrary to popular belief, human beings are not inherently selfish and can work together toward a more just society.
Click here to read an excerpt.
Click here to read previous posts about the book.
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A Hard Nut to Crack: Students to Uncover the Universe’s Mysteries with Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking’s The Universe in a Nutshell will be a core component of UVA’s Astronomy 1270: Unsolved Mysteries in the Universe course this upcoming fall. The approximately 140 students will augment classroom material on theoretical physics topics such as Quantum mechanics, General relativity and Black holes with content from the book. The students will ultimately follow Stephen Hawking’s attempt to explain the Theory of Everything, which studies the links between all physical phenomena.
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Complimentary Copies of Animal Wise by Virginia Morell Now Available
Random House Academic Marketing is currently giving away free copies of Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by noted science writer Virginia Morell. The author challenges the standard behaviorist model and reconsiders the boundaries between humans and animals. Morell conveys to students laboratories and field sites around the globe, and introduces both scientists and animal-cognition researchers and their work. She articulates a nuanced understanding of the interior lives of animals, proposing moral and ethical ramifications for human-animal relationships.
Please email rhacademic@randomhouse.com with your name, college and course information to request a copy.
Animal Wise has received the following awards:
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
An ALA 2014 Notable Book
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2013
A Scientific American Best Summer Science Book
“[A] delightful exploration of how animals think….Morell makes a fascinating, convincing case that even primitive animals give some thought to their actions.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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