New Books Network
NBN Seminar
Religion June 2, 2020

Until the End of Time

Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe

Brian Greene

Hosted by John Weston
Brian Greene is a Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he is the Director of the Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and …

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African American Studies April 28, 2020

Slavery and the University

Histories and Legacies

Leslie M. Harris

Hosted by Adam McNeil
Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies (University of Georgia Press, 2019), edited by Leslie M. Harris, James T. Campbell, and Alfred L. Brophy, is the first edited collection of …
Language March 30, 2020

Sleight of Mind

75 Ingenious Paradoxes in Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy

Matt Cook

Hosted by Jim Stein
Paradox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick. A magician's purpose is to create the appearance of impossibility, to pull a rabbit from an empty hat. Yet paradox doesn't require …
Communications February 25, 2020

Inside the Critics’ Circle

Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times

Phillipa Chong

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How does the world of book reviews work? In Inside the Critics’ Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times (Princeton University Press, 2020), Phillipa Chong, assistant professor in sociology at McMaster …
Education January 30, 2020

Going Alt-Ac

A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers

Kathryn E. Linder, Kevin Kelly, Thomas J. Tobin

Hosted by Zeb Larson
If you’re a grad student facing the ugly reality of finding a tenure-track job, you could easily be forgiven for thinking about a career change. However, if you’ve spent the …
Economics December 3, 2019

How Charts Lie

Getting Smarter about Visual Information

Alberto Cairo

Hosted by Jim Stein
We’ve all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what if we don’t understand what we’re looking at? Social media has made charts, infographics, and diagrams ubiquitous―and …
Communications November 4, 2019

Kathryn Conrad on University Press Publishing

Kathryn Conrad

Hosted by Marshall Poe
As you may know, university presses publish a lot of good books. In fact, they publish thousands of them every year. They are different from most trade books in that …
Education October 24, 2019

Geeky Pedagogy

A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers

Jessamyn Neuhaus

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
The things that make people academics -- a deep fascination with some arcane subject, often bordering on obsession, and a comfort with the solitude that developing expertise requires -- do …
Intellectual History December 6, 2018

General Intellects

Twenty-One Thinkers for the Twenty-First Century

McKenzie Wark

Hosted by Carla Nappi
McKenzie Wark’s new book offers 21 focused studies of thinkers working in a wide range of fields who are worth your attention. The chapters of General Intellects: Twenty-One Thinkers for …
Literary Studies November 20, 2018

Discognition

Steven Shaviro

Hosted by Carla Nappi
Steven Shaviro’s book Discognition (Repeater Books, 2016) opens with a series of questions: What is consciousness? How does subjective experience occur? Which entities are conscious? What is it like to …
Anthropology August 13, 2018

The Ecology of Attention

Yves Citton

Hosted by Carla Nappi
We are arguably living in the midst of a form of economy where attention has become a key resource and value, labor, class, and currency are being reconfigured as a …
Psychology January 13, 2018

The Character Gap

How Good Are We?

Christian B. Miller

Hosted by Eugenio Duarte
Are we good people? Or do we just think we are? In his new book The Character Gap: How Good Are We? (Oxford University Press, 2017), author Christian B. Miller …
Gender Studies December 25, 2017

Down Girl

The Logic of Misogyny

Kate Manne

Hosted by Lilian Calles Barger
Kate Manne is an assistant professor of philosophy at Cornell University. As a feminist and moral philosopher, Manne examines an idea that has been inadequately addressed in her book Down …
Literary Studies November 24, 2017

The Story Cure

A Book Doctor's Pain-Free Guide to Finishing your Novel or Memoir

Dinty W. Moore

Hosted by Eric LeMay and Zoe Bossiere
If you've ever wondered how your favorite writers go about crafting their written works, or if you've ever been interested in writing a book yourself, chances are you've wandered into …
Intellectual History November 6, 2017

Modern Religion, Modern Race

Theodore Vial

Hosted by Kristian Petersen
The categories religion and race share a common genealogy. The modern understanding of these terms emerges within the European enlightenment but grasping their gradual production requires us to investigate further …
Biblical Studies October 23, 2017

The Great Shift

Encountering God in Biblical Times

James L. Kugel

Hosted by David Gottlieb
In a career spanning several decades, James L. Kugel has illuminated the Hebrew Bible from the perspectives of both a biblical scholar of enormous skill and eloquence and as an …
Literary Studies September 29, 2017

Under the Cover

The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel

Clayton Childress

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How does a book come into being? In Under the Cover: The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel (Princeton University Press, 2017), Clayton Childress, Assistant Professor in the Department …
World Affairs September 25, 2017

After World Religions

Reconstructing Religious Studies

Christopher R. Cotter and David G. Robertson

Hosted by Kristian Petersen
When undergraduate students look through a course catalog and see the title World Religions they probably have some idea what the course will be about. But why is that? Why …
Science September 7, 2017

The Oxford Illustrated History of Science

Iwan Rhys Morus

Hosted by J. N. Campbell
What is science? A seemingly profound, yet totally ridiculous question to try and answer. Yet, when Oxford University Press reached out to the brilliant scholar of Victorian science, Iwan Rhys …
Literary Studies August 25, 2017

The Edge of Evolution

Animality, Inhumanity, and Doctor Moreau

Ron Edwards

Hosted by Eric LeMay
As I was reading Ron Edward's fascinating and far-reaching new book, The Edge of Evolution: Animality, Inhumanity, and Doctor Moreau (Oxford University Press, 2016), I had a flashback. I must …