#AcademicRunPlaylist - 1/12/26

I enjoyed spending most of the day at home with this guy, and while he kept me cozy I read some books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was "A Widening Sphere: Evolving Cultures at MIT" by Philip Alexander. This book is very much a biological chronology, describing the early lives and then presidencies of MIT's early presidents and high level administrative changes that occurred during their tenures. The failed merger with Harvard due to a Supreme Court ruling was fascinating to learn about, but otherwise it's probably more useful as a reference for those studying MIT or higher education administration rather than a book to read straight through. There are a bit of stats on enrollment, but the actual activity within the institute (research, student distribution across majors, etc.) is mostly absent https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262543996/a-widening-sphere/

Last was "The Power of the Brush: Epistolary Practices in Chosŏn Korea" by Hwisang Cho. Alphabets are a powerful technology, and as one of the best (relatively) recent examples the invention of Hangul makes for an excellent case study to examine how its introduction profoundly changes society. In this book, Cho uses fascinating data from letters to reveal how and why people chose to continue to use Chinese characters (still used officially until the 1800s), the "spiral letter" phenomenon, and more. I wish there was a bit more time spent with the invention of Hangul itself - the first chapter contains a bit but you'll have to pick up another book for more on that. Highly recommend https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295747811/the-power-of-the-brush/