I made it to Riyadh! I'm looking forward to teaching another round of exec ed with Abdullah Almaatouq, and on the long trip over I listened to talks and books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an engaging panel on the still unfinished abolition of bonded labor in India at the Boston Study Group with Padma Shri, Shantha Sinha, Kaki Madhavarao, Chandrudu Gandham, Chinnaiah Jangam, Neelaiah Jyothi https://www.youtube.com/live/SK2rvVhPGM8?si=ii3YEpxtL_Wp-dV2

Next was “Island Tinkerers” by Honghong Tinn. This is an individual-focused chronology that charts the rise of Taiwan's semiconductor industry, showing the importance of education and direct experience with technology as one of the driving forces of development. In addition, the contingent geopolitical considerations that contributed to the rise of the semiconductor industry is nicely explored here. I do wish there was more detail on front line workers, as well as more macro data to supplement the interesting case studies https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262380263/island-tinkerers/

Last was “The Oxford Handbook of Kant,” edited by Anil Gomes and Andrew Stephenson. This gigantic collection of essays is a triumph, providing deep insight into Kant's writings by analyzing his work on pretty much every topic you can think of. The opening section, which broadly focuses on the philosophy of cognition, analyzes Kant's arguably strongest topic, while most of the other sections demonstrate the issue of coming to conclusions through theorizing what are fundamentally empirical questions. The chapter on Kant's views on sex and gender (Carol Hay) is instructive as to the fragility of his approach when viewed from different starting assumptions, but the chapter on race (Lea Ypi) was fascinating in its complexity - moving from overt racism clearly spurred by the latest scientific hotness (germ theory in this case) to views getting much closer to modern society. This book requires pretty significant attention to internalize, and is indispensable to refer back to when reading anything by or on Kant. Highly recommend https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/58802