#AcademicRunPlaylist - 8/19/25

Author

Ben Waber
August 19, 2025

A selfie of me in front of a blue statue of a stag that looks like a pixelated 3D model. It's standing in the middle of some low-lying plants, with paved pedestrian streets and a few medium-sized buildings beyond, lit slightly orange in the late afternoon light. I'm a bald, middle-aged, white man with a red beard flecked with white. I'm wearing black sunglasses and a blue collared shirt.

I was mostly able to take it easy today, and while getting out a bit later in the day I was able to listen to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an interesting discussion with Joël Praz on global intellectual property law from 1880-1950 at the Hagley Museum and Library https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbRXfr2jGfU

Next was a thought-provoking conversation with Melinda Roth on the legal landscape around political and sports prediction markets on the Business Scholarship Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smz86zfkcoM

Next was "Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution" by Cat Bohannon. I can forgive a book for having a more popular orientation if it at least gets the facts right - this one often doesn't (the less said about the brain chapter, the better, but egregious errors also are rife in the chapters on voice and menstruation). The overly popular tone of the book was also grating - rather than call species by their names, Bohannon refers to them as a single individual with a nickname. You're better off going nearly anywhere else for your human biology information https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227568/eve-by-cat-bohannon/

Last was "A Concise History of Modern India" by Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf. The most recent version of this book goes a bit past 2010 and provides a rich history of India over the past ~300 years, focusing mostly on the colonial and post-colonial period. The Metcalfs provide deep insight into how different players interacted in the subcontinent, and importantly how the colonial period warped and significantly exacerbated religious and caste divisions. I also appreciated the post-colonial chapters, especially the sections detailing the rise of the BJP. I would love an expanded edition (probably abandoning the "concise" in the title) that would add a bit more international and regional context. Highly recommend https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/concise-history-of-modern-india/F29ED2AB84A8F259BBBAB2F8AFF4F38B