#AcademicRunPlaylist - 9/7/25

It was a low key kind of weekend, so I was able to read a few books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! As a bonus activity, try to spot the osprey in my pic!

First was "You Bet Your Life" by Paul Offit. Offit introduces the origins and failures in the early development of a number of medical innovations, demonstrating how hard it can be to gauge risk of still experimental treatments. I particularly liked the chapter on anesthesia, which chronicles the fascinating history of the origin of different early anesthesia drugs and the benefits and risks of them in those early days of modern medicine. I would've liked more linkage to the contemporary understanding of bioethics, as well as juxtaposing risks from experimental treatments against doing nothing. Still, if you supplement this book with other readings on medical history it's an informative read. Highly recommend https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/paul-a-offit-md/you-bet-your-life/9781541620384/

Next was "Woman" by Lillian Faderman. This is an excellent history of the cultural norms around and legal status of women in America, starting at colonization and continuing to the present day. Faderman deftly shows the connection between different historical periods and provides probably the best accounting of the women's suffrage movement that I've ever read. She does falter at the end though - much of the analysis of the 21st century has already aged poorly. This is still an essential book for understanding the US and the arc of rights and norms. Highly recommend https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300271140/woman/

Last was "The Black Ceiling" by Kevin Woodson. Woodson combines wide-ranging qualitative research with macro sociological insights to present a revealing picture of the systemic barriers against Black advancement in US professional services firms. Time and again, he shows that while overt discrimination may not be experienced frequently, a combination of subjective performance evaluation methods, homophilic preferences, and differential personal experiences built up over a lifetime pose significant barriers to getting to true fairness in the workplace. Woodson is careful not to lay the blame solely at the feet of employers - indeed, he shows how many stakeholders will have to work across very long time horizons to dismantle the unfair barriers that have emerged over time. Highly recommend https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo206647666.html