#AcademicRunPlaylist - 1/3/26

We're certainly off to some kind of start in 2026, but at least I kicked it off with some great books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was "Brainscapes" by Rebecca Schwarzlose. While science books written for general audiences will necessarily be simplified, this book takes that to the extreme. For teenage readers I actually think this would be a great book, but most of the book treats the reader as unsophisticated and unable to reason. This improves later in the book, but for those with some knowledge of neuroscience the oversimplification here is grating and the gaps between those simplifications and the scientific consensus are barely explained. For books on the senses (which is what this book is mostly concerned with) "Where We Meet the World" by Ashley Ward is much better. The less said about the AI and technology sections the better. There is still some good scientific explanations buried in the middle of this book, but it can't overcome the flaws of the rest of the volume. https://bookshop.org/p/books/brainscapes-the-warped-wondrous-maps-written-in-your-brain-and-how-they-guide-you-rebecca-schwarzlose/5b3d4521d5f66f10

Next was "Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age" by Ann Blair. We've come to accept certain kinds of information organization as normal - whether that's the Dewey Decimal System, alphabetization, or Google. But for so long this simply wasn't done due to a variety of complex factors, and here Blair explores the different techniques of information management deployed throughout pre-Enlightenment Europe. There is a bit of time spent on Chinese and Islamic-world organizational methods, but that's not where Blair centers her attention. I would've liked more time spent on why particular methods were used (I found alphabetization by final letter in Islamic indices since it facilitating rhyming fascinating, as well as the fact that textual citations were eschewed in renaissance texts since it was viewed as treating the reader like an idiot for not knowing the source themselves). Highly recommend https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300165395/too-much-to-know/

Last was "Wobblies on the Waterfront" by Peter Cole. There are far too few academic books on the IWW ("wobblies"), and Cole rectifies this in thrilling fashion. Using the wobblies in Philadelphia as a lens into the broader movement, this book shows how the IWW differed from other unions and associations of the time by actively seeking solidarity across racial (although notably not gender) boundaries, to the extent of having representative leadership. Cole shows how this solidarity initially led to big wins, while their loose association with Communism and later infighting with the movement ultimately caused their dissolution. Highly recommend https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p079283