The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

Category: Now Reading

Early 2024 Book Reviews

Morning all. You know the drill: twice a year I report on the books I’ve read in the past six months. Today is my summer 2024 edition. Here goes. Let’s start with the non-higher ed stuff, because let’s face it, that’s what you’re all really going to read in the summer. On the fiction side, do read Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, which won the international Booker prize last month. And if you like Francis Spufford (Golden Hill, Light Perpetual and above all, Red Plenty, the

Read More »
June 11, 2024 No Comments

The History of the Future

I spent a good chunk of the weekend catching up on reading. On the fiction side, it was Haruki Murakami’s Dance, Dance, Dance, Roberto Bolano’s By Night in Chile, both of which I found good but not great. But I also read a book I picked up from a used book stall in Winnipeg: Future Shock, by Alvin Toffler (his wife Heidi was co-author, but this is deffo not evident from the cover and the marketing). If you’re under 50

Read More »
March 19, 2024 1 Comment

Books of the Year 2023

Morning, all.  The penultimate blog each year is about books.  This year, the penultimate blog in June was also about books, so you might want to go back here to see what I had to say about the crop I went through in the first half of the year.  In today’s effort, I’ll mostly stick to what I’ve read since mid-June. (But first, if you’re interested in some non-Higher Ed reading recommendations before XMAS: Valley of the Birdtail: an Indian

Read More »
December 12, 2023 2 Comments

Mid-term Book Reviews 2023

Hi all.  You know the drill.  Every six months I tell you about the higher education books I’ve read this year so you can go to the beach armed with the best in higher education reading. But first, I hear you are interested in some non-higher-ed reading?  That sounds a bit weird to me, but I’ll oblige: My fiction pics for this last few months are The Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous, and The Stolen Bicycle by

Read More »
June 13, 2023 1 Comment

Bad Faith Arguments About the Demise of Science

You may have heard about the article “In Defense of Merit and Science” that was rejected by “several prominent mainstream journals” before eventually being published by the newish Journal of Controversial Ideas.  Well, I’ve read the paper and it’s a trash fire of a document which thoroughly deserved every single one of its rejections.  In fact, it is such a trash heap, one suspects that it was submitted to these journals in full knowledge it would be rejected so that the

Read More »
May 17, 2023 No Comments

One Thought to Start Your Day

One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

Subscribe

Search Posts

Search Publications

Social Media

Linkedin Youtube Spotify

Recent Posts

More thoughts on...