Editors’ Picks: October 2024 Edition

10 reviews handpicked from the latest issue of Choice.

Posted on October 10, 2024 in Editors' Picks

An interesting and fairly easy book to read, this could potentially be a kind of advanced introduction to philosophy, as there are many basic theories referenced.

—P. Jenkins, Marywood University

Baggini, Julian. How to think like a philosopher: twelve key principles for more humane, balanced, and rational thinking. Chicago, 2023. 336p bibl ISBN 9780226826646, $24.00; ISBN 9780226826653 ebook, $23.99.

In How to Think Like a Philosopher, journalist and philosopher Julian Baggini writes that, in every time period, people tend to believe that irrationality is the worst it has ever been. Today, with so many people buying into conspiracy theories and bad critical thinking, perhaps never before has irrationality been so widespread in the US and beyond. On the other hand, the author argues that the current period may be the best one in which to think critically, with such tools as the internet, advanced scientific discoveries, and a lack of state control of materials, among others, available to us. In this book, Baggini interviews and discusses the opinions of many famous philosophers on how they work and derives various attitudes, virtues, and habits of professional philosophers to impart skills that might help non-philosophers think better about the world in which they live. Each chapter title is a phrase that points to a good habit or practice: e.g., “Pay Attention,” “Question Everything (Including Your Questions),” “Watch Your Steps.” An interesting and fairly easy book to read, this could potentially be a kind of advanced introduction to philosophy, as there are many basic theories referenced. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through advanced undergraduates. —P. Jenkins, Marywood University

Examinations of corporate discourses and licensing agreements show how streaming platforms simultaneously position music as a democratized utility and expand the monopolistic power of IP holders.

—C. Barker, Bradley University

Drott, Eric. Streaming music, streaming capital. Duke, 2024. 360p bibl index ISBN 9781478020998, $109.95; ISBN 9781478020998 pbk, $29.95; ISBN 9781478027874 ebook, contact publisher for price.

Drawing on an extensive mix of promotional materials, media coverage, leaked contracts, patents, API data, platform observations, and interviews with industry contacts, streaming users, and data analysts, Drott (Univ. of Texas) offers the definitive analysis of the streaming music ecosystem. Chapters meticulously underline how music’s shift from a tangible good to part of a streaming service supports interlocked ideological, technological, and economic functions. Drott sharply explains how streaming platforms attract and “assetize” consumer attention, moods, and actions into privileged data sold to third parties beyond music and advertising, like insurance and credit assessments. Examinations of corporate discourses and licensing agreements show how streaming platforms simultaneously position music as a democratized utility and expand the monopolistic power of IP holders. Most compellingly, the book spotlights the gray market efforts to exploit the data-driven infrastructures of streaming platforms. Included among these efforts are those by musicians (covering popular songs to capture streams from clunky search results and purchasing listens via global gig workers) as well as platforms (paying musicians to create tracks for mood-based playlists under pseudonyms), thereby illustrating the ultimately uneasy status of the technology and companies that allegedly saved music. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. —C. Barker, Bradley University

He illustrates the problems humans have unleashed on these ecosystems and discusses many potential solutions to them.

—J. Cummings, Washington State University

Duncan, R. Scot. Southern rivers: restoring America’s freshwater biodiversity. Alabama, 2024. 508p bibl index ISBN 9780817321826, $120.00; ISBN 9780817361280 pbk, $34.95; ISBN 9780817394844 ebook, contact publisher for price.

R. Scot Duncan is an emeritus professor from Birmingham-Southern College and executive director of the Alabama Audubon Society. This is his second book about the environment in the South Eastern United States. Duncan intertwines history, family narratives, and science of life to examine the extraordinary rivers of the US South. He illustrates the problems humans have unleashed on these ecosystems and discusses many potential solutions to them. Duncan provides a brief but excellent list of further reading in this topic area, in addition to a bibliography and endnotes and a run-in style index. The book features high-resolution color photographs and several maps. Southern Rivers is a very accessible book written with an obvious devotion to these rivers, resulting in a work that is of interest to almost anyone, and is especially suitable for readers interested in a textbook type treatment. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. —J. Cummings, Washington State University

This book provides essential background for students and practitioners of political campaigning.

—T. Marchant-Shapiro, Southern Connecticut State University

Green, Donald P. Get out the vote: how to increase voter turnout, by Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber. 5th ed. Brookings Institution Press, 2023. 246p bibl index ISBN 9780815740629, $90.00; ISBN 9780815736936 pbk, $29.95; ISBN 9780815736943 ebook, contact publisher for price.

Green and Gerber (both, Yale Univ.) are pioneers in the use of experimental design to investigate voter turnout. When the first edition of Get Out the Vote came out 20 years ago, it stood alone in the field of political campaigning for both focusing on get out the vote (GOTV) and basing its recommendations on scientific evidence. The fifth edition incorporates the breadth of similar research that has been conducted in the intervening years. In particular, it includes new ways organizers use technology and new findings on relational organizing. Previously, campaigns relied heavily on generic mailings and prerecorded phone messages to increase turnout; however, the evidence indicates mass appeals are ineffective. Rather, a personal interaction with an acquaintance is much more likely to prompt voters to go to the polls. The book carefully lays out the research leading to that conclusion, and in the process it illustrates how experiments can be conducted in the field to verify the effectiveness of new GOTV techniques. This book provides essential background for students and practitioners of political campaigning. Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty; professionals. —T. Marchant-Shapiro, Southern Connecticut State University

While other scholars have covered this subject, this book is a valuable contribution to the literature, both because the authors treat the entire breadth of the court’s free speech opinions (rather than cherry-pick cases to advance their point) and because their analysis stretches to the current Roberts Court.

—S. B. Lichtman, Shippensburg University

Kasper, Eric T. The Supreme Court and the philosopher: how John Stuart Mill shaped US free speech protections, by Eric T. Kasper and Troy A. Kozma. Northern Illinois, 2024. 288p bibl index ISBN 9781501774515, $44.95; ISBN 9781501774522 ebook, contact publisher for price.

An interesting dynamic of the US Constitution is that a book written nearly 70 years after its ratification has been a defining influence on it. Indeed, it is impossible to fully understand the Supreme Court’s work on the First Amendment without an understanding of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1859), and this thorough volume tracks the emergence and evolution of Mill’s sway on the court’s free speech jurisprudence. As the authors demonstrate, this was not a linear process. Once the court started to pay close attention to the free speech clause in the 1930s, cohorts of justices began to operationalize Millian principles either overtly or subconsciously. However, this nascent embrace of Mill often collided with judicial deference to governmental attempts to suppress pro-Communist expression; it was not until the 1960s that Millian philosophy became the dominant force undergirding the court’s understanding of free expression. While other scholars have covered this subject, this book is a valuable contribution to the literature, both because the authors treat the entire breadth of the court’s free speech opinions (rather than cherry-pick cases to advance their point) and because their analysis stretches to the current Roberts Court. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. —S. B. Lichtman, Shippensburg University

This book contains information that would be useful for anyone in a library leadership role, whether it is an interim role, filling in for an absent leader, or an appointment to a permanent leadership position within a library organization.

—J. D. Whifill, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Managing health sciences libraries in a time of change, ed. by Claire B. Joseph and Priscilla L. Stephenson. Rowman & Littlefield, 2024. 128p bibl index ISBN 9781538170083, $115.00; ISBN 9781538170090 pbk, $49.00; ISBN 9781538170106 ebook, $46.50.

It is well known that the way an organization is led and managed affects its culture, the productivity and effectiveness of its employees, and its success as an institution. Health care is not exempt from this fact, nor are health science libraries. This well-written text packs a large amount of information into a slim volume and, in the process, gives a good glimpse into what a well-run, successful health sciences library is and does. The ten chapters cover the essential topics a new or current manager needs to know to stay current in the role. Of special note is chapter 2, which discusses the current trends facing medical libraries today, especially the trend toward digital and virtual operation and away from print and in-person, and the loss of accreditation requirements for a medical library. Other chapters cover leadership skills, personnel issues, and accreditation and evaluation of the library itself. This book contains information that would be useful for anyone in a library leadership role, whether it is an interim role, filling in for an absent leader, or an appointment to a permanent leadership position within a library organization. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, two-year technical program students, and professionals. —J. D. Whifill, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

It is difficult to understand, much less explain, the massive scope of the OED, but this book succeeds splendidly because of the clear writing style and the easy-to-follow presentation of how numerous contributors created a reference book that has become essential for learning about the history of English.

—R. Shapiro, City University of New York

Ogilvie, Sarah. Dictionary people: the unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary. Knopf, 2023. 384p bibl index ISBN 9780593536407, $30.00; ISBN 9780593536414 ebook, contact publisher for price.

Dictionary People is a highly readable account of the many unfamiliar people who created the original and most important dictionary of the English language to date, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Writing in both alphabetical and thematic chapters, Ogilvie (Oxford Univ., England) presents the stories of the “unsung heroes” of the dictionary as a restorative project for forgotten authors and as a way to flesh out the compendious undertaking of the OED. This work shows how the OED was a crowdsourced endeavor, in which individuals chased words to their origins and applied their webs of knowledge to connect information. It is difficult to understand, much less explain, the massive scope of the OED, but this book succeeds splendidly because of the clear writing style and the easy-to-follow presentation of how numerous contributors created a reference book that has become essential for learning about the history of English. Additional editorial matter, such as a topical index, a longer section on further reading, and notes, would have made this work more helpful, but this volume is a brilliant and welcome addition to the canon of books about the OED. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. —R. Shapiro, City University of New York

Seelow’s first-person, conversational style, his reflections on personal experiences with games and teaching, and his commentary on culture and politics support his overall message about the power, flexibility, and significance of games as transformative educational opportunities.

—W. McNelis, Brookdale Community College

Seelow, David. Games as transformative experiences for critical thinking, cultural awareness, and deep learning: strategies & resources. CRC Press, 2022 (c2023). 376p bibl index ISBN 9781032062679, $170.00; ISBN 9781032062662 pbk, $62.95; ISBN 9781003201465 ebook, $69.95.

Providing numerous examples from his own teaching experience, Seelow (independent scholar) builds on the literature on games in education by positing their ability to create transformative experiences that enable and encourage learning, awareness, and critical thinking. Sections focus on the impact of games on the classroom, community, and online educational settings, and examine games as a part of interdisciplinary instruction. Chapters cover a wide range of topics, from teaching skills such as strategy, probability, teamwork, and storytelling, to applying games to coursework for raising awareness of topics such as public health, humanitarian crises, the impact of war, mental health, gender inequality, and transgender rights. Resource lists and lesson ideas after each chapter provide context and inspiration for classroom application and further academic study. Specific recommendations for how students can experience games in their coursework—played in class, in groups, or as homework—provide practical insights for lesson planning. Seelow’s first-person, conversational style, his reflections on personal experiences with games and teaching, and his commentary on culture and politics support his overall message about the power, flexibility, and significance of games as transformative educational opportunities. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; practitioners. —W. McNelis, Brookdale Community College

This book is a rich presentation of quantitative and qualitative research into local politics.

—J. D. Rausch, West Texas A&M University

Ternullo, Stephanie. How the heartland went red: why local forces matter in an age of nationalized politics. Princeton, 2024. 288p bibl index ISBN 9780691249704, $29.95; ISBN 9780691249780 ebook, contact publisher for price.

This volume is a detailed look at the political realignment that has worked its way through American party politics since the 1960s. Ternullo (Harvard Univ.) selects one anonymized city from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Indiana. She is very clear on the processes used to select the cities and her case for presenting them anonymously. The book opens with a detailed introductory chapter that outlines the research question on the politics of place. Part 1 looks at the history of party identification in the “American Heartland” and identifies the key interaction between national and local politics. Part 2 considers the present state of party identification in the three cities and outlines the importance of cultural conflicts. Part 3 looks to the future, suggesting that the polarization that the US is presently experiencing may not be sustained. This book is a rich presentation of quantitative and qualitative research into local politics. It is particularly interesting because Ternullo conducted much of the research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students of political parties and local politics will find this book enlightening. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. —J. D. Rausch, West Texas A&M University

Although the writing gives all readers greater insight into each work discussed, the book would be most appropriate for undergraduate students and general readers.

—E. M. Hansen, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

Wilson, Matthew. Art unpacked: 50 works of art: uncovered, explored, explained, with over 850 images. Thames & Hudson, 2023. 240p bibl index ISBN 9780500779606, $39.95; ISBN 9780500779606 ebook, contact publisher for price.

Wilson (independent scholar), in his last book The Hidden Language of Symbols (CH, Jul’23, 60-3102), took a novel and global approach to the study of symbols, arranged by themes. This new publication provides an equally unique study, taking the reader on a chronological journey through 50 works of art, beginning with ancient art and ending with a 2017 installation on the US–Mexico border. It includes a wide span of media: from painting, sculpture, drawings, photography, and prints to a Japanese screen and a mask from Papua New Guinea. Wilson visually dissects each work, strongly emphasizing the elements of art and formal analysis. He then continues to masterfully and concisely present the context and history of the work so that readers understand its function and purpose. Wilson makes links between artists and between Western and non-Western art. Although the writing gives all readers greater insight into each work discussed, the book would be most appropriate for undergraduate students and general readers. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates and general readers. —E. M. Hansen, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

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