Agnes Scott College, McCain Library

Reading Habits: Gundolf Graml

December 8, 2011 at 1:00 am (Reading Habits)

Gundolf Graml, Assistant Professor of German and Director of German Studies, could woo anyone into the field of German Studies.  He is known for teaching engaging courses on film and literature.  Intriguing course themes include: German detective novels; history, culture and literature of Afro-Germans; and images of the non-human from the 19th to the 21st century.  As the department chair, his top two reading picks for the holidays are highlighted in this week’s edition of The Profile.  His responses to our reading habits questionnaire, however, provide greater insight into his recommendations.

Do you enjoy reading?  How would you describe yourself as a reader?

I very much enjoy reading. It’s one of the great privileges of being a college professor. In addition to reading the books I need to read for research and teaching, I always try to read books that, at least on the surface, have nothing to do with my work. Very often, the different types of texts begin to “talk” to each other in my hand, and I develop ideas that I would not have come across otherwise.

What kind of books do you read for pleasure/entertainment?

Books on cultural history are currently high on the list, both in German and in English.

Have you read anything recently that you would recommend?  Who do you think would like it?

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild — A hybrid of history and very informed and serious journalism, this book tells the story of World War I from a British perspective. What I found fascinating, was the way in which Hochschild combined the history of women’s emancipation in the UK with the British establishment’s conduct of the war. He shows how, for the longest time, the British government thought that the “suffragettes,” British women fighting for the universal right to vote, were a greater threat then the German armies. Since I have read about World War I mostly from the perspective of German historiography, I very much appreciated Hochschild’s descriptions of the brutal conditions in the trenches, which were practically the same for any soldier, regardless of national affiliation, and his attempt to depict the outdated mindset of generals on all sides, who thought it to be a sign of greatest gallantry when their infantry soldiers were walking upright into relentless machine gun fire. Not a pleasant read for the break, perhaps, but an informative and educational one.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson — Of the same genre as Hochschild’s book, Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts describes the experiences of the American ambassador and his family in Berlin during the time the National Socialists took power in 1933. What in hindsight is often looked at as a story of absolute evil versus absolute good, appears way more complicated in this book. Larson details how the American ambassador’s attempts to bring the increasing persecution of German Jews to the attention of the US State Department were largely ignored due to the State Departments own antisemitic stance. Any reader interested in German history of that time will find lots of new angles on historical events.

Do you have any memorable stories about reading that you can share?  For instance, was there a book that changed the way you read or did you struggle with reading as a child.

I loved reading from the very beginning. As a child, I thought that one has to read really thick books to be considered a good reader, so I snatched my parents’ edition of the Germanic legends (the Nibelungensong) from their bookshelves and devoured it. I didn’t really understand what it was about, there were a lot of gods killing each other, and dragonslaying heroes. But I made it through the book and was very proud of myself. When I told my elementary teacher, she ordered my parents in for a conference, because she deemed the book to be too violent for a seven-year old.

Where do you get your books from?  Bookstore, public library, Agnes Scott Library, download to an eReader, etc.

I try to purchase at independent bookstores. Growing up in Austria, I’ve spent many hours hanging out in bookstores browsing and reading. But I’m as guilty as anyone else for ordering from Amazon or through my iPad Kindle App. As much as I enjoy the portability of electronic texts, I can’t imagine a world with electronic books only. There is this unique experience of walking up to my bookshelves, knowing that somewhere in the upper-left shelves was this book that inspired some great ideas last year, and I would like to pick it up again. That spatial sensation does not exist on the iPad. How and if that will influence the reading habits of younger generations I don’t know, but I know that it is definitely part of my reading life.

Additional thoughts? Comments on how your reading habits connect to your classes or work with students?

I love to experiment with different technologies in the classroom, I teach film, and always try to address different senses when teaching my students. Underlying all of this, however, is the belief that the prolonged and sustained engagement with a longer text, a book, is essential for developing critical thinking. I try to encourage students to turn off electronic devices when they read and just focus on the text.

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Reading Habits: Cathy Scott

November 28, 2011 at 12:49 pm (Reading Habits)

Cathy Scott, Professor of Political Science, is an incredibly witty individual who always seems amused by the world around her. She has a great library of books in her office that are primarily focused on political theory and is the author of a book titled Gender and Development: Rethinking Modernization and Dependency Theory (Women & Change in the Developing World).  Her more recent work addresses the role of U.S. foreign policy and the construction of terrorism after 9/11. She also examines media depictions of the Iran hostage crisis of the late 70s/early 80s.  With weighty topics like these consuming her mind we suspected that she may enjoy escaping into the world of fiction occasionally.   Here is how Cathy Scott responded to our Reading Habits questionnaire:

Do you enjoy reading?  How would you describe yourself as a reader?

I love to read. I think of myself as a someone who finds intellectual excitement and challenge through reading. Reading also tends to calm me down.

What kind of books do you read for pleasure/entertainment?

I am pretty eclectic in my tastes. I tend toward mysteries and new/young writers who have made a splash, or more mature ones who have written something that gets rave reviews. I tend to rely on the NYT bestseller list, the New York Times Book Review, The Nation, The New Yorker, and The New Republic to help me decide on what to read.

Have you read anything recently that you would recommend?  Who do you think would like it?

The first two books in the Stieg Larsson (“Girl Who…”) trilogy were great.  Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross is crazy fun.  I am just getting around to Anne Patchett. I read Bel Canto this summer and found it interesting.

Do you have any memorable stories about reading that you can share?  For instance, was there a book that changed the way you read or did you struggle with reading as a child.

I used to read Dr. Suess books aloud and one of them was about bees buzzing. I buzzed so much that my parents had to ask me to stop. I remember being puzzled about why they would find 150 recitations of a Dr. Suess book annoying.

Where do you get your books from?  Bookstore, public library, Agnes Scott Library, download to an eReader, etc.

Some from the public library; online orders from Barnes and Noble; friends pass books along to me.

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Reading Habits: Christopher De Pree

November 17, 2011 at 9:42 am (Reading Habits)

Christopher De Pree, Professor of Astronomy, is passionate about his field of study and works hard to engage his students into the world of science.   He is the author of several scholarly works, but also enjoys writing for non-scientists.  If you want to gain a basic understanding of astronomy to enrich your viewing of the Leonid meteor shower tonight, you may want to check out one of his publications from McCain Library: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Astronomy (eBook | Print) and Recent Advances and Issues in Astronomy.  He also is the editor of Van Nostrand’s Concise Encyclopedia of Science, which is a shortened version of a classic science reference text.

Since we are profiling FYS instructors this semester, we sent him our reading habits questionnaire. Despite his many responsibilities, he was one of the first to reply.

Do you enjoy reading?  How would you describe yourself as a reader?

Yes. I am a regular reader, and read whenever I have the time. Often during the semester, I am reading for courses I am teaching so don’t have time for much other reading.

What kind of books do you read for pleasure/entertainment?

I enjoy science fiction, and historical fiction.

Have you read anything recently that you would recommend?  Who do you think would like it?

I have read a couple of interesting science fiction novels recently, both by Robert Sawyer: Rollback and Calculating God. I am teaching Calculating God as part of my First Year Seminar. I also love the book In Ruins by Christopher Woodward. This last book is a non-fiction book, and a reflection on our fascination with ruins.

Do you have any memorable stories about reading that you can share?  For instance, was there a book that changed the way you read or did you struggle with reading as a child.

In high school, I was a big Kurt Vonnegut fan, and read pretty much everything that he wrote. In graduate school, I had a chance to see him speak at UNC Chapel Hill. Then as a faculty member here at ASC, I had the chance of a lifetime, which was that I got to speak with him for a few minutes, one on one, as we waited to walk in for graduation the year he was a speaker. He was standing alone, and I walked up and introduced myself. That was a thrill.

Where do you get your books from?  Bookstore, public library, Agnes Scott Library, download to an eReader, etc.

I mostly get the books I read from the bookstore, or from the ASC library. I still like reading a paper book, and am not completely comfortable with an eReader (which I do not have – other than an iPad).

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