"We believe that ideas matter and as a consequence of that, all of us in the College are passionate about reading. Expressing our enthusiasm for books is a natural way to share ideas, to stimulate discussion, and to simply embrace a love of reading. In order to share widely, we, including the faculty and staff of the College, are writing a series of book reviews about favorite books. We hope you enjoy our suggestions."
For a period from 2008-2013, LAS had an arrangement with NUVO to have faculty write short, non-scholarly, “what we’re reading” book reviews. Those reviews have been preserved and are now accessible through this series.
Submissions from 2010
The Way of the World by Nicolas Bouvier, New York Review Books Classics, 2009, Tiberiu Popa
Time in Antiquity by Robert Hanah, Routledge, New York: 2009, Tiberiu Popa
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham, Persus, 2009, Paula Saffire
Stitches by David Small, Norton, 2010, Robert Stapleton
Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk, Anchor, 2008, Eloise Sureau-Hale
36 Arguments for the Existence of God by Rebecca Goldstein, Pantheon, 2010, William Watts
Submissions from 2009
Hardscrabble by Kevin McFadden, University of Georgia Press, 2008, Chris Bungard
Beer, Blood, & Cornmeal: Seven Years of Incredibly Strange Wrestling by Bob Calhoun, ECW Press, 2008, J. Rocky Colavito
Gang Leader for A Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh, New York: Penguin, 2008, J. Rocky Colavito
No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels by Jay Dobyns and Nils Johnson-Shelton, Crown, 2009, J. Rocky Colavito
Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World by Carl Hiaasen, Ballantine Books 1998, J. Rocky Colavito
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow, Pantheon Books 2008, Robert Dale
Bringing Nature Home: How you can sustain wildlife with native plants by Douglas W. Tallamy, Timber Press, 2007, Rebecca Dolan
Ireland, Irishmen, and Revolutionary America a review by David Noel Doyle, Mercier Press, Dublin and Cork, 1981, George W. Geib
Major and Mrs. Holt's Concise Guide to the Western Front -North (vol one), South (vol two) by Major Holt, Pen & Sword 2004, 2006, George W. Geib
An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe,Tor Books, 2008, R. Brian Giesler
A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carré, Scribner, 2008, Ulf Goebel
Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru by Kathryn Burns, Duke University Press, 1999, Jim Keating
Manhunt: the 12-day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L Swanson, Harper Perennial, 2007, Richard McGowan
The Science Fiction Handbook by M. Keith Booker and Anne-Marie Thomas, Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, James McGrath
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, Algonquin Books, 2009, Judi Morrel
Swan Peak by James Lee Burke, Simon & Schuster, 2008, Judi Morrel
The Fire by Katherine Neville, Ballantine Books, 2008, Judi Morrel
The Innocent Man by John Grisham, Dell 2007, Judi Morrel
The Likeness by Tana French, Penguin (Non-Classics), 2009, Judi Morrel
The Lost Spy: An American in Stalin's Secret Service by Andrew Meier, Norton, 2008, Jon Porter
The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst, Random House, 2008, Jon Porter
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Free Press, 2008, Ania Spyra
Still Alice by Lisa Genova, Pocket, 2009, Eloise Sureau-Hale
This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust, Knopf (Vintage, reprint edition 2009), Susan Sutherlin
Ulysses and Us: The Art of Everyday Life in Joyce's Masterpiece by Declan Kiberd, W. W. Norton & Company, 2009, Susan Sutherlin
The Chickenhawk Syndrome: War, Sacrifice, and Personal Responsibility by Cheyney Ryan, Rowman & Littlefield, 2009, Harry van der Linden
Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne, Viking, 2009, William Watts
The Ripest Moments: A Southern Indiana Childhood by Norbert Krapf, Indiana Historical Society Press, 2008, Fred Yaniga
Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion edited by Ronald L. Numbers, Harvard University Press 2009, Michael Zimmerman
Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species by Sean B. Carroll, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2009, Michael Zimmerman
The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself by Hannah Holmes, Random House 2009, Michael Zimmerman
Submissions from 2008
On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt, Princeton University Press, 2005, J. Rocky Colavito
Shock Festival by Stephen Romano, Idea and Design Works, 2008, J. Rocky Colavito
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, Ecco Press 2008, Lacey Echols
Freeport's Lincoln by Wilbur T. Rawleigh (1930) reprinted by Freeport Lincoln-Douglas Society, 1988, George W. Geib
The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria, Norton, 2008, David S. Mason
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson, Alfred E. Knopf 2004, Richard McGowan
Down River by John Hart - Reviewed by Judi Morrel, Judi Morrel
The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Grube, HarperCollins 2007, Judi Morrel
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, Random House, 2008, Judi Morrel
The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine, HarperCollins 2003, Jonathan Sorenson
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer - Doubleday, 2008, William Watts
Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea by Christine Garwood , Thomas Dunne Books 2008, Michael Zimmerman
Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul by Ken Miller, Viking, 2008, Michael Zimmerman
Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne, Viking, 2009, Michael Zimmerman