Islam and the Arab Awakening by Tariq Ramadan

April 23, 2013 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Oxford University Press, 2012. 245 pgs. Purchased. Note: This review is adapted from a paper I wrote for class on the book. It is more academic than my reviews normally are. Ramadan’s book attempts to provide context to the so-called “Arab Spring”, a series of popular uprisings that spread from Tunisia and Egypt to Syria and Libya without warning.  He offers the revolutions up as “awakenings” of public uprisings, but strongly councils against the binary between secularism […]

Categories: 2013 Reads, Middle East, Nonfiction, Religion, Textbook • Tags: Tariq Ramadan

Rethinking Religion and World Affairs edited by Timothy Samuel Shah, Alfred Stepan, and Monica Duffy Toft

April 20, 2013 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Oxford University Press, 2012. 319 pgs. Purchased. The essays in this volume question the decision by those who study international relations to ignore religion as a factor in the behavior and actions of states (and some non-states). The book begins by revisiting “secularization theory”, which proclaims religion becomes less and less of a public factor as a result modernization, before delving into the connection (or lack thereof) between religion, democracy, and human rights and the role of […]

Categories: 2013 Reads, Nonfiction, Religion, Textbook • Tags: Alfred Stepan, Monica Duffy Toft, Timothy Samuel Shah

Fundamentals of Satellite Remote Sensing by Emilio Chuvieco and Alfredo Huete

November 20, 2012 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. CRC Press, 2009. 436 pgs. Purchased. This textbook is one of only two books I’ve read in over a month, and I can’t even really claim that because I read the first half of the book back in September. Thus is the nature of a reading slump, I suppose. Anyways, Chuvieco and Huete offer an extensive review of remote sensing principles — from physical principles to data acquisition systems and on to visual and digital interpretation techniques. […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Cartography, Nonfiction, Textbook • Tags: Alfredo Huete, Emilio Chuvieco

Sunday Salon: Fall Textbooks (Updated)

September 30, 2012 by Christina

Remember back at the beginning of the month when I shared my textbooks for this semester? Yeah. I ended up dropping one of the classes thus changing my assigned reading. Less gender, more economics. Rather than reiterate what I already shared, I thought I would highlight only those books that I missed last time. It’s a much smaller list this time around! Economic Analysis for Ecosystem-Based Management (Daniel S. Holland, James N. Sanchirico, Robert J. Johnston, and Deepak Joglekar) — […]

Categories: Sunday Salon, Textbook

Sunday Salon: Fall Textbooks

September 2, 2012 by Christina

It’s that time of year again where I share the books that have been assigned to me for my classes this semester. If the pile looks small, it’s because I’m reaching the end of my time as an undergraduate student and my classes are either incredibly theoretical or self-directed. In other words, I’m responsible for coming up with my own book lists like I’m doing with the Honors Project. I am also still missing three books — one has yet […]

Categories: Sunday Salon, Textbook

35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say by Maura Cullen

August 23, 2012 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Experts Academy Press, 2011. Originally published 2008. 141 pgs. Gift. Subtitled “Surprising Things We Say That Widen the Diversity Gap”, Cullen’s book introduces readers to particularly harmful comments that have a negative impact despite their (mostly) positive intent. Comments that you’ve properly heard in everyday conversation; comments like “some of my best friends are (Black, White, Asian, etc)” or “I don’t see color” that are intended to put someone at ease but actually have the opposite impact. I’ve […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Nonfiction, Textbook • Tags: Maura Cullen

America the Vulnerable by Joel Brenner

April 26, 2012 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Penguin, 2011. 308 pgs. Purchased. Subtitled “Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare”, Brenner uses his extensive background in and knowledge about national security to explain America’s next great battleground: digital security. Incidents like WikiLeaks posting secret U.S. State Department cables is only the tip of this massive, transparent iceberg that threatens to sink the United States. Counterfeit computer chips have found their way into our fighter aircraft; the Chinese stole a new […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Asia, China, North America, Textbook, United States • Tags: Joel Brenner

Merchants of Madness by Bertil Lintner and Michael Black

April 7, 2012 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Silkworm Books, 2009. 180 pgs. Purchased. Subtitled “The Methamphetamine Explosion in the Golden Triangle”. Merchants of Madness provides a convoluted examination of the methamphetamine trade in the “Golden Triangle”, the intersection of the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Burma (also known as Myanmar). The authors argue the root causes of the drug trade are ethnic conflict and prolonged, stifling military rule in Burma mean drugs will continue to circulate throughout the Golden Triangle and the rest of […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Asia, China, Nonfiction, Textbook, Thailand • Tags: Bertil Lintner, Michael Black

Blood on the Stone by Ian Smilie

March 30, 2012 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Anthem Press, 2010. 252 pgs. Purchased. Subtitled “Greed, Corruption, and War in the Global Diamond Trade”, Smilie’s book was assigned for my trafficking class’ unit on conflict minerals. The book details a dangerous pipeline leading from war-torn Africa to the glittering showrooms of Paris, London and New York. It describes the campaign that forced an industry and more than 50 governments to create a global control mechanism, and it provides a sobering prognosis on the impact and […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Africa, Genocide, Nonfiction, Textbook • Tags: Ian Smilie

Sunday Salon: Spring Textbooks

March 4, 2012 by Christina

Halfway through the semester and I’m just now getting around to sharing my textbooks for the semester. Told you it’s been a busy semester. Two of my classes for the semester have textbooks; two of my classes for the semester do not. I started out the semester in an additional class that required three more textbooks, but I ended up dropping the class back in February. Global Human Smuggling (David Kyle and Rey Koslowski) – I read this book over […]

Categories: Sunday Salon, Textbook

Global Outlaws by Carolyn Nordstrom

February 20, 2012 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. University of California Press, 2007. 235 pgs. Purchased. Nordstrom’s book was the second I read for my class on illicit commodities/trafficking, but it has the distinction of being the one that excited me about the class. Subtitled “Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World”, this book recounts Nordstrom’s travels through Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States following the illegal trade in goods from cigarettes to food to blood diamonds to arms to pharmaceuticals to people. In […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Africa, Economics, Nonfiction, Textbook • Tags: Carolyn Nordstrom

Kitchen Literacy by Ann Vileisis

December 15, 2011 by Christina

Nonfiction — eBook. Island Press, 2008. 332 pgs. Purchased. Subtitled “How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From and Why We Need to Get It Back”, Vileisis’ book was assigned for a class on the economics of food I took last semester. I finished the first few chapters of the book but other classes and projects overwhelmed me and I set the book aside. It’s one of the few textbooks I have not finished by the deadline and, in […]

Categories: 2011 Reads, Food, Nonfiction, North America, Textbook, United States • Tags: Ann Vileisis