Academic Life: Features

Rather than going into a passionate discussion about how society is systematically undermining and mocking any vestige of scholarly life that's still left, let me just point to some articles and books that show why scholarship is still a worthy vocation.

Recommended

Hitz, Z. (2020). Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life (First Edition). Princeton University Press.

Hitz, Z. (2023, September 1). What Is Time For? Plough

Thomas, K. (2010). Working Methods. London Review of Books

Delightful essay on a scholar and his notes.

Gadagkar, R. (2012). The Luxury of Introspection. In Uber das Kolleg hinaus (pp.152–157). Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Germany. PDF.

Marder, E. (2013). Grandmother elephants. eLife, 2, e01140.

On learning from the older generation of scientists. Marder is a brilliant scientist and a perceptive writer—read her work.

Mermin, N. D. (1990). Commencement address at St. John's College, Santa Fe in Boojums all the way through: Communicating science in a prosaic age. Cambridge University Press.

On how scientific methods help us to make sense of the world.