I have finished the UCLA course History 182G - Secular Jewish Culture by David Myers and I want to recommend anybody who is interested in the subjects of Secularism and Judaism (whether in conjunction or not) to follow and pay close attention. Even considering how many faced both subjects are (also in conjunction) and the course touching about as many as one can imagine, there is a phenomenal coherent question studied with remarkable clarity and occasional findings. (feed)
As I wrote in my previous review, I was expecting Myers was to kick off with Spinoza, but surprised with preliminary treatment of Philo and Maimonides. When finally coming around to the place and time of Spinoza the central consideration comes up: He was the first to drop out of Judaism, without conversion. This made him a first secular as it were, but then we see that Jewish identity somehow remains. Noteworthy is also the story of Spinoza's fellow in place and time Uriel da Costa - go listen. What comes next are the 19th century struggles with the 'Jewish question'. With . Eventually Myers makes his rounds to Marx, Freud and Kafka, but I'd like to highlight Israel Jacobson.
Jacobson was a German Jew who founded reformed Judaism and one has to appreciate his inventiveness in world pulling towards conversion, citizenship, aliyah, haskala and Zionism. He allowed his followers to be Jewish and modern and German and citizens at the same time - such successful integration in German society. It triggers, however, also a very skeptic reaction. One is uttered also by Myers: some argued Jacobson made a Judaism that smacked of protestant Christian churches (a feeling I can relate to recalling my visit to several reformed services in Israel). Another was the ex post facto realization that this wonderful integration was incapable to shield its communities during the holocaust. Which brings us back to one central essence we find as off Spinoza: dropped out of Judaism, but somehow the (cultural) tie remains.
Omega Tau Podcast Viruses, Bacteria and other Parasites
In this episode we talk to fellow podcasters Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier about viruses, bacteria and other parasites. Among other topics we discuss what each kind of parasite is made of an how they interact with the human organism (in good and bad ways).
(review, feed)
La Resistance Herding Lions II - The Man Behind the Masks
In this episode, we recall Max Jacob fondly, Andre Malroux infrequently, Marcel Bernard thankfully, and Henri Frenay as little as possible. Most importantly, we get behind the hagiography to balance the usual (albeit accurate) story of heroic dying with a tale of courageous living.
(review, feed)
Veertien Achttien Wilhelm van Pruisen en de hoefijzers van Wieringen
'De slachter van Verdun'. 'Little Willy'. Het imago van de Duitse kroonprins was niet best. Toch kon Wilhelm van Pruisen enige realiteitszin niet ontzegd worden.
(review, feed)
Indicast Podcast Network Can India be Pro-oogle?
Google has been named as the best company to work for on this planet... Free food, massage, unlimited sick leaves, and that's only a start...Can India inculcate a google like culture in one of its companies? Aditya thinks the Indian mobile market is over hyped and well, I think otherwise! Our Podcast turns out to be a mini debate between the two of us and we decided to release it as it is!
(review, feed)
While I appeared at the SFF Audio Podcast, it became clear to me that, for one, my blog is the entry point to find new podcasts. (I Assume that Jesse and Scott are not the only followers of this blog and they indicated exactly this). Secondly, since that is the case, and therefore my task is to explore new podcasts, the immediate task at hand, as also became clear during the discussion, is to give a guide to the podcast collection of the New Books Network.
"This is a goldmine," Scott exclaimed, and as much as this might be the case, not all of the 80 something podcasts listed there are full blown content providers. Of course there is the flag ship of the network New Books in History which has been in existence for about 3 years, has produced over a hundred excellent interviews with authors and whose producer, Marshall Poe, is in fact the founder of the New Books Network (NBN).
So the real question is: what about the rest. And the answer is: that varies, one should really check them one by one. And this is what I have done. I am now subscribed to ALL the NBN podcasts and from now, all New Books podcasts can be implied in my reviews and listening ideas for each day. I have also made a summary below of what is already in there. Which varies from podcasts with over 20 issues, to feeds that are empty.
So take a look below. In stead of ordering the podcasts alphabetically, as is done on NBN's website, or order them by type - which would be nice - but rather order them by amount of content inside. As much as this is a good measure of the 'seriousness' of the feed, one has to take into account that many of the podcasts are cross-posted within the network. Mostly this means a reissue from New Books in History. Still, this helps to filter out according to the theme. However, in a way, more serious, and more likely to be frequently updated, are those feeds who have content of their own. Where this is the case, I have highlighted one of them. So here goes.
New Books In History
(feed) 100+ entries
highlight:
Christopher Krebs, “A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus’s Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich”
Being a historian is a bit of a slog: years in graduate school, more years in dusty libraries and archives, and even more years teaching ...
(review on Anne is a Man)
New Books in Military History
(feed) 43 entries, 36 cross-posted
highlight
Christopher DeRosa, “Political Indoctrination in the U.S. Army from World War II to the Vietnam War”
One of the greatest challenges American military leaders have faced since the American Revolution has been to motivate citizens to forego their own sense of ...
New Books in Russia and Eurasian Studies
(feed) 26 entries, 17 cross-posted
highlight
Daniel Treisman, “The Return: Russia’s Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev”
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, journalists, academics, and policymakers have sought to make sense of post-Soviet Russia. Is Russia an emerging or ...
New Books in African American Studies
(feed) 18 entries, 14 cross-posted
highlight:
Harvey Young, “Embodying Black Experience: Stillness, Critical Memory, and the Black Body”
With the election of Barack Obama, the first U.S. president of African descent, many people believed that America had ushered in an era of post-racial ...
New Books in Public Policy
(feed) 14 entries, 1 cross-posted
highlight:
Yuval Levin (editor), “National Affairs”
Public policy ideas make their way into the conversation in a variety of ways. Typically, New Books in Public Policy looks at how books influence the ...
(review on Anne is a Man)
New Books in Politics
(feed) 9 entries, 8 cross-posted
highlight:
Andrew Breitbart, “Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!”
Is there a liberal media elite in our country? If there is, do the New Media have the potential to displace it? According to Andrew Breitbart's Righteous ...
New Books in Sports
(feed) 9 entries
highlight:
Kurt Kemper, “College Football and American Culture in the Cold War Era”
When we think of sports and the Cold War, what typically comes to mind are steroid-fueled East German swimmers, or the Soviets' controversial basketball win ...
New Books in European Studies
(feed) 8 entries, 5 cross-posted
highlight:
Richard Hall, “The Modern Balkans: A History”
Some parts of the world seem to suffer from rather too much history. The Balkans, that mountainous peninsula situated between the Black Sea and the ...
New Books in Political Science
(feed) 7 entries, 5 cross-posted
highlight:
Gregory Koger, “Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate”
In recent months, we've been hearing a lot of talk about filibustering in the Senate, about how Senate Democrats acquired a filibuster-proof majority in the ...
New Books in Law
(feed) 6 entries, 4 cross-posted
highlight:
Brandon L. Garrett, “Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong” (Harvard UP, 2011)
Wrongful conviction is, both morally and practically
(review on Anne is a Man)
New Books in Medicine
(feed) 6 entries, 5 cross-posted
highlight:
Elizabeth Pisani, “The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS” (Norton, 2008)
When in medical school, I found myself drawn to the st
New Books in Sociology
(feed) 6 entries, 1 cross-posted
highlight:
Karen Sternheimer, “Celebrity Culture and the American Dream: Stardom and Social Mobility”
Routledge, 2010
It’s hard to dispute that today there’s a heightened fascination with celebrities and their personal lives. Who cheated on whom, who’s getting married and what celebrity checked into to rehab is the stuff of daily headlines that many of us, willingly or not, follow and know about. Moreover, the line between news and gossip often seems blurred when both the personal failings of politicians and the presidential aspirations of celebrities dominate the 24-hour news cycle.
New Books in African Studies
(feed) 5 entries, 4 cross-posted
highlight:
James Brabazon, “My Friend the Mercenary: A Memoir”
It's a routine observation that journalists never give Africa a fair shake of the dice: they're only ever there for the famines and wars. James ...
New Books in Eastern European Studies
(feed) 5 entries, 4 cross-posted
highlight:
Louis Menashe, “Moscow Believes in Tears: Russians and their Movies”
Did you see one of Eisenstein’s masterpieces "The Battleship Potemkin” and “Alexander Nevsky” in a Russian or Soviet history class? Were you captivated by ...
New Books in Middle Eastern Studies
(feed) 5 entries, 4 cross-posted
highlight:
W. Taylor Fain, “American Ascendance and British Retreat in the Persian Gulf Region” (Palgrave-McMillan, 2008)
If you ask most Americans when the U.S. became heavily
New Books in Popular Culture
(feed) 5 entries, 4 cross-posted
highlight:
Carrie Pitzulo, “Bachelors and Bunnies: The Sexual Politics of Playboy”
Playboy is having (another) moment. Since its fiftieth birthday in 2003, the brand’s relevance has risen after a period of decline. The Girls Next Door, ...
New Books in Psychoanalysis
(feed) 5 entries
highlight:
Lucy Holmes, “The Internal Triangle: New Theories of Female Development”
In this interview we revisit the complicated female oedipal constellation, as New Books in Psychoanalysis speaks with Dr. Lucy Holmes about her book The Internal ...
New Books in South Asian Studies
(feed) 5 entries, 1 cross-posted
highlight:
Robert Parthesius, “Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters: The Development of the Dutch East India Company Shipping Network in Asia 1595-1660″
Amsterdam University Press, 2010
The Dutch broke the Portuguese commercial and colonizing monopoly in the East in 1595; the seal might have been said to have been set on this triumph when they took over the port of Melaka in 1641, effectively replacing the Portuguese as the masters of maritime Asia. The famed ‘Dutch spirit of commerce’ was...
New Books in East Asian Studies
(feed) 4 entries, 2 cross-posted
highlight:
Lee Ambrozy, “Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006-2009”
Anyone who has been following the news this year has likely heard of Ai Weiwei. This provocative and gifted Chinese artist-activist has made 2011 headlines ...
New Books in Theater
(feed) 4 entries
highlight:
Peter Filichia, “Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season 1959-2009”
Speaking to long time theater critic Peter Filichia, one is reminded of listening to an old-time sportwriter talk about baseball. The Broadway he describes is ...
New Books in Buddhist Studies
(feed) 3 entries
highlight:
Lori Meeks, “Hokkeji and the Reemergence of Female Monastic Orders in Premodern Japan”
Scholars have long been fascinated by the Kamakura era (1185-1333) of Japanese history, a period that saw the emergence of many distinctively Japanese forms of ...
New Books in Food
(feed) 3 entries
highlight:
Danyelle Freeman, “Try This: Traveling the Globe without Leaving the Table”
Danyelle Freeman, better known as “Restaurant Girl” and a judge on Top Chef Masters, is single. But if you are considering asking out the petite ...
New Books in Native American Studies
(feed) 3 entries, 1 cross-posted
highlight:
Jace Weaver, “Notes from a Miner’s Canary: Essays on the State of Native America”
Essay collections are often a repository of an author's lesser works, an attempt by publishers to milk every last penny from a well-regarded scholar. This ...
New Books in Digital Culture
(feed) 2 entries
highlight:
Mark Stephen Meadows, “We, Robot: Skywalker’s Hand, Blade Runners, Iron Man, Slutbots, and How Fiction Became Fact”
If technology is the site of digital culture, then robots are the future platforms of our social projections and interactions. In fact, that future is ...
New Books in Philosophy
(feed) 2 entries
highlight:
Gerald Gaus, “The Order of Public Reason: A Theory of Freedom and Morality in a Diverse and Bound World”
If we are to have a society at all, it seems that we must recognize and abide by certain rules concerning our interactions with others. ...
New Books in Popular Music
(feed) 2 entries
highlight:
Sheree Homer, “Catch the Rockabilly Fever: Personal Stories of Life on the Road and in the Studio”
“On July 5, 1954, Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore, and Bill Black forever changed musical history,” writes Sheree Homer in Catch that Rockabilly Fever: Personal ...
Book Review A history of the papacy, life with Stieg Larsson, and more
This week, The Times's executive editor Bill Keller reviews “Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy,” by John Julius Norwich; Eva Gabrielsson talks about her life with Stieg Larsson, author of the Millenium Trilogy; Julie Bosman has notes from the field; and Jennifer Schuessler has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.
(review, feed)
Philosopher's Zone Climate change, geoengineering and the perfect moral storm
A perfect storm is an unusual convergence of independently harmful factors whose convergence is likely to result in substantial, possibly catastrophic, negative outcomes. Are we now sailing into a perfect moral storm created by the challenge of climate change? And why might it be morally questionable to try to do something about it by means of what´s known as geoengineering?
(review, feed)
The Economist The birth of South Sudan
South Sudan faces the trials of nation building. An expert on Sudan explains the expectations and challenges ahead
(review, feed)
ITV Tour de France Podcast ITV TDF Stage 7 2011
A day of agony and ecstasy for the Brits on Stage 7, lucky for Cav, not so for Brad. Matt and Chris reflect.
(review, feed)
Political and current affairs podcasts have evolved considerably both in quantity and quality over the last several years. The number of choices that are available is staggering, ranging from postings of long-standing radio shows to those from podders on their home computers. The problem now is not finding something interesting, but rather choosing from the myriad of great options. Depending on one's interest and available time during the week, a few offerings go particularly well together, all of which have stood the test of time.
The Economist posts a editor's highlights podcast midweek, which consists of professional readings of selected articles from the current issue, and is usually 45-60 min in length. In the sense that this magazine has been a current affairs standard bearer for decades, and these stories are some of the most pertinent within any given weekly issue, this podcast is near the top of the list for anyone who wants to keep up with what is going on globally. What it lacks is the conversational tone of panel or interview shows (can one now call a podcast a "show", or is that too retro?). (other Economist podcasts)
Other good options for global issues is one of the many options from the Financial Times newspaper, “Late Night Live” from ABC Radio National (Australia), and “the World Next Week” from the Council of Foreign Relations. For those who want a daily news offering, the BBC has five news shows (“newspod”, “global news,” “Newshour,” and “the World Tonight,” “BBC World Update; Daily Commute”), which update a different times, and not always promptly. Newshour and Daily Commute are updated every day of the week, the others only Monday through Friday. Deutsche Welle has two good news podcasts: “Newslink” and “Newslink Plus” with overlapping content; the “plus” version adds some more local news.
If there is interest in US politics, then there are five really good panel shows: Slate's political weekly podcast or “Gabfest”, KCRW's Left, Right and Center, PBS's Washington Week with Gwen Ifill, NPR's Diane Rehm Show's Friday new's roundup (there are many others), and the Young Turks daily podcast . My favorite current is Slate because the three co-hosts are very smart, have established a great online chemistry, and seem to genuinely enjoy each other's company, which allows for an engaging, conversational tone as they analyze issues from a variety of perspectives. They often disagree with each other, and things are the most fun when they do.
All these offerings are available on i-tunes or on their own websites.
Distillations Chem-moo-stry
Today the Distillations team delves into the weird and wonderful world of its favorite barnyard animal: the cow. First find out why so few populations are lactose tolerant. Then take a literal peek inside the body of one of these creatures.
(review, feed)
The Economist The News of the World's demise
Our correspondents discuss the closure of Britain's best-selling newspaper and the latest developments in the phone-hacking scandal
(review, feed)
Africa Past & Present The Impact of US government cuts on African Studies
David Wiley, James Pritchett, Laura Mitchell, and Joshua Grace discuss huge federal government cuts to Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs and their impact on African Studies in the United States.
(review, feed)
