President Barry Mills describes the joys of summer reading and the books that have been on his list.
It has been a fantastic summer in Maine. While I am always eager to welcome our students back to campus, I do have to admit to wishing for a few more weeks of this more relaxed pace and the beautiful weather we’ve seen out at our house in Cundy’s Harbor. I know from experience that once I get back on campus in the midst of our new and returning students, and among our faculty, the buzz of our College and the new academic year will kick in for me.
In these waning days of summer, I wanted to share a brief report on some of what I have been reading. I love to read and often have many books going at the same time, and I admit to being addicted to my Kindle. While I sometimes miss the feel of a real book, the convenience of a Kindle is addictive. I find that I read much faster on the Kindle and it is easier and more efficient to have many titles on one machine rather than having to carry around the books. I can’t comment on the debate about the relative merits of the Kindle, the iPad or the Nook. My Kindle is the original version, so I am already behind the technology curve. My son, Will, has an iPad and the graphics and screen are impressive, but I haven’t made the move yet.
I tend to read books on my Kindle that I am less interested in owning for my library (and for fear of embarrassment, I will not describe the page turners I have downloaded). However, I do recommend a new book by Ayelet Waldman titled Red Hook Road. The book is a bit out of character for me, but I ordered it because I hired Ayelet when she was a second-year law student at Harvard Law School and I was at Debevoise in New York. Those days of legal work are long gone for Ayelet, as she has become an accomplished author. I haven’t seen her in more than 15 years, but her book is filled with local color about Maine where she clearly has spent some time.
I also enjoyed a book by Martha McPhee, a Bowdoin alumna who graduated in the 90s and who is now teaching creative writing at Hofstra. Her book, Dear Money, is also situated largely in Maine and in New York City, so the color of both locales struck a chord with me. Martha is also an accomplished author and her book has garnered strong reviews.
This week I received another very interesting book from our very loyal alumnus and trustee, Dennis Hutchinson. Dennis is a scholar and teacher at the University of Chicago where he has been on the law school and university faculty for many years. The book is Martha Nussbaum’s newest work, Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. The topic discussed by Professor Nussbaum as a manifesto makes a compelling case for what we know at Bowdoin so well. That is, the central importance of the humanities and the arts in educating citizens of the world capable of living and leading successfully in a democratic world. Professor Nussbaum’s case supports in important respects the sciences and social sciences too, especially in the manner we study and teach these disciplines at Bowdoin. Her case for the humanities and the arts—which are under siege at many institutions and K-12 levels of education—is compelling.
So, while many around campus think that all I have been doing this summer is a little work, a lot of golf and some boating—I have, in fact, been continuing my education. Having the time to read is one of life’s greatest gifts—it keeps us young, engaged, and eager for new ideas.
