What We Are Reading Today: ‘Rare Tongues’ by Lorna Gibb

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Rare Tongues’ by Lorna Gibb
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Updated 27 April 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Rare Tongues’ by Lorna Gibb

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Rare Tongues’ by Lorna Gibb

Languages and cultures are becoming increasingly homogenous, with the resulting loss of a rich linguistic tapestry reflecting unique perspectives and ways of life.

‘Rare Tongues” tells the stories of the world’s rare and vanishing languages, revealing how each is a living testament to human resilience, adaptability, and the perennial quest for identity.

Taking readers on a captivating journey of discovery, Lorna Gibb explores the histories of languages under threat or already extinct as well as those in resurgence, shedding light on their origins, development, and distinctive voices.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘How Birds Evolve’ by Douglas Futuyma

What We Are Reading Today: ‘How Birds Evolve’ by Douglas Futuyma
Updated 20 May 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘How Birds Evolve’ by Douglas Futuyma

What We Are Reading Today: ‘How Birds Evolve’ by Douglas Futuyma

“How Birds Evolve” explores how evolution has shaped the distinctive characteristics and behaviors we observe in birds today. Douglas Futuyma describes how evolutionary science illuminates the wonders of birds, ranging over topics such as the meaning and origin of species, the evolutionary history of bird diversity, and the evolution of avian reproductive behaviors, plumage ornaments, and social behaviors.

In this multifaceted book, Futuyma examines how birds evolved from nonavian dinosaurs and reveals what we can learn from the “family tree” of birds.


What We Are Reading Today: The Great Escape by Angus Deaton

What We Are Reading Today: The Great Escape by Angus Deaton
Updated 19 May 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: The Great Escape by Angus Deaton

What We Are Reading Today: The Great Escape by Angus Deaton

The world is a better place than it used to be. People are healthier, wealthier, and live longer. Yet the escapes from destitution by so many has left gaping inequalities between people and nations.

In The book tells the remarkable story of how, beginning 250 years ago, some parts of the world experienced sustained progress.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Addiction by Design’ by Natasha Dow Schull

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Addiction by Design’ by Natasha Dow Schull
Updated 18 May 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Addiction by Design’ by Natasha Dow Schull

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Addiction by Design’ by Natasha Dow Schull

Drawing on 15 years of field research in Las Vegas, anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll shows how the mechanical rhythm of electronic gambling pulls players into a trancelike state they call the “machine zone,” in which daily worries, social demands, and even bodily awareness fade away.

Once in the zone, gambling addicts play not to win but simply to keep playing, for as long as possible—even at the cost of physical and economic exhaustion.

“Addiction by Design” is a compelling inquiry into the intensifying traffic between people and machines of chance, offering clues to some of the broader anxieties and predicaments of contemporary life.


What We Are Reading Today: The Aesthetic Cold War by Peter J. Kalliney

What We Are Reading Today: The Aesthetic Cold War by Peter J. Kalliney
Updated 17 May 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: The Aesthetic Cold War by Peter J. Kalliney

What We Are Reading Today: The Aesthetic Cold War by Peter J. Kalliney

How did superpower competition and the cold war affect writers in the decolonizing world? In “The Aesthetic Cold War,” Peter Kalliney explores the various ways that rival states used cultural diplomacy and the political police to influence writers.

In response, many writers from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean — such as Chinua Achebe, Mulk Raj Anand, Eileen Chang, C.L.R. James, Alex La Guma, Doris Lessing, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Wole Soyinka — carved out a vibrant conceptual space of aesthetic nonalignment, imagining a different and freer future for their work.


What We Are Reading Today: American Mirror by Roberto Saba

What We Are Reading Today: American Mirror by Roberto Saba
Updated 17 May 2025
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