Category: Great reads

Climate researchers to host book signing

STEPHEN SCHNEIDER, senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment; ARMIN ROSENCRANZ, consulting professor of international relations; MICHAEL MASTRANDREA, assistant consulting professor  at the Woods Institute;  and KRISTIN KUNTZ-DURISETI, a university affiliate in the Biology Department, will be on hand Feb. 9 from 4 to 6 p.m. to sign copies of Climate Change Science… Read more Climate researchers to host book signing

"Anomalies should be the life blood of science"

PETER A. STURROCK, professor emeritus of applied physics, has written an autobiographical account of his life as a “conventional scientist” with an unconventional interest in the paranormal. In A Tale of Two Sciences: Memoirs of a Dissident Scientist, Sturrock recounts the watershed event that propelled him to spend a lifetime studying unorthodox phenomena. On an… Read more "Anomalies should be the life blood of science"

To Russia with ... McFaul

The Washington Independent has named MICHAEL MCFAUL one of the “Top Five National Security Players of 2009.” McFaul, professor of political science and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, is currently serving as the National Security Council’s director for Russia. The citation noted that McFaul traveled to Russia… Read more To Russia with ... McFaul

'Dad, some guy is calling from Sweden'

In her book Reindeer with King Gustaf: What to Expect When Your Spouse Wins the Nobel Prize, Anita Laughlin, wife of physics Professor ROBERT LAUGHLIN, descibes the pomp, the wardrobe changes and the ways the prize changed her family’s life. But the heady journey began at their campus home. “Twenty years after our first date,… Read more 'Dad, some guy is calling from Sweden'

So many books, so little coverage . . .

How do we get the word out about the exciting literary and cultural life at Stanford? CYNTHIA HAVEN, the arts and humanities writer at the News Service, has one answer:  She’s launched a Stanford book blog titled  “The Book Haven.” “Given the reduced coverage on books and book news nationwide, it’s only logical that book… Read more So many books, so little coverage . . .

Readings and writings

It’s National Novel Writing Month and at least one hardy  – and unnamed – Stanford staffer has taken the month off and is taking seriously the challenge of producing a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, Nov. 30. . . . If you’ve already got a piece of fiction you think might be prize worthy, the… Read more Readings and writings

Memories of the Farm: Valerie Jarrett; other teachable moments

A Stanford Quad photograph of First-Friend-to-be Valerie Jarrett as an undergraduate student with her dormmates from Olivo-Magnolia, now known as Ujamaa. Gracing the cover of the September/October issue of Stanford magazine is alum VALERIE JARRETT. In a profile written by alum ROY JOHNSON, Jarrett, White House adviser and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations… Read more Memories of the Farm: Valerie Jarrett; other teachable moments

LIve long and prosper

The good news is that we’re living longer, but for many that reality carries its own worries. LAURA CARSTENSEN, professor of psychology and director of the Center on Longevity, says don’t worry, be prepared. Her new book, A Long Bright Future, attempts to shed the myths about aging that keep us from taking the necessary… Read more LIve long and prosper

High honors

English Professor SHELLEY FISHER FISHKIN has been preserving history for a long time. Recently, she received the Mark Twain Circle Certificate of Merit “for long and distinguished service in the elucidation of the work, thought, life and art of Mark Twain.” As he presented the award on Aug. 9 in New York, University of Illinois… Read more High honors