Summertime and the reading is easy

Summer usually slows our schedule, leaving us more time to read, preferably at a calmer, more leisurely pace. You can tackle those books and magazines by your bedside that have been making you feel guilty by your lack of attention, which had been directed elsewhere during the academic year.

Whether you're catching a few rays at the beach or fighting off mosquitoes on your patio, summer slows us down enough to indulge our literary interests. Here's what some of Coastal Carolina University's faculty and staff read this summer for both fun and growth:

Barbara Burd, Dean of Library Services, Kimbel Library
• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

• Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz

For professional development:

•  Followership: how followers are creating change and changing leaders by Barbara Kellerman

• The Five Levels of Leadership by John Maxwell (on my ipad)

• Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives: Inputs, Outputs, and Outcomes by Robert E. Dugan, Peter Hernon, and Danuta A. Nitecki

Jerome Christia, associate professor of marketing and coordinator of the Call Me Mister program

Personal:
• Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon

Professionally:
• Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an Era of Consumer Control by Christopher Vollmer and Geoffrey Precourt

Easton Selby, assistant professor of photography

For personal enjoyment:
• A Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi (This is a book I often go back to.)
• The Art of Distilling Whiskey and Other Spirits: An Enthusiast's Guide to the Artisan Distilling of Potent Potables by Bill Owens, Alan Dikty and and Fritz Maytag
• Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction by Kurt Vonnegut
• Chance by Joseph Conrad and Carol Pentleton

For professional development:
• Hidden History of Mississippi Blues by Roger Stole and photography by Lou Bopp
• The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers by Martin Evening
• Light: Science and Magic, Fourth Edition: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting by Fil Hunter, Paul Fuqua and Steven Biver

Scott Pleasant, Writing Center coordinator, chair of the Big Read Committee

It's hard for me to separate professional from personal reading because anything I read might be considered professional. I'm always asking myself, "Would this be a good Big Read book?" I can't help it.

• They Say/I Say by Gerald Graff (definitely professional--it's a freshman composition book)
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (very good)
• 703: How I Lost More than a Quarter Ton and Gained a Life, by Nancy Makin (not too good)
• About a Mountain, by John D'Agata (excellent)
• My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor (good)
• Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, by David Eagleman (truly fantastic)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot (re-read it to get ready for Big Read 2011, and it's excellent)
• The Simpsons/Futurama Crossover Crisis (a graphic novel based on the two animated series). It's the summer, and I get to read stuff like that!
• Without a Doubt by Marcia Clark about the O.J. Simpson case, and then read four other books on the subject. "Oh yeah, he did it!" says Pleasant. "No doubt about it."