When it comes to teaching, I confess that I’m a sucker for iconic texts: Shakespeare’s Othello, Mary Godwin Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Frankly, it bothers me that these authors’ fame derives from ubiquitous cultural allusions so divorced from their work. Boris Karloff immediately comes to mind when people hear the name Frankenstein. People blithely characterize someone as a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-type” without knowing the original story. And they refer to a talented person as a Shakespeare without having read enough of the Bard to know why he’s a genius. With the mission of connecting cultural allusions to their sources, I have introduced these texts to Books@Work readers, and several anecdotes will tell that tale of how well my approach has worked.
Read MoreWhat would you read if you were stuck on the proverbial desert island? What would make you laugh? What would sustain you? What speaks to your experience and reminds you who you are? Program and Curriculum Director Jessica Isaac lists her picks.
Read MoreTo certify her learning in a Books@Work program, Patti Doud completed the requirements for a digital badge, part of Mozilla’s Open Badge system. The experience of the learning itself, along with the opportunity to reflect on that learning through the digital badge program, was extraordinary for Patti. It not only exposed her to new books, created lasting relationships with colleagues and gave her access to professors with whom she otherwise wouldn’t have interacted; Books@Work changed the way that Patti reads.
Read MoreIn this article for the Carnegie Council’s magazine, Policy Innovations, we argue that literature—whether a classic play or a contemporary novel—has everything to do with work. And given the chance to read and discuss books in seminars led by university professors, employees will make those connections explicit.
Read MoreOn day one at Swagelok I asked the Books@Work participants why they signed on for the program:
“The program was a natural. I love to rip through books to find out what happens.”
“I don’t read much besides work-related stuff anymore and thought the program would be a good way to get back into it.”
“I just thought the idea of talking about what I read is cool.”