Cameron's Book Round-Up, Starting 2024 (Reread-a-Palooza, part 1)

Rereading is a fundamentally different act from the initial reading. By returning to a text with a memory of it, you can discover parts of it that you failed to see on initial — or second, or third — readings. I hesitate to suggest that you “decode” texts when you read them, or something to that effect, but it is my belief that the act of reading is a collaboration between the reader and text, and so the results will be fundamentally different if you are fundamentally different. You can never really “read the same book again” because much like Heraclitus’s river-crosser, you’re not the same person.

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Edgar's Book Round-Up, January 2024

I’m pleased to report that these stay safely on the lifelong-favorites shelf.

Chekhov's Gun and Narratives of Control

This has broader implications about how incentives are structured — the presence of a reward for not doing something versus the desired outcome of taking the action. To my mind, incentives can only delay such a thing, never actually forestall it for certain.

GamingCameron SummersFebruary 1, 2024Game Design, tabletop gaming, Postscript on Societies of Control, Ludo-analysisComment

On Bias

Regardless of whether a student agrees with my worldview, I want them to be biased at the end of their research process. I want them to have strong opinions about a subject and to be skeptical of uninformed pronouncements about it. Think about it: if you’ve been researching a subject for eight or ten weeks, using academic resources and doing primary research – that is, research out in the field – on a subject, shouldn’t you have a strong, informed opinion?

Commentary, Written by: CameronCameron SummersJanuary 24, 2024bias, Teaching, Ludo-analysisComment

Cameron's Book Round-Up: End of 2023 - Start of 2024

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind — I’ve started a new semester and I’m putting the button on an old job. That hasn’t left a ton of time for reading, but I’ve still managed to finish a few. I’ve bookmarked the next month or so as a “re-read-a-palooza” for myself, revisiting older books that I may need to give more attention to. Given that my commute has increased a bit, this is leading to a fairly different rhythm for a bit.