Sharp and witty observations of academic life that range from the local to the global, from PowerPoint to the halls of power.
Is a university education still relevant? What are the forces that threaten it? Should academics ever be allowed near Twitter? In Academic Diary , Les Back has chronicled three decades of his academic career, turning his sharp and often satirical eye to the everyday aspects of life on campus and the larger forces that are reshaping it. Presented as a collection of entries from a single academic year, the diary moves from the local to the global, from PowerPoint to the halls of power. With entries like “Ivory Towers” and “The Library Angel,” these smart, humorous, and sometimes absurd campus tales not only demystify the opaque rituals of scholarship but also offer a personal perspective on the far-reaching issues of university life.
Commenting on topics that range from the impact of commercialization and fee increases to measurement and auditing research, the diary offers a critical analysis of higher education today. At the same time, it is a passionate argument for the life of the mind, the importance of collaborative thinking, and the reasons that scholarship and writing are still vital for making sense of our troubled and divided world.
**
Review
Back offers so many insights and points of reflection within Academic Diary that it would be difficult to not come across something that makes you pause and think. I have no doubt that the book will become a firm favourite with many, and one that will be re-read time and time again.
― Kate Bailey , LSE Review of Books
Back offers so many insights and points of reflection within Academic Diary that it would be difficult to not come across something that makes you pause and think. I have no doubt that the book will become a firm favourite with many, and one that will be re-read time and time again.
― Kate Bailey , LSE Review of Books ( Reviews )
Review
Les Back's Academic Diary is a profoundly humanistic account of the unexpected and often fleeting day-to-day pleasures of working in a contemporary university.
― Laurie Taylor , Broadcaster ( Endorsement )
A beautifully written book, full of reflection and reverie, decency, and front-line documentation.
― Sukhdev Sandhu , Director of the Center for Experimental Humanities and Associate Professor of English and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University ( Endorsement )
All academics should make sure that they have a copy to hand.
― David Beer , University of York ( Endorsement )
When discussions of higher education in England are dominated by loans and questions of finance, it's all too easy to forget about the lived, transformative experience of education. Episodes in Academic Diary serve as healthy reminders of what ought to be central to universities and colleges: learning. More than that, Les Back's generosity and collegiality forge the politics of this book into something distinct. Walter Benjamin wrote in his commentaries on Bertolt Brecht: 'Whoever wants to make the hard thing give way should miss no opportunity for friendliness.' In a similar spirit, Academic Diary tempers sentiment with critical aims.
― Andrew McGettigan , author of The Great University Gamble: Money, Markets and the Future of Higher Education ( Endorsement )

motw/Academic Diary_ Or Why Higher E - Les Back.epub

motw/Academic Diary_ Or Why Higher E - Les Back.pdf

Back, Les;

MIT Press. 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. Tel: 800-405-1619; Tel: 617-253-5646; Fax: 617-253-1709; e-mail: mitpress-orders@mit.edu; Web site: http://mitpress.mit.edu

Goldsmiths, University of London

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

London, 2016

FR, 2016

producers:
Adobe PDF Library 10.0.1

Memory of the World Librarian: outernationale

Memory of the World Librarian: Slowrotation

Is a university education still relevant? What are the forces that threaten it? Should academics ever be allowed near Twitter? In Academic Diary , Les Back has chronicled three decades of his academic career, turning his sharp and often satirical eye to the everyday aspects of life on campus and the larger forces that are reshaping it. Presented as a collection of entries from a single academic year, the diary moves from the local to the global, from PowerPoint to the halls of power. With entries like "Ivory Towers" and "The Library Angel," these smart, humorous, and sometimes absurd campus tales not only demystify the opaque rituals of scholarship but also offer a personal perspective on the far-reaching issues of university life.Commenting on topics that range from the impact of commercialization and fee increases to measurement and auditing research, the diary offers a critical analysis of higher education today. At the same time, it is a passionate argument for the life of the mind, the importance of collaborative thinking, and the reasons that scholarship and writing are still vital for making sense of our troubled and divided world.
**
Review
Les Back's Academic Diary is a profoundly humanistic account of the unexpected and often fleeting day-to-day pleasures of working in a contemporary university.
(Laurie Taylor Broadcaster )
A beautifully written book, full of reflection and reverie, decency, and front-line documentation.
(Sukhdev Sandhu, New York University)
All academics should make sure that they have a copy to hand.
(David Beer, University of York)
When discussions of higher education in England are dominated by loans and questions of finance, it's all too easy to forget about the lived, transformative experience of education. Episodes in Academic Diary serve as healthy reminders of what ought to be central to universities and colleges: learning. More than that, Les Back's generosity and collegiality forge the politics of this book into something distinct. Walter Benjamin wrote in his commentaries on Bertolt Brecht: 'Whoever wants to make the hard thing give way should miss no opportunity for friendliness.' In a similar spirit, Academic Diary tempers sentiment with critical aims.
(Andrew McGettigan, author of The Great University Gamble: Money, Markets and the Future of Higher Education )
About the Author
Les Back is Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Introduction : Academic Time -- Autumn Term. 10 September : Graduation -- 15 September : Everyone Has A Teacher Story -- 17 September : Letter To A New Student -- 20 September : Welcome Week -- 25 September : Goldsmiths And Its District -- 27 September : Ratology -- 28 September : Students Not Suspects -- 7 October : Open Day -- 12 October : Stuart Hall Lessons -- 25 October : Teaching -- 31 October : The Uses Of Literacy Today -- 5 November : Death By Powerpoint -- 8 November : The Value In Academic Writing -- 20 November : Research Expenses -- 27 November : Extra Curricular -- 29 November : College Green -- 3 December : Meeting John Berger -- 9 December : An Education Of Sorts -- 10 December : Class Mobility -- 17 December : Bourdieu Behind Bars -- 29 December : New Year's Honours -- Spring Term. 10 January : The Diary Disease -- 16 January : Remembering Paul -- 18 January : Recognition -- 25 January : Holding The Fort -- 5 February : Academic Uses And Abuses Of Twitter --^ 12 February : Generosity As A Strategy For Survival -- 26 February : Professionals And Amateurs -- 7 March : Reading And Remembering -- 10 March : Campus Watch -- 15 March : Writing Routines And The Torture Of Starting -- 21 March : That Special Pen -- 1 April : Viral Warning -- 10 April : Ivory Towers -- 16 April : Conference Etiquette -- 19 April : Academic Rights -- 20 April : The Devil You Know -- 2 May : Supervision -- 9 May : Thinking Together -- 16 May : The Doublethink Of Open Access -- 20 May : Against Intellectual Suicide -- The Summer. 7 June : Silence Please -- Exam In Progress -- 9 June : The Exam Board -- 14 June : On The Occasion Of Retirement -- 20 June : The Writer's Desk -- 30 June : The Library Angel -- 4 July : The Phd Viva -- 17 July : Writing And Scholastic Style -- 24 July : 'and What Do You Do For A Living ...?' -- 19 August : Primo Levi's House -- 31 August : Lost Notebook -- Afterword : How The Diary Came To Be Written In The First Place --^ Tips, Leads And Follow-ups -- Universities In Changing Times -- Campus Fictions -- Students, Learning And Teaching -- On Writing And Writers -- Intellectual Life And Its Purpose -- Heroes And Heroines -- Music As A Hinterland. Les Back. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 237-258).

Contents 10
Introduction: Academic Time 16
Autumn Term 20
10 September: Graduation 22
15 September: Everyone Has a Teacher Story 28
17 September: Letter to a New Student 32
20 September: Welcome Week 40
25 September: Goldsmiths and its District 41
27 September: Ratology 44
28 September: Students Not Suspects 47
7 October: Open Day 52
12 October: Stuart Hall Lessons 55
25 October: Teaching 61
31 October: The Uses of Literacy Today 68
5 November: Death by PowerPoint 74
8 November: The Value in Academic Writing 77
20 November: Research Expenses 80
27 November: Extra Curricular 83
29 November: College Green 85
3 December: Meeting John Berger 87
9 December: An Education of Sorts 92
10 December: Class Mobility 94
17 December: Bourdieu Behind Bars 98
29 December: New Year’s Honours 102
Spring Term 108
10 January: The Diary Disease 110
16 January: Remembering Paul 112
18 January: Recognition 115
25 January: Holding the Fort 118
5 February: Academic Uses and Abuses of Twitter 123
12 February: Generosity as a Strategy for Survival 129
26 February: Professionals and Amateurs 131
7 March: Reading and Remembering 138
10 March: Campus Watch 143
15 March: Writing Routines and the Torture of Starting 147
21 March: That Special Pen 149
1 April: Viral Warning 154
10 April: Ivory Towers 156
16 April: Conference Etiquette 159
19 April: Academic Rights 164
20 April: Casts of Minds 168
27 April: The Devil You Know 170
2 May: Supervision 174
9 May: Thinking Together 181
16 May: The Doublethink of Open Access 184
20 May: Against Intellectual Suicide 188
The Summer 192
7 June: Silence Please – Exam in Progress 194
9 June: The Exam Board 197
14 June: On the Occasion of Retirement 200
20 June: The Writer’s Desk 205
30 June: The Library Angel 210
4 July: The PhD Viva 216
17 July: Writing and Scholastic Style 223
24 July: ‘And What Do You Do for a Living . . .?’ 227
19 August: Primo Levi’s House 231
31 August: Lost Notebook 237
Afterword:How the Diary Came to Be Written in the First Place 244
Tips, Leads and Follow-Ups 250
Universities in changing times 251
Campus fictions 255
Students, learning and teaching 258
On writing and writers 261
Intellectual life and its purpose 265
Heroes and heroines 268
Music as a hinterland 272

Les Back has chronicled three decades of his academic career, turning his sharp and often satirical eye to the everyday aspects of life on campus and the larger forces that are reshaping it.
Presented as a collection of entries from a single academic year, the diary moves from the local to the global, from PowerPoint to the halls of power. With entries like Ivory Towers and The Library Angel, these smart, humorous, and sometimes absurd campus tales not only demystify the opaque rituals of scholarship, they offer a personal route into the far-reaching issues of university life.
From the impact of commercialisation and fee increases to measurement and auditing research, the diary offers a critical diagnosis of higher education today. At the same time it is a passionate argument for the life of the mind, the importance of collaborative thinking and why scholarship and writing are still vital for making sense of our troubled and divided world.

Sharp and witty observations of academic life that range from the local to the global, from PowerPoint to the halls of power. Is a university education still relevant? What are the forces that threaten it? Should academics ever be allowed near Twitter? Goldsmiths Professor of Sociology Les Back has chronicled three decades of his academic career, turning his sharp and often satirical eye to the everyday aspects of life on campus and the larger forces that are reshaping it

2025-10-27