What I read this summer

When I decided about 15 months ago that I was going to pursue a journalism graduate school degree, I had two simple purposes. First and foremost, I needed to learn much more while meeting new people in a different place. The University of Florida, of course, is a premier place to accomplish all of these things and more. Second, I was out to read, read and read some more. Mostly on media technique and theory, but of course with a broad liberal arts and world perspective as well.

So this summer, before I moved south and became immersed in media study, theory and practice, I set myself a goal of reading as much as I possibly could. After completing summer work at Mercyhurst’s Hammermill Library in early June, I had six full weeks ahead for uninhibited reading. I’ve always been a fairly prolific reader in my spare time, from grade school through high school and the first four years of college, tackling no fewer than 50 books over the past five years. One of the ways I’ve been able to do this is through the perfect technological combination of iPods and audiobooks. On long bike rides, I can keep a good read on low so as to hear the traffic yet still take in the entire book in a few hours.

Many of the books listed below were digested in such a manner, and I highly recommend it for anyone who says they don’t have enough time to read for fun. On my bike rides around Gainesville these past few weeks, I’ve already ripped through quite a few.

As for this summer, I built a reading list that I considered to be a “catching-up” of sorts from the past decade. Having grown up in a tuned-in family, I felt like I knew most of the basics about world events that have happened in my lifetime and through much of the 20th century. Still, I really wanted to key in on the current wars America is waging and looked toward the wealth of great material already out there on 9-11, Afghanistan, Iraq. Additionally, my interests leaned toward American presidential politics of the past decade, general foreign policy reads, and toward getting an initial grasp of advanced media studies.

Throw in James Miller and Tom Shales’ set of oral history tomes on Saturday Night Live and ESPN, and I consider it to have been a pretty enjoyable summer of reads.

9-11/Afghanistan/Iraq

Many of these titles, I must admit, came from this list that the New York Times created the day after Bin Laden was killed. You’ll also notice that two of Peter Bergen’s three books made the cut; I consider him to be one of the most important working journalists in the world today. For that reason, I’m enormously excited he’s visiting the University of Florida later this semester. Also related to UF and this list is David Finkel, a graduate of the College of Journalism and Communications, of which I’m now a student. Bob Woodward, of course, also made the list twice. I highly recommend all of these, including another by Steve Coll that’s not on the list because I read it two summers ago.

Selected politics

Journalism/media studies

Just three here, and I don’t recommend them for anyone who’s not in the field or academy pursuing an advanced degree in a communication discipline. Some of these texts proved to be slow trodding at times. They certainly weren’t my go-to beach reads.

General foreign policy

These last few don’t really fit anywhere above. A pair on Vietnam, a damning look at the CIA and the now-dubious Greg Mortenson with his follow-up to Stones Into Schools.

Finally, this great pair of television oral histories from James Miller and Tom Shales. I highly recommend them both.

This six-week whirlwind of page turning has only increased by desire to read as much as I possibly can during the next two years—politics, sports, news, culture.

To quote my first journalism professor, Dr. Melissa Spirek, who passed me this nugget when I told her of my acceptance to graduate school, “The more you will learn, the more you will realize the less you know.“