The Best of Technology Writing 2006
edited by Brendan I. Koerner

An innovative collection of writing about the fast-moving, high-stakes field of technology.

What Professors Are Saying
"I selected The Best of Technology Writing 2006 as the primary text for my class, because it's simply the best title in its category. Well-edited, it includes a range of topics, and includes material from the internet as well as more traditional magazines and newspapers. It grabs the reader from the beginning. The first story brought tears to my eyes. With this one book, my students get a quick survey of the state of the art. A no-risk selection."
—Mark Dewey, Adjunct Professor, University of Texas at Austin, for his journalism class "Covering Technology and Innovation"

Ecstatic Occasions, Expedient Forms
85 Leading Contemporary Poets Select and Comment on Their Poems
edited by David Lehman

An unexpectedly entertaining collection of writing by poets discussing the creative inspiration and artistic form of their work.

What Professors Are Saying
"I chose the text for a number of reasons: one, the course for which I am using it—Poetry and the Imaginative Process—focuses on some of the following questions which I find the book aids me in addressing: What is Poetry and why does it exist? What do we mean by Process when we discuss the work a poet does, and how is process unique for each poet? And finally, what is this thing we call imagination? Why is is important and how does it manifest itself....I like the wide variety of entries written by the contemporary poets collected in Ecstatic Occasions...concerning the poem they chose from their body of work. They successfully raise and address craft questions such as the importance of form and structure in regards to meaning, multiple paths of inspiration that begin a poem, and then their actual composition process."
—Matthew Hittinger, Muhlenberg College

The Key to The Name of the Rose
Including Translations of All Non-English Passages
by Adele J. Haft, Jane G. White, and Robert J. White

Unravels Umberto Eco's classic mystery novel.

What Professors Are Saying
"I first found the Key in the early 90s. At that time it was out of print, and I often would put a copy on reserve for my students. I was thrilled to see the text reprinted. I teach The Name of the Rose in a course on postmodernism. Since our focus is not on the historical issues of the novel, the Key works well as a reference for students so they can focus on the narrative and semiotic issues that we are concerned with. The essays in the book are also useful to give students a context for narrative, which is placed in a 20th-century context in the course, not a 14th-century context. And, of course, it is rare to find students these days with an extensive knowledge of Latin, so the translations are helpful."
—Edward Maloney, Georgetown University

The Natural Contract
by Michael Serres
Translated by Elizabeth MacArthur and William Paulson

Meditations on environmental change and the necessity of a pact between Earth and its inhabitants.

What Professors Are Saying
"I'm a big fan of Serres' work, but most of what he writes is too difficult for undergraduates. I'm teaching a seminar on the topic of 'hospitality' next term and will assign The Natural Contract because of the way it uses the metaphor of humans as guests on the planet and on how it stresses interconnectedness."
—Raymond Boisvert, Sienna College

Poets on Poetry Series
David Lehman, General Editor, Donald Hall, Founding Editor

What Professors Are Saying
"I find it imperative that students, when studying contemporary poetry and poets read about the poets they are attempting to examine. It is important that they read essays written by the poets—specifically essays regarding the poets' works and lives....Since there are few biographies written about contemporary poets the Poets on Poetry series seems to be the ideal texts for information regarding the 'how, why, what, and when' of their poetry. While one doesn't 'need' this information in order to explicate a poem or even a full-length volume of poetry, it is oftentimes quite helpful. It can give the students insight into much of a poet's life: Why this style or form? What does it mean to the poet? Why this subject matter? Oh! Now I can see the influence from poet X to poet Y. All in all, the Poets on Poetry series can be, if used correctly, the connective tissue that holds a students examinations and explications together when studying contemporary poets and poetics."
—Lee Newton, Bradley University

Simulacra and Simulation
by Jean Baudrillard
Translated by Sheila Glaser

The first full-length translation in English of an essential work of postmodernist thought.

What Professors Are Saying
"I'm teaching a course which provides an interdisciplinary and theoretical approach to the idea of the body, our experience of it, and its status in the 'post-modern world.' Baudrillard's concept of simulation calls into question the traditional Cartesian split between the mind and the body. As such, Baudrillard raises the issue of the metaphysical status often accorded to the human body (and to the idea of the human, in general). Thus, Baudrillard's book fits nicely into both Cultural Studies and the English Departments' approach to the question of the body, by encouraging students to think critically and analytically about preconceived notions of bodily experience and how these influence our 'human' experience of the world." —Jennifer R. Ballengee, Towson University

The Walls of Jericho
by Rudolph Fisher

The first novel by one of the legends of the Harlem Renaissance.

What Professors Are Saying
"I used the book in my English 860 graduate course on twentieth century African American literature class. I chose it because it is so inclusive of characters who would be seen as part of the African American 'elite' and the 'masses'—it has greater range than many of the other novels of the decade, many of which focus on one class of people or the other. As a result, The Walls of Jericho is a unique response to the debates of the 1920s about whether African American writers and artists had a responsibility to focus on members of the higher classes so that their work helped battle stereotypes....In addition, Fisher's use of slang in the book and his inclusion of a glossary of terms highlights important questions of language and dialect. Finally, the book is quite funny! As a comedy and/or satire, it represents genres that often don't get taught with the Harlem Renaissance."
—Anne Carroll, Wichita State University