Bibliography
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life - William Law
Man, this was written back in the days when devotional manuals were hardcore. Like, serious hardcore. Of the 'if you do not completely reorder your life and put it into strict order, you are completely failing in your duty as a Christian!' kind. It was, in fairness, written in 1728, which accounts for irritating tics like assuming that women have absolutely no ability to achieve moral greatness beyond the sphere of the home and have no real use for education. Of course, he does point out quite reasonably that to tell your daughters on the one hand that you expect Christian virtue of them and on the other to reward them mainly for primping and vanity is sending something of a mixed message, but I rather doubt anyone puts quite that much emphasis on corsets these days.
The thing is, if this was just a book that pulled the hellfire and brimstone routine, it wouldn't be worth reading, if only because some of the key theology is decidedly dodgy or out of date now. Not to mention that it was written in the pre-industrial world, and I shudder to think what Law would have made of Facebook. What really makes the book worth reading are the characters with which he illustrates his moral outrage. He draws portraits of men and women with various moral failings, and various moral perfections, with considerable verve and satire, and it is this, rather than the moralising, that makes the book worth reading.
Now, frankly, unless you're particularly interested in the tradition of English Christianity or fancy improving your background in the social norms of the 1700s, I wouldn't recommend picking this up. However, as a snapshot of society, with all its failings and preoccupations, I found it a fascinating read. Even if the continual calls to look to the state of my immortal soul did have me looking sheepish, and the frequent sexism made me want to kick things.
So What Are You Going to Do With That?: A Guide for M.A.'s and Ph.D's Seeking Careers Outside the Academy - Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius
This is what, in the trade, we call a back-up plan. It does not hurt for the young aspiring almost-has-her-PhD job marketeer to have something up her sleeve should the academic world fail to see her glittering brilliance and realise just what a pearl they have before them. Which means I need to retool, learn how to tell non-academic employers what brilliant skills my PhD has given me, and also work out how to find a non-academic job that would actually interest and challenge me.
This book is, frankly, jolly good. It's not perfect, as it's targeted at the US market, but it's proving a good starting point for me to articulate the things that I enjoy about academia that I'd want to see in a job, and to work out how to sell the skills I've got from doing a PhD to a wider market. They also have chapters on how to go about exploring the post-academic job market (and I have to say that I really like the term post-academic), how to write a business resume and how to cope with the non-academic job search, all of which is very helpful (although again US-centric) - but a bit beyond where I am at the moment. Right now, I'm trying to pull together some vague plan B-esque thoughts, and I'd recommend this book to anyone trying to do the same or who is further down this particular path than I am.
Man, this was written back in the days when devotional manuals were hardcore. Like, serious hardcore. Of the 'if you do not completely reorder your life and put it into strict order, you are completely failing in your duty as a Christian!' kind. It was, in fairness, written in 1728, which accounts for irritating tics like assuming that women have absolutely no ability to achieve moral greatness beyond the sphere of the home and have no real use for education. Of course, he does point out quite reasonably that to tell your daughters on the one hand that you expect Christian virtue of them and on the other to reward them mainly for primping and vanity is sending something of a mixed message, but I rather doubt anyone puts quite that much emphasis on corsets these days.
The thing is, if this was just a book that pulled the hellfire and brimstone routine, it wouldn't be worth reading, if only because some of the key theology is decidedly dodgy or out of date now. Not to mention that it was written in the pre-industrial world, and I shudder to think what Law would have made of Facebook. What really makes the book worth reading are the characters with which he illustrates his moral outrage. He draws portraits of men and women with various moral failings, and various moral perfections, with considerable verve and satire, and it is this, rather than the moralising, that makes the book worth reading.
Now, frankly, unless you're particularly interested in the tradition of English Christianity or fancy improving your background in the social norms of the 1700s, I wouldn't recommend picking this up. However, as a snapshot of society, with all its failings and preoccupations, I found it a fascinating read. Even if the continual calls to look to the state of my immortal soul did have me looking sheepish, and the frequent sexism made me want to kick things.
So What Are You Going to Do With That?: A Guide for M.A.'s and Ph.D's Seeking Careers Outside the Academy - Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius
This is what, in the trade, we call a back-up plan. It does not hurt for the young aspiring almost-has-her-PhD job marketeer to have something up her sleeve should the academic world fail to see her glittering brilliance and realise just what a pearl they have before them. Which means I need to retool, learn how to tell non-academic employers what brilliant skills my PhD has given me, and also work out how to find a non-academic job that would actually interest and challenge me.
This book is, frankly, jolly good. It's not perfect, as it's targeted at the US market, but it's proving a good starting point for me to articulate the things that I enjoy about academia that I'd want to see in a job, and to work out how to sell the skills I've got from doing a PhD to a wider market. They also have chapters on how to go about exploring the post-academic job market (and I have to say that I really like the term post-academic), how to write a business resume and how to cope with the non-academic job search, all of which is very helpful (although again US-centric) - but a bit beyond where I am at the moment. Right now, I'm trying to pull together some vague plan B-esque thoughts, and I'd recommend this book to anyone trying to do the same or who is further down this particular path than I am.