Reading More

"Extreme Reading Habits"

This morning I read this article on the habits of some well-known people. They read about five hours a week.  Just to learn stuff.

This transition to Qatar took a toll on my reading habits. Basically, I have been too tired to read at night.  Also, good books are hard to find here.  We have one book store and it mostly sells office supplies.  In addition, TV is just too easy an option.

So, as part of my 2017 reset, I am committing to reading five hours a week.  

This week, I finished the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs.  It focuses on the rise of populism, but it also had good articles on the leaders in Egypt and Turkey.  I am also about a third of the way through the fourth book in the Harry Potter series. This weekend, I started reading a book on the culture of Taiwan because I will be travelling there for the Chinese New Year later this month. Soon, I will start a book for my book club called An Unnecessary Woman. Yesterday, I dipped back into a book called The Wisdom of the Enneagram.  Finally, I am reading a book about Muslim prophets and messengers.  I am clearly launching 2017 with some success. 

I am starting this list for 2017 so I can keep track of other things I want to read. I will add items as I find them. 

• Top 2016 articles on educating law students.  Law scholars seem to be focusing on the science of cognition.  Time for me to catch up on this topic, especially because I am now teaching across cultures, across legal cultures, and across languages.  
• Eric Trager, Arab Fall: How the Muslim Brotherhood Won and Lost Egypt in 891 Days. I have many Egyptian colleagues, and I want to understand this chapter in Egypt's political history.
• Charles L. Glaser et al., Crude Strategy: Rethinking the US Military Commitment to Defend Persian Gulf Oil.  Qatar has the third-largest reserve of natural gas in the world.  The US military has a base on the northern coast of the country. Its Navy, as I understand it, patrols the Persian (aka Arab) Gulf. Time to learn more about that relationship. 
• Mehran Kawrava, Beyond the Arab Spring: The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East.  Again, I need to get to know the neighborhood. 
• Chandra Sriram, ed., Transitional Justice in the Middle East and North Africa.  Scaling up my knowledge of ADR.