Summer is finally here, and with it comes time off to travel, rest, and—of course—read. But don’t panic if your vacation list needs some attention. NYU News spoke to five university librarians to ask for recommendations to accompany all kinds of summer adventures. So before you pack your bag, car, or picnic basket, consider some (or all!) of these suggestions.
Talya Cooper, research curation librarian for Data Services, recommends Your Face Belongs to Us: A Tale of AI, A Secretive Startup, and the End of Privacy by Kashmir Hill (Random House, 2023).
Talya Cooper. (Photo by Tracey Friedman)
New York Times tech journalist Kashmir Hill traces the unregulated rise of facial recognition technology by focusing on the startup Clearview AI. “It’s about tech ethics and surveillance, which I'm deeply interested in,” Cooper says. “What does the advent of facial recognition mean for those of us who think our lives are private?”
Why she recommends it:
“It’s basically a thriller because she’s investigating a secretive facial recognition company and is trying to find out who they are and what they actually do and she is thwarted at every turn,” Cooper explains. “She’s also really good at breaking down the technology. People think AI is too complicated for them to understand, but she makes it comprehensible.
“These technologies have been baked into the world we live in. And we don’t necessarily think about it,” she adds. “There’s a difference between what you can do with technology and what you should do with technology.”
Jane Excell, assistant director of Collection Development, recommends The Morningside by Téa Obreht (Random House, 2024).
Jane Excell. (Photo by Tracey Friedman)
From the author of The Tiger’s Wife and Inland comes a story of a mother and daughter who are forced to leave their home and move in with family living in a high-rise in the Manhattan-like Island City. Set in the future, when half of Island City is under water, Silvia tries to get her mother to tell her about their family’s past and the history of their new home. Described as haunting and elegant by the New York Times, Obreht’s novel is concerned with stories and how they define who we are. “It has a kind of strange familiarity,” Excell says, noting that this is the first novel by Obreht she has read. “The protagonist talks about the pipes banging, the laundry vent smell coming into the kitchen. Some things she thinks are strange are very familiar, and vice versa. You can also see a lot of echoes of the pandemic in the descriptions of this eerie, half-abandoned city.”
Why she recommends it:
“I came across it as I was picking titles for our new engagement collection and it fit perfectly for our first summer reading iteration,” she says. “It’s by a bestselling author, with a New York theme, and it’s a pretty quick read. If you live in or have visited New York City, it’s especially engaging.”
Gaby Garcia, EDI student success librarian, recommends Blue Laws: Selected and Uncollected Poems, 1995-2015 by Kevin Young (Knopf, 2016).
Gaby Garcia (Photo by Jonathan King)
Poetry editor of the New Yorker (and director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture), Kevin Young has published 11 books over his career (and edited eight more). Blue Laws contains work from previous collections as well as poems that didn’t make the cut. And at almost 600 pages, it serves as a written retrospective of a poet’s life. “I’ve been a fan for a really long time,” Garcia, who writes poetry, says about Young. “He uses language like a playground. I read him because it makes me want to write.”
Why she recommends it:
“I love that there are outtakes in here, things that he was experimenting with, things that had never seen the light of day,” she says. “He really put everything out there in this volume, so you kind of dive into his brain, and get a full sense of his poetry.
“What’s really awesome is it’s a bite-size way to enjoy language. If you need a little dose of pleasure, or need to feel inspired to use language in a playful way, or to feel something you haven’t experienced yet, you can dive into his world, and escape your own for a little bit.”
Amanda He, STEM instruction and engagement librarian, recommends Chemistry: A Novel by Weike Wang (Knopf 2017).
Amanda He (Photo by Tracey Friedman)
Wang’s debut novel follows a female Chinese American student pursuing a PhD in Chemistry who struggles with failing research experiments, the expectations of her romantic partner, and pressures from her parents. The book engages themes of social and cultural expectations, anxiety, and self-identity as its unnamed protagonist tries to find her way in life and love. Its academic setting makes it relatable to the NYU community, He says. “It was the first book that I read that I was just like, ‘Oh my God, I feel so seen,’” she says with a laugh.
Why she recommends it:
“It's kind of a coming of age book for those who are in college or graduate school,” she says. “The main character deals with expectations and pressure from her research lab, her parents, and from her partner, who just finished his PhD and got his ideal job. There are all these voices telling her what to do with her life but ultimately she has to make her own decisions on what is best for her. It shows how hard it can be to make those decisions, especially if it is not the ‘traditional’ pathway.
“I feel like it helps to read a book where the protagonist is feeling overwhelmed like they’re being pulled in all sorts of directions . It affirms that it is okay to make the less traditional or ‘wrong’ decision as long as it’s the right decision for you.”
David Ratzan, head of the Library of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, recommends The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (Random House, 2024).
David Ratzan (Photo by Jonathan King)
NYU Stern School of Business professor and social scientist Jonathan Haidt writes about what he calls “phone based childhood,” which has led to increases in depression, anxiety, and suicide in children. Coupled with a decline in “play-based” activities, the rise in smartphone use among youth has created a “tidal wave of suffering,” he writes. In addition to explaining the problem, Haidt offers solutions, including instituting phone-free schools and keeping kids under 16 away from social media. “Of course, I’ve lived this history, but it was still useful to have him articulate the rise of smartphones and their impact on children, documenting the phenomenon with scientific studies. I was unaware of the numbers involved and the dimensions of the problem,” Ratzan says.
Why he recommends it:
“It’s close to essential reading for parents, educators, and students, and I’m two of those three. I have three kids and I’ve seen what’s happened to them with cell phones. And as an educator I am interested in changing student patterns of behavior, and how people learn,” Ratzan says.
“I’m also interested as an ancient historian, because in the period I study [Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire] two technologies were recognized as socially transformative: the invention of writing and coinage,” he continues. “The evolution of Athenian democracy is hard to imagine without writing. Clearly, social media and smartphones are technologies that have similarly massive implications for our society and politics, as well as for the individuals operating within these social systems.”