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WOTC’s Top 10 Summer Reads
The books WOTC editors are diving into this summer.
Noughts & Crosses, Malorie Blackman
A classic, Noughts & Crosses is a part of a hit series of novels by well-renowned author Malorie Blackman. First published in 2001, it was an immediate success and became the first novel by a black writer to feature in BBC’s Big Read list of Top 100 novels.
It is an alternate history, portraying a world in which supercontinent Pangea never broke up and African nations gained evolutionary and geo-political advantage and control over Europeans. With racial tensions running deep, the Crosses are the dark-skin elite, ensuring the pale-skinned noughts remain second-class citizens though they are no longer slaves. Against this backdrop, Blackman shows young lovers Sephy - the daughter of a powerful cross politician - and Callum - a nought, whose mother works as Sephy’s nanny until she is dismissed - attempt to develop an authentic relationship but their narrative is plagued by fear, violence, terrorism, betrayal and grief. Blackman reveals the harsh truths of what human beings are capable of doing towards each other in the face of fear and oppression.
Noughts & Crosses is a timeless piece, one that is still as powerful today as it was 20 years ago.
Ways of Seeing, John Berger
John Berger, artist, critic and writer in his time, has left behind a legacy of compassion learning and contempt for cultural gatekeeping. His ideas were a catalyst for dismantling the notion that art belongs to the elite few, popularising the attitude that art should be for all. In ‘Ways of Seeing’, Berger propounds claims that representations of men and women in visual culture induces different gazes; men examine women and women examine women.
Berger’s critical analyses on the cultural representations of men and women and the outcome on their conduct, self and mutual perception, makes this a classic and much influential text on art criticism.
The Glossy Years: Magazines, Museums and Selective Memoirs, Nicholas Coleridge
Glossy years contains the memoirs of Nicholas Coleridge, the managing director of publishing house Conde Nast for 26 years.
The Politics of Child Protection: Contemporary Developments and Future Directions, Nigel Parton
Nigel Parton is a leading writer and commentator on the child protection system. The Politics of Child Protection offers a critical analysis on the political and policy developments the system has seen in recent years, and explores the origins of the present day system. Examining tragic cases such as ‘Baby P’, he measures their impact on public and professional attitudes.
Parton offers a solution for the future ahead, looking ahead to the future of child protection/the system. Parton argues that there is an urgent need to address the wider social and political issues.
A must read for everyone interested in safeguarding and child protection.
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
According to Malcom Gladwell, everything we know or think we know about success is wrong. He debunks the myth of the ‘self-made’ man, the secrets of success are not so secret and can in fact be explained by a series of lucky events, once in a lifetime opportunities and external factors which we have no control over.
Outliers is where the idea of the 10,000 hours rule came from - that to be world-class at anything, you have to put in those hours of practice. On that fact alone, you would think ‘Outliers’ argues for deliberate practice and taking success into your own hands but it does the opposite. Using successful people, groups and communities as case studies, Gladwell demonstrates why we are less in control of our success than we believe.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
If you find yourself failing to incorporate habits or you simply want to build new ones, This is definitely a must read in 2021.
Atomic habits will help you build better habits. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, offers a proven framework for improving daily. From the 1% rule to changing your identity before changing the outcome, it is packed with insights and practical strategies that will teach you how to break bad habits, form good ones and master the tiny behaviours that can produce great results.
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado-Perez
Activist and writer Caroline Criado Perez’s book is an engaging read. She argues, convincingly, that our world is designed around the ‘default male’. The default male is rather the ‘human’, with society influenced by male thinking, there are severe consequences for women ranging from phones that don’t fit out hands to more lethal cases such as the misdiagnosis of heart attacks.
Perez does a great deal to present data on bias, stating that this bias pervades all areas of modern life and women are seriously disadvantaged as a result. At a time when the BBC’s gender pay gap report revealed in 2017 unleashed a storm, her analysis and data only exposed these distorting effects further. Even with the startling facts, she argues that most of this bias is unconscious, feminism is the process of becoming conscious again, an ongoing process for all of us.
Fit For Consumption: Sociology and the Business of Fitness, Jennifer Smith Maguire
Jennifer Smith Macquire’s study of private fitness clubs in New York has been accepted as a welcome addition to the sociology of sport and the sociology of consumption. She first provides an overview of physical culture in the USA from the 19th century, then traces the emergence of ‘positive sport ideology’ before outlining the constructions of fitness that emerge in different spaces, the stratification of health clubs, fitness media and the transformation of personal training services.
It is definitely a persuasive account of the significance of private fitness clubs in physical culture.
Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Jaron Lanier
Jaron Lanier is convinced that social media is making us sadder, angrier, more isolated and we are simply addicted to it. This book came at an opportune time to amplify rising concerns about social media; How it works, why we continue to use it and what it does to our behaviour.
Larnier, who was present in Silicon Valley at the time the social net was created, elaborates on ten arguments against social media. He asserts that what was first perceived as useful, has become dangerously addictive; Social media is causing us to lose our free will and is in short, chipping away at our humanity and threatening to tear away the fabrics of our society.
Navigating the Art World: Professional Practice for the Early Career Artist, Delphian
Delphian Gallery’s first book shares insights from industry professionals to guide artists through their first years in the industry. These insights span a range of topics from gaining exposure, finding an audience, engaging with galleries and so much more.
“We basically wrote a list of things we wish we’d known at the beginning of our careers and set about trying to shine some light on those things,” says co-founder Nick JS Thompson.
‘Navigating the Art World’ is highly recommended by artists and creatives.