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This fair-minded and reader-friendly book might just help produce the trust, respect, and tolerance necessary for academic community. By closely examining scholarly evaluation and identifying distinctive disciplinary definitions of quality among the humanities and social sciences, Michèle Lamont shows that academic culture, far from being a hierarchy declining from supposedly more “rigorous” and demanding disciplines to those less so, is constituted of many different excellencies.
–Thomas Bender, author of Intellect and Public Life

A masterpiece. Lamont starts with her greatest accomplishment: a nuanced account of the epistemic cultures that dominate social sciences and humanities. Their differences show the problem of building a culture of discourse in multidisciplinary review, so that committees can decide which standard is best. Lamont breaks new ground in showing how personal preferences, disciplinary, gender, and ethnic diversity, and elitist and populist impulses are incorporated in such decisions.
–Arthur Stinchcombe, author of The Logic of Social Research

Professors pride themselves on objectivity, or failing that, fairness to competing views, or failing that, at least the capacity for neutral analysis. But based on her ground-breaking study of peer review, Michèle Lamont argues that professorial pride is excessive, that the outcomes of peer review are shaped by institutional mechanics as much as by reason, and that reviewers favor work that looks like their own much more than they realize they do. But Lamont also shows that that reviewers are serious about trying to identify the best proposals and trying to overcome their own biases, and that their commitment to the review process itself makes the outcomes more fair. How Professors Think will be eye-opening for those who run peer review, those who participate in it, and those interested in a sociology of expert judgment.
–Craig Calhoun, Social Science Research Council

In this ingenious study, the first of its kind, Michèle Lamont opens an important and mysterious black box–how professors arrive at “fair evaluations”. Lamont brilliantly shows us not only the interpersonal processes that make review panels work, but also how disciplinary cultures affect academic judgment, and what the political and knowledge consequences are of the way we judge excellence. It will be enlightening for everyone in academia.
–Karin Knorr Cetina, University of Chicago and University of Konstanz

All the deans and provosts who fret about their rankings and grant money should read this first hand account of how scholars and social scientists are evaluated in practice.
–Bruno Latour, author of Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy

Balanced, informative and largely persuasive.
–Adam Kuper (Times Literary Supplement )

Excellence. Originality. Intelligence. Everyone in academia stresses quality. But what exactly is it, and how do professors identify it?

In the academic evaluation system known as “peer review,” highly respected professors pass judgment, usually confidentially, on the work of others. But only those present in the deliberative chambers know exactly what is said. Michèle Lamont observed deliberations for fellowships and research grants, and interviewed panel members at length. In How Professors Think, she reveals what she discovered about this secretive, powerful, peculiar world.

Anthropologists, political scientists, literary scholars, economists, historians, and philosophers don’t share the same standards. Economists prefer mathematical models, historians favor different kinds of evidence, and philosophers don’t care much if only other philosophers understand them. But when they come together for peer assessment, academics are expected to explain their criteria, respect each other’s expertise, and guard against admiring only work that resembles their own. They must decide: Is the research original and important? Brave, or glib? Timely, or merely trendy? Pro-diversity or interdisciplinary enough?

Judging quality isn’t robotically rational; it’s emotional, cognitive, and social, too. Yet most academics’ self-respect is rooted in their ability to analyze complexity and recognize quality, in order to come to the fairest decisions about that elusive god, “excellence.” In How Professors Think, Lamont aims to illuminate the confidential process of evaluation and to push the gatekeepers to both better understand and perform their role.

Snappy and practical, this guide to quitting your job at the “e-mail-saturated, meeting-happy cube farm” will prove indispensable to any young professional itching to strike out on her own. Goodman, a successful freelance writer, aims her book at women between 25 and 35, but young men will likely find her advice (always send a thank you note after an informational interview; play it cool if you snort coffee out your nose) just as relevant. From “sussing out the gigs” to guidance on taxes and health insurance to battling “the inertia that binds one’s derriere to the sofa like a tongue to a frozen flagpole,” Goodman covers all the aspects of going solo. A “Show Me the Money” section at the end of each chapter gives readers money-saving tips (eat all the food in your fridge before it “liquefies or grows spores”), and checklists covering steps readers must take before becoming self-employed. Goodman’s advice is applicable to a broad range of careers, though the non-profit and international travel chapters are useful primarily for pointing to other, more in-depth sources. Goodman’s tone is realistic-taking into account the obstacles facing a generation burdened early by debt-but she retains a sense of humor, making this information-dense guide an encouraging, buoyant lifesaver.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

In a practical guide for young women who are ready to abandon their cubicles and carve out their own dreams, Goodman offers tools and tips for joining the DIY career club. Echoing many career-advice books, Goodman focuses on defining what your passion is and then mapping out a series of transition plans to get from cubicle to dream job. The book is most appropriate for women early in their careers who have not invested much time or energy on a serious career path. Her recommendations for freelancing, temping, part-time work, and lots of career exploration speak to a woman who has not yet found her calling. How-to sections on networking, deciding about additional schooling, resume preparation, and information interviewing are most appropriate for the younger worker still figuring out her career path. Gail Whitcomb
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

In Think Big, which emanates from the last chapter of his best-selling Gifted Hands, Dr. Ben Carson prescribes his personal formula for success. And who could better advise than one who transformed his own life from that of being a ghetto kid with problems in school to becoming the most celebrated pediatric neurosurgeon in the world? With an acrostic, Dr. Carson spells out his philosophy of living: T -Talents/time: Recognize as gifts from God  H -Hope for good things and be honest  I -insight from people and good books  N -Be nice to all people  K -Knowledge: Recognize as they key to living  B -Books: Read them actively  I -In-depth learning skills: Develop them  G -God: Never get too big for Him — Think Big does not offer pat answers, or promise a life of ease, but it does show how a person should view problems, evaluate them, react to them, and eventually overcome them. The philosophy in Think Big can be applied by all individuals to their own lives and help them to make the most of the gifts that God has given them.

Ben Carson is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University and the author of two best-selling books, Gifted Hands and Think Big. A widely respected role model, he shares motivational insights with inner-city kids and corporate executives alike. He serves on the board at Yale University and on the board of the Kellogg Company. He lives in Baltimore, MD. Gregg Lewis is a freelance writer with 25 years experience in the publishing industry. The author or coauthor of more than 30 books, he lives with his wife and five children in Rome, Georgia