Speaking of Higher Education : The Academic's Book of Quotations (ACE/Praeger Series on Higher Education)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Must Have! 10 Stars Worth!
Review: I have been very lucky to get this book right from the author. I have been an ardent reader of Dr. Birnbaum's books. But this one turned out to be somnething that every person, - more or less related to higher education and its fields, must have longed and waited. You may find all the quotations from the beginning of the US Higher Education history to the present date. You will find here the quotes from the distinguished presidents of the most prominent universities and their views, perceptions and thoughts. The book is fabulously organized and covers all the fields of the higher education. It is a must-have-book for everyone - even for the present, incumbent presidents and deans and for those who think they may find themselves in that position, or someone who is interested in the system of the field. One will be amused by some humorous quotes and you will stay up till late night before you decide it is time to close the book. You will come to the last page and then go back to the front page and start anew. I really enjoyed reading this book. It is rather a compendium, encyclopaedia and great reference that has been missing from our shelves. Thanks to the author for his efforts.

Rating:
Summary: Hearing from the Guardian Spirits of Academe
Review: Reading Robert Birnbaum's Speaking of Higher Education: The Academic's Book of Quotations, reminded me of my visit to the writers' museum in Dublin. Passing each object in the exhibit case such as a typewriter or journal activated an audio clip with the voice of the writer giving a reading from a work or poem. What Birnbaum does in this compilation is invoke the voices of university fathers and presidents, statesmen, professors and authors on the higher learning. How fortunate for us that Birnbaum has done all the reading and provided the Cliff notes from legendary giants such as Woodrow Wilson and Robert Maynard Hutchins along with authors Oscar Wilde, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Booker T. Washington and suffragist Susan B. Anthony to contemporary luminaries Clark Kerr and P. F. Kluge and Derek Bok. For the first pass, it is a read cover to cover-I found it impossible to put down. This is a treasure trove of wisdom from some of the most eloquent voices in the English language-some you will ponder thoughtfully, others will make you laugh out loud. Birnbaum has written extensively on higher education and has grouped the quotations thoughtfully and expertly into Four Sections: Higher Education and Society related to purpose and social issues. Section Two on Academic Affairs including policy, learning, research, scholarship and teaching. Section Three consists of Institutions and Processes-the campus, institutions, governance and administration and management. The final section covers the educational roles of the faculty, the students, and the President. The book can be read again following the author index as well as the subject index. For example, in the entries on "corporalization," the words of the sociologist Thorstein Veblen spoken in 1918 reverberate today. Almost a century ago he cautioned about erosion of the ends for which the university is maintained through imposing "standards and tests, in the place of personal conference, guidance and association between teachers and students." Or imagine finding in one collection some of the pith of the likes of Friederich W. Nietzscke, William James, Anton Chekhov, T. S. Eliot, William Butler Yeats and Alfred North Whitehead. To me, it is only fitting to end with a quotation from Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, "The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location." Robert Birnbaum's Speaking of Higher Education provides the road signs.

Rating:
Summary: Hearing from the Guardian Spirits of Academe
Review: Reading Robert Birnbaum's Speaking of Higher Education: The Academic's Book of Quotations, reminded me of my visit to the writers' museum in Dublin. Passing each object in the exhibit case such as a typewriter or journal activated an audio clip with the voice of the writer giving a reading from a work or poem. What Birnbaum does in this compilation is invoke the voices of university fathers and presidents, statesmen, professors and authors on the higher learning. How fortunate for us that Birnbaum has done all the reading and provided the Cliff notes from legendary giants such as Woodrow Wilson and Robert Maynard Hutchins along with authors Oscar Wilde, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Booker T. Washington and suffragist Susan B. Anthony to contemporary luminaries Clark Kerr and P. F. Kluge and Derek Bok. For the first pass, it is a read cover to cover-I found it impossible to put down. This is a treasure trove of wisdom from some of the most eloquent voices in the English language-some you will ponder thoughtfully, others will make you laugh out loud. Birnbaum has written extensively on higher education and has grouped the quotations thoughtfully and expertly into Four Sections: Higher Education and Society related to purpose and social issues. Section Two on Academic Affairs including policy, learning, research, scholarship and teaching. Section Three consists of Institutions and Processes-the campus, institutions, governance and administration and management. The final section covers the educational roles of the faculty, the students, and the President. The book can be read again following the author index as well as the subject index. For example, in the entries on "corporalization," the words of the sociologist Thorstein Veblen spoken in 1918 reverberate today. Almost a century ago he cautioned about erosion of the ends for which the university is maintained through imposing "standards and tests, in the place of personal conference, guidance and association between teachers and students." Or imagine finding in one collection some of the pith of the likes of Friederich W. Nietzscke, William James, Anton Chekhov, T. S. Eliot, William Butler Yeats and Alfred North Whitehead. To me, it is only fitting to end with a quotation from Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, "The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location." Robert Birnbaum's Speaking of Higher Education provides the road signs.