Off the Shelf

Off the Shelf is a Columbia News series in which professors discuss their recently published books, as well as what they have read recently and recommend, and who they would invite to the perfect dinner party.

Samson Occom was the first Native person to be ordained a minister in the New England colonies.

Leveling the Learning Curve shows how digital tools can share knowledge more widely by reaching new audiences.

Nicholas Dames provides the answer in his new volume.

David Helfand explores this question and many others in The Universal Timekeepers.

Rafael Yuste provides a unified framework for how the brain functions in “Lectures in Neuroscience.”

The new book Catastrophic Incentives explores why society is underprepared for natural and human-made disasters.

In An Ethos of Blackness, Vivaldi Jean-Marie reexamines the movement’s core beliefs and practices.

In Easily Slip Into Another World, he shapes the tale of musician Henry Threadgill.

In The Light Room, the School of the Arts writing professor captures both the joy and the exhaustion of motherhood.

Heidi Julavits explores this and other questions in her memoir, Directions to Myself.

Josef Sorett examines the complex religious ideas and practices in his book, Black is a Church.

In his latest book, Bernard E. Harcourt outlines a plan for how people can work together and extend the ideals of participatory democracy.