About

I review books published by Duke University Press.

Why?

I do it for fun and to improve my writing skills.

Although I’m not an academic, I am an avid reader of academic books.

A while ago I realized lots of books I was reading were published by a few academic publishers.

I chose to concentrate on Duke University Press’ books because:

– they are moderately priced;

– many can be found free on the internet (OAPEN Library, Project MUSE);

– they deal with topics that I find interesting;

– they have elegant book covers;

– even though they straddle many disciplines, there is an editing line that brings a coherence to the whole;

– I sometimes find them irritating, which allows me to write negative reviews;

– they are thought-provoking.

Who am I?

I am a French public servant with a personal interest in anthropology and Asian studies.

I was trained as an economist, but nobody’s perfect.

I like to study foreign languages. I speak Japanese and Korean, and sometimes read books in these languages, in addition to books in my native French.