Books are, in many ways, the lifeblood of intellectual life. Of course, most academics write more journal articles, often by a large number, than they ever will books. Nevertheless, it is the books that last. Looking for something to read by Erving Goffman, students are more likely to be directed to his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life  than, say, his article ‘On Cooling the Mark Out’ (amazing as that piece is). Meanwhile, those looking for something to read by Pierre Bourdieu are more likely to encounter Distinction than ‘Public Opinion does not Exist’ (again, an astounding piece of scholarship itself). I would suggest this is how it should be, books are statements in ways that journal articles simply can’t be. Partly this is a question of space, but it is also about their purpose. Journal articles are contributions to debates here and now, attempts to further an ongoing discussion; books are meant to exist beyond the now.

Yet, despite this, most scholars find it harder and harder in the confines of contemporary academia to locate and read books. Time is a major hurdle here – perversely Universities do not consider reading a key requirement of academic life in the current day – but it’s also a question of scope. There are lots of brilliant books being published at any one time and it is hard to keep up. The UK has an added disadvantage since our ‘Research Excellence Framework’ (REF), with its emphasis on ‘originality’, has pushed academics away from writing book reviews, a central part of academic labour and a way we traditionally would’ve come across new books to read.

These considerations are part of the reason why in July 2024 I volunteered to become a host on The New Books Network. The network is dedicated to interviewing authors about their books, with different channels for distinct disciplines. I am a host on the New Books in Sociology feed, but there are dozens of channels ranging across New Books in Folklore, New Books in the Indian Ocean World, New Books in Sport and New Books in Film, to pick some at random. Authors on the channels pick a book they’re interested in and invite the author on to discuss it. I volunteered having twice before been interviewed on the channel and having greatly enjoyed it. It was also a way for me to seek to carve out the space in my intellectual life that books need to occupy.

The benefit to interviewing someone about a book is that they are, by definition, an expert on their field. Writing a book is a challenge and it requires a lot of an author, but the gain is that it ensures a mastery of the field and the ability to synthesis it together that no other intellectual exercise can achieve (bar teaching, and it is indeed notable how often academic books start as lecture courses).

I’ve been fortunate to have some amazing guests on discussing brilliant books (you can see the episodes I’ve recorded here). It was of course a bit of a challenge for me to become a ‘host’. I remember listening to some early episodes and realising just how much I had a nervous laugh. It also gives you a new appreciation for how difficult the role of interviewing someone about a book is; the need to cut down years of work to a short set of questions is a real challenge. It has also made me a more attentive reader, forcing me to think as I read about how this book can be discussed, a collaborative process, rather than simply taking from it what I want, a one-sided process.

I’d encourage everyone to check out the Network. You can find podcasts on a whole variety of different topics and it is a good way to learn what is being published. This includes stuff that you never knew before that you were interested in, for example one of the most interesting episodes I have listened to was one on Einstein’s politics. Appropriately, I then went and read the book.

And, of course, if anyone has a new book coming out in the fields of social theory or the history of sociology, please get in touch. I think I’ve solved that issue of the nervous laugh…

Image credit: Ajay CV on Unsplash

First published: 22 September 2025

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