Tag: Teach Me How To Dewey

DDC 450-499: A grossly unfair linguistic ellipses

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 450 Italian, Romanian & related languages
  • 460 Spanish, Portuguese, Galician
  • 470 Latin & Italic languages
  • 480 Classical & modern Greek languages
  • 490 Other languages

Here’s the deal: I started trying to find books in each of the above 10-spots but was having trouble finding 3 that weren’t straight up dictionaries or the usual dry if practical phrase books for each of the sections’ languages. And then I didn’t post on TMHTD for a while out of benign neglect, so then I decided, Why don’t I just lump all these disparate languages together into one post so I can catch up and offend people all over the world? The end.

So yeah, we’re hopping on a redeye to fly over all these beautiful countries and their beautiful, complicated, storied languages, but hey, look out the window! There’s Barcelona and Rome and Athens and whatever the capital of Romania is!

The Dew3:

Madre: Perilous Journeys With A Spanish Noun
By Elizabeth Bakewell
Dewey: 465
Random Sentence: “Uncultivated weeds reaching for the sky, taking over the one ground field with entropic gusto.”

Hide This Italian Book
Dewey: 458.3421
Random Sentence: “Stefania e una botte (Stefanie is a barrel).”

Carpe Diem: Put A Little Latin in Your Life
By Harry Mount
Dewey: 478.82
Random Sentence: “Tom Cruise is the little big man of the screen.”

August 27, 2016 Add Comment

DDC 440-449: Foux Du Fa French

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 440 Romance languages; French
  • 441 French writing system & phonology
  • 442 French etymology
  • 443 French dictionaries
  • 444 Not assigned or no longer used
  • 445 French grammar
  • 446 Not assigned or no longer used
  • 447 French language variations
  • 448 Standard French usage
  • 449 Provençal & Catalan

You thinking what I’m thinking? I hope so. Like it or not that’s what I think of when trying to speak fake French. That guttural huh huh huh is probably what the French hate the most about the French stereotype, though I don’t know any French people so I’m just gonna assume that’s true without confirming like a good cultured-enough American. #patriotism

I kid. I’d love to visit France one day, and if I do get that chance I’d likely bone up on the language beforehand using these books:

The Dew3:

Les Bons Mots: How to Amaze “tout Le Monde” With Everyday French
By Eugene Ehrlich
Dewey: 443.21
Random Sentence: “Ferme ta gueule! (shut your trap!)”

Say Chic: A Collection of French Words We Can’t Live Without
By Françoise Blanchard
Dewey: 448.2421
Random Sentence: “One suspects that the valiant Crusaders would not have been pleased.”

The Story of French
By Jean-Benoit Nadeau
Dewey: 440.9
Random Sentence: “Merchants in Sudbury still hesitate to put simple signs saying Bonjour on their doors.”

January 31, 2015 Add Comment

DDC 430-439: Polyglöts Ünite

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 430 Germanic languages; German
  • 431 German writing system & phonology
  • 432 German etymology
  • 433 German dictionaries
  • 434 Not assigned or no longer used
  • 435 German grammar
  • 436 Not assigned or no longer used
  • 437 German language variations
  • 438 Standard German usage
  • 439 Other Germanic languages

Based on the material available in this section, I’d venture to say that while Germanic languages aren’t the prettiest ones out there, they are often the most interesting. There’s the umlaut-loving Swedish, the melting-pot Afrikaans, the Tolkien-like Icelandic… I’ll never have enough time to learn them all, but were I to undergo a superhero origin story, I hope my heroic alter ego would be a polyglot.

The Dew3:

Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods
By Michael Wex
Dewey: 439.1
Random Sentence: “Men, women, and children: they drink, they fight, and they screw.”

Swedish: A Complete Course for Beginners
By Vera Croghan
Dewey: 439.782421
Random Sentence: “Vad kostar tomaterna?”

Colloquial Afrikaans: The Complete Course for Beginners
By B.C. Donaldson
Dewey: 439.3682421
Random Sentence: “Ek het vanoggend brood gekoop.”

August 28, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 420-429: Nouns and Pronounce

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 420 English & Old English
  • 421 English writing system & phonology
  • 422 English etymology
  • 423 English dictionaries
  • 424 No longer used—formerly English thesauruses
  • 425 English grammar
  • 426 No longer used—formerly English prosodies
  • 427 English language variations
  • 428 Standard English usage
  • 429 Old English (Anglo-Saxon)

While I know a little Spanish, English is (obvs) my primary language. And what a weird language it is. I’m so glad I didn’t have to learn it later in life, because in some ways it makes no sense. Especially pronunciation: this well-known poem illustrates that well. But because it’s second nature to me, it’s hard to tell how English stacks up against other languages vis a vis difficulty in grammar and pronunciation, logical spelling, and poetic beauty. I certainly enjoy writing in English, though I often wish all those silent letters—like in its buddy French—could die. Isn’t tho much better, prettier, and more sensical than though? That superfluous ugh is just… Ugh….

The Dew3:

I Love It When You Talk Retro: Hoochie Coochie, Double Whammy, Drop A Dime, and the Forgotten Origins of American Speech
By Ralph Keyes
Dewey: 422
Random Sentence: “Rutabaga is funny. Potatoes aren’t.”

Death Sentences: How Clichés, Weasel Words, and Management-speak Are Strangling Public Language
By Don Watson
Dewey: 428
Random Sentence: “You are trapped in the language like a parrot in a cage.”

An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition
By James Lipton
Dewey: 428.1
Random Sentence: “So, Mr. Safire, how about a phumpher of schwas?”

August 22, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 410-419: Linguistics alfredo

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 410 Linguistics
  • 411 Writing systems
  • 412 Etymology
  • 413 Dictionaries
  • 414 Phonology
  • 415 Structural systems (Grammar)
  • 416 No longer used—formerly Prosody (linguistics)
  • 417 Dialectology & historical linguistics
  • 418 Standard usage; Applied linguistics
  • 419 Verbal language not spoken or written

Regarding the post title: what did you expect? This is a section all about words! (Plus I love pasta.) But just look at this beautiful list of literary terms. I’ve heard of probably 10% of them, but I wish to know them all, to hug them tenderly and use them liberally in my own writing and speech. Any other word nerds out there? My logophilia is partly inherited (my late grandfather loved crosswords and learning languages throughout his life), but it’s also a learned love, facilitated by reading more and more things in increasingly diverse genres and forms.

I want to give a special shout-out to the first of the Dew3 picks: it’s pure punctuation porn for weirdos like me who could admire various punctuation marks all day. In fact, I now have plans for the weekend…

The Dew3:

Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks
By Keith Houston
Dewey: 411
Random Sentence: “Case closed ;)”

Is That A Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything
By David Bellos
Dewey: 418.02
Random Sentence: “For your aches / Carat cakes / Are the cure.”

Bastard Tongues: A Trailblazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World’s Lowliest Languages
By Derek Bickerton
Dewey: 417.2
Random Sentence: “Wolf has taken daddy, gone, and eaten him.”

August 20, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 400-409: Learn ALL THE WORDS

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 400 Language
  • 401 Philosophy & theory
  • 402 Miscellany
  • 403 Dictionaries & encyclopedias
  • 404 Special topics
  • 405 Serial publications
  • 406 Organizations & management
  • 407 Education, research, related topics
  • 408 With respect to kinds of persons
  • 409 Geographical & persons treatment

Gotta admit this up front: I friggin’ love words. As an English major, a writer, a reader—pick the reason. I love them so much that I keep a list of cool words I’ve encountered that I want to remember. (*pushes up glasses*) So I’m embarking on the 400s with great vim and ebullience. Though, curiously, I’ve thus far restrained myself from owning a physical dictionary, mostly because I can’t decide which version I should have. Plus, with the OED and Merriam-Webster adding new words every year, it would soon be out of date. And I gotta have ALL THE WORDS if I have a book of them. (Erin McKean’s TEDTalk on this topic is a great one if you’re interested. And who wouldn’t be?!)

Regardless, I’m pumped—nay, aflutter—to go through this section and see all the lexical gold we will find. Shall we?

The Dew3:

A Little Book of Language
By David Crystal
Dewey: 400
Random Sentence: “The Smiths will be in their clarence.”

The Way We Talk Now: Commentaries on Language and Culture From NPR’s “Fresh Air”
By Geoffrey Nunberg
Dewey: 400
Random Sentence: “They don’t hear a lot of resemblances to Angelina Jolie, either.”

The Infinite Gift: How Children Learn and Unlearn the Languages of the World
By Charles Yang
Dewey: 401.93
Random Sentence: “It would have been fun to know what Adam and Eve said to each other in Africa.”

August 16, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 390-399: Emily Post-Its

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 390 Customs, etiquette, folklore
  • 391 Costume & personal appearance
  • 392 Customs of life cycle & domestic life
  • 393 Death customs
  • 394 General customs
  • 395 Etiquette (Manners)
  • 396 No longer used—formerly Women’s position and treatment
  • 397 No longer used—formerly outcast studies
  • 398 Folklore
  • 399 Customs of war & diplomacy

This section is a bit of a grab-bag. I suppose customs, etiquette, and folklore fit together under the broad category of culture, but on the shelves this looks like that one drawer in the kitchen where you throw all that miscellaneous crap that doesn’t have a standard space, like rubber bands and capless pens and scrap paper. Not at all discounting the value of these topics—because how could we live without Emily Post telling us how to behave?!—but clearly some sections are better synthesized and meant to be than others. But that’s why we love Dewey, right? There’s a reason for everything (theoretically… we hope…) so we best try to understand why.

Or these books just needed to be somewhere.

The Dew3:

Breakfast: A History
By Heather Arndt
Dewey: 394.1252
Random Sentence: “For those wanting even less human contact for their meal, there were the automats.”

Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That?: A Modern Guide to Manners
By Henry Alford
Dewey: 395
Random Sentence: “I have benign hand tumors, so don’t worry.”

Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folktales From the Gulf States
By Zora Neale Hurston
Dewey: 398.208996073
Random Sentence: “Tom told his wife, ‘Tell God I’m not here.’”

August 14, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 380-389: We built this city on rock and roads

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 380 Commerce, communications, transport
  • 381 Internal commerce (Domestic trade)
  • 382 International commerce (Foreign trade)
  • 383 Postal communication
  • 384 Communications; Telecommunication
  • 385 Railroad transportation
  • 386 Inland waterway & ferry transportation
  • 387 Water, air, space transportation
  • 388 Transportation; Ground transportation
  • 389 Metrology & standardization

Honestly, I was surprised by how intrigued I was by this section. Typically I’m not one to fall for anything relating to commerce, but I’m officially coming back to this section to find stuff for my to-read shelf. As represented by the Dew3 picks below, I’m often fascinated by how systems, especially concrete and/or historical, come into being. So while I wouldn’t care much for systems of thought or abstract things, I’m all over the Transcontinental Railroad and space transportation, despite my highly limited knowledge of engineering. Or perhaps it’s because of that lack of knowledge that I’m interested. Knowledge rocks! As do trains!

The Dew3:

The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
By Tim Wu
Dewey: 384
Random Sentence: “Is Google destined to arrive at its Napoleonic moment?”

Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869
By Stephen Ambrose
Dewey: 385.0973
Random Sentence: “This was hard work, dangerous and claustrophobic.”

The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
By Earl Swift
Dewey: 388.122
Random Sentence: “Even by his standards, he was stinking rich.”

August 12, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 370-379: Trigger warning – School

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 370 Education
  • 371 School management; special education; alternative education
  • 372 Elementary education
  • 373 Secondary education
  • 374 Adult education
  • 375 Curriculums
  • 376 No longer used—formerly Education of women
  • 377 No longer used—formerly Ethical education
  • 378 Higher education
  • 379 Government regulation, control, support

A fitting section to happen upon as we approach back-to-school season. It’s a time of year that is bittersweet for me: while I do miss the camaraderie and intellectual rigor of being in school, I don’t miss BSing papers, having to take math, and the peaks and valleys of semester after semester of different work. But every trip to Target these days brings all this back, especially seeing all those school supplies that would be on the list every year but that I would never use. I mean, who uses hole-punch reinforcement stickers?

Anyway, this section goes out to all those teachers returning from the sunny beach and getting back into the classroom to prepare for another year. I had a handful of terrible teachers in my day, but also some great ones. Here’s hoping for your kids’ sake that you’re the latter.

The Dew3:

How Lincoln Learned to Read: Twelve Great Americans and the Educations That Made Them
By Daniel Wolff
Dewey: 370.973
Random Sentence: “He’d sworn off that, but there was this: this hunt for ideas.”

True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall
By Mark Salzman
Dewey: 373.11
Random Sentence: “You stealin’ my chips?”

Be Honest: And Other Advice from Students Across the Country
Edited by Ninive Calegari
Dewey: 371.8
Random Sentence: “You are not our last salvation.”

August 8, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 360-369: A curious case of massive understatement

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 360 Social services; association
  • 361 General social problems
  • 362 Social welfare problems & services
  • 363 Other social problems & services
  • 364 Criminology
  • 365 Penal & related institutions
  • 366 Association
  • 367 General clubs
  • 368 Insurance
  • 369 Miscellaneous kinds of associations

361 “General social problems”? Really, Dewey? There could (and probably should) be an entire library filled with books in that subclass. But as has been the case with the previous 300s sections, this one gets FascinationPoints™ for dealing with people themselves: the good, the bad, the insane, the pathological, the criminal… We contain multitudes, we humans and our psyches, and it’s all pretty well represented here. So dive in, if you dare, to the Human Experience. Hope you brought a swimming suit because you’re about to get drenched by humanity.

The Dew3:

Devil in the Details: Scenes From An Obsessive Girlhood
By Jennifer Traig
Dewey: 362.196852
Random Sentence: “Instead of tights, I had Torah.”

The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant: An Adoption Story
By Dan Savage
Dewey: 362.73408664
Random Sentence: “I took some more codeine.”

Catch Me If You Can
By Frank Abagnale
Dewey: 364.163
Random Sentence: “After that I was flying kites.”

August 6, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 350-359: Battle Cry of Deweydom

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 350 Public administration
  • 351 Of central governments
  • 352 Of local governments
  • 353 Of U.S. federal & state governments
  • 354 Of specific central governments
  • 355 Military science
  • 356 Foot forces & warfare
  • 357 Mounted forces & warfare
  • 358 Other specialized forces & services
  • 359 Sea (Naval) forces & warfare

Time to rally ‘round the flag, sound the horns, and charge into the stacks to do battle with the many books in the 350s. As a Yankee-bred Union man, I’m partial to “The Battle Cry of Freedom” but realize my counterparts below the Mason-Dixon line might prefer the equally catchy but mightily more incendiary “Dixie.” (Whichever one you pick, rest assured that people will judge you for it.)

While the Civil War is the prototypical American military story, you’ll have to head to the 900s to get history on that: this section tackles the armed forces themselves in all their diversity (as well as “public administration,” whatever that means). I’m not much of a military buff. I’m probably most familiar with World War II, whether because my familial connection to it through my grandpa or the plethora of popular and academic readings and pop-culture renderings of it. While I can’t say I’m glad that there’s a lot of interest in the armed forces, it’s certainly a huge part of American culture, and human nature for that matter.

The Dew3:

Badass Ultimate Deathmatch: Skull-crushing True Stories of the Most Hardcore Duels, Showdowns, Fistfights, Last Stands, Suicide Charges, and Military Engagements of All Time
By Ben Thompson
Dewey: 355.0092
Random Sentence: “I think we can all see that this is pretty messed up.”

The Troopers: An Informal History of the Plains Cavalry, 1865-1890
By S.E. Whitman
Dewey: 357.10973
Random Sentence: “Nor could the Republicans duck.”

The Heart and the Fist: The Education of A Humanitarian, the Making of A Navy SEAL
By Eric Greitens
Dewey: 359.984
Random Sentence: “It’s death. There is no prize for 2nd place.”

August 1, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 340-349: Law and Boredom

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 340 Law
  • 341 International law
  • 342 Constitutional & administrative law
  • 343 Military, tax, trade, industrial law
  • 344 Social, labor, welfare, & related law
  • 345 Criminal law
  • 346 Private law
  • 347 Civil procedure & courts
  • 348 Law (Statutes), regulations, cases
  • 349 Law of specific jurisdictions & areas

Favorite courtroom drama? 12 Angry Men, hands down. I’m also a sucker for Aaron Sorkin’s smooth, laser-fast writing in A Few Good Men and the politically hokey yet dramatic flair of Runaway Jury. But we’re talking about real law, aren’t we. In that case, I suppose it’s time for a serious, substantive discussion about 347 Civil Procedure & Courts or 349 Law of Specific Jurisdictions & Areas. Anyone? Bueller? That’s what I thought.

Law (and I’m sure most lawyers would agree, though don’t litigate me on this because I have zero evidence to back it up) is way more boring in real life than in the movies. And what isn’t? I’m much rather watch Tom Cruise cruise his way through witty monologues than listen to civil attorneys drone on about procedure and precedent in cases from before the Civil War. Am I being unfair? Sue me.

(Please don’t sue me.)

The Dew3:

Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution
By Richard Beeman
Dewey: 342.7302
Random Sentence: “Without naming it, Wilson was calling for the creation of an electoral college.”

Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining: America’s Toughest Family Court Judge Speaks Out
By Judy Scheindlin
Dewey: 346.7470150269
Random Sentence: “This is not Let’s Make A Deal, and I’m not Marty Hall!”

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
By Jeffrey Toobin
Dewey: 347.7326
Random Sentence: “He dominated the arguments to an almost embarrassing degree.”

July 30, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 330-339: Economics? Interesting? WTF

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 330 Economics
  • 331 Labor economics
  • 332 Financial economics
  • 333 Land economics
  • 334 Cooperatives
  • 335 Socialism & related systems
  • 336 Public finance
  • 337 International economics
  • 338 Production
  • 339 Macroeconomics & related topics

Gotta be honest: I was not expecting to find as many interesting books in this section as I did. Like another theoretical principle involving numbers, economics scares me. (I do take great pleasure in the good work of the people at Planet Money, whose mission is to speak plainly about the economy so number-dumb English majors like me can understand what’s going on in the world.) But when I saw what “land economics” meant book-wise (essentially, how to take care of nature) and that “public finance” isn’t quite as mind-numbing as it sounds (yet I’ll still leave it to the financiers—try not to crash the world economy again!), I felt encouraged. There’s plenty to be bored by here, as with most sections, but also more than meets the perusing eye.

The Dew3:

John Muir and the Ice That Started A Fire: How A Visionary and the Glaciers of Alaska Changed America
By Kim Heacox
Dewey: 333.72
Random Sentence: “His stout muffled body seemed all one skipping muscle.”

A Sand County Almanac: With Other Essays on Conservation From Round River
By Aldo Leopold
Dewey: 333.72
Random Sentence: “There is a peculiar virtue in the music of elusive birds.”

Belching Out the Devil: Global Adventures With Coca-Cola
By Mark Thomas
Dewey: 338.766362
Random Sentence: “Are you a porn star?”

July 25, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 320-329: Beware the festering swamp

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 320 Political science
  • 321 Systems of governments & states
  • 322 Relation of state to organized groups
  • 323 Civil & political rights
  • 324 The political process
  • 325 International migration & colonization
  • 326 Slavery & emancipation
  • 327 International relations
  • 328 The legislative process
  • 329 Not assigned or no longer used

Ah yes, politics: the second of the Banned At Thanksgiving Dinner topics is finally at hand. Personally, I’m fascinated by politics (American specifically). Notice I didn’t say I love them: as a history nut I enjoy viewing current events in historical context, and also enjoy dissecting the various political narratives that come out of them, but horse-race politics disgust me. I’m a moderate through and through, leaning left on some issues and right on others, but I’m a radical in my view that cable news is generally a vapid abomination of journalism and that politics in the U.S. is a festering swamp of ego and soul-crushing skullduggery.

All that to say that I took extra care in this section to avoid those shoddy polemics by pundits, hucksters, and otherwise annoying public figures who for some cosmically sad reason make a lot of money saying stupid and/or wrong things on TV. There are so many of those books! But there are just as many interesting, well-written ones about a variety of political issues that you ought to check out.

The Dew3:

The Black Panthers Speak
Dewey: 322.42
Random Sentence: “Whose benefit are they concerned with, Huey P. Newton’s or black lawyers?”

Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America A Democracy
By Bruce Watson
Dewey: 323.1196
Random Sentence: “Beer cans flew, and a SNCC car’s tires were slashed.”

Will the Gentleman Yield: The Congressional Record Humor Book
Dewey: 328.7300207
Random Sentence: “I await with eager anticipation my trophy.”

July 23, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 310-319: “Sports statistics… interesting subject. Homework, Tannen?”

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 310 General statistics
  • 311 No longer used—formerly Theory and methods
  • 312 No longer used—formerly Population
  • 313 No longer used—formerly Special topics
  • 314 General statistics Of Europe
  • 315 General statistics Of Asia
  • 316 General statistics Of Africa
  • 317 General statistics Of North America
  • 318 General statistics Of South America
  • 319 General statistics Of other parts of the world

Man… some slim pickin’s here. Besides the series of World Almanacs that go a few years back, literally the only other books my library has are the two other ones featured below. (Not even the Grays Sports Almanac? C’mon library!) On the one hand, this reveals the woeful lack of interest in statistics, which are fundamental tools for understanding our world. On the other hand, statistics are super boring (if you aren’t a Nate Silver acolyte at least), so I’m hardly weeping here.

Does anyone else’s library have a paucity of statistical representation in the stacks? And does anyone care? I’m not trying to be flippant here; public libraries have a obligation to the reading habits and desires of their local citizenry and not necessarily to a completist’s quest for ALL THE INFORMATION. So if that means, skimping on the stats, then so be it. More room for cooler stuff like history and… really anything that isn’t statistics.

The Dew3:

The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2014
By Sarah Janssen
Dewey: 310
Random Sentence: “Illinois electricity use/cost: 770 kWh, $90.80.“

America’s Ranking Among Nations: A Global Perspective of the United States in Graphic Detail
By Michael Dulberger
Dewey: 317.3
Random Sentence: “In 2011, India had 12 times the population density (persons per square mile) as the United States.”

The Unofficial U.S. Census: Things the Official U.S. Census Doesn’t Tell You About America
By Les Krantz
Dewey: 317.3
Random Sentence: “But in the end, even Stephen Hawking says time travel is probably not going to happen.”

July 21, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 300-309: Welcome to the Human Jungle

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
  • 301 Sociology & anthropology
  • 302 Social interaction
  • 303 Social processes
  • 304 Factors affecting social behavior
  • 305 Social groups
  • 306 Culture & institutions
  • 307 Communities
  • 308 No longer used—formerly Polygraphy
  • 309 No longer used—formerly History of sociology

Welcome to the 300s! Officially designated for the social sciences, I’m calling it the Human Jungle because it gets into the thick of stuff about people and cultures. I don’t know about yours, but in my library this section went on for sooooo long. Understandably so, since the subjects are so big and broadly defined, with new research and ideas coming out of them all the time. But I was pleased to see just how diverse the books were as I walked down the aisles.

Though I had very little academic experience in sociology (English and history all the way, y’all), I’m fascinated by how people influence culture and vice versa. Though much of what we know about that becomes outdated as time goes by and new information surfaces, I like to see the variety of books in the 300s as documentation of the evolution of humans’ understanding of humanity. Such a thing has been and always will be incomplete, but that won’t be for lack of trying.

The Dew3:

Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy
By Emily Bazelon
Dewey: 302.34
Random Sentence: “I don’t know what else I can do to protect my son.”

Race Matters
By Cornel West
Dewey: 305.800973
Random Sentence: “Black anti-Semitism and Jewish antiblack racism are real, and both are as profoundly American as cherry pie.”

American Nerd: The Story of My People
By Benjamin Nugent
Dewey: 305.9085
Random Sentence: “The newt impulse exists among sci-fi fans, but in a much subtler way.”

July 18, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 290-299: Like the ending of LOST

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 290 Other & comparative religions
  • 291 Comparative religion
  • 292 Classical (Greek & Roman) religion
  • 293 Germanic religion
  • 294 Religions of Indian origin
  • 295 Zoroastrianism (Mazdaism, Parseeism)
  • 296 Judaism
  • 297 Islam, Bábism & Bahá’í Faith
  • 298 No longer used—formerly Mormonism
  • 299 Other religions

As acknowledged back in DDC 220-229, the 200s have been overwhelmingly biased toward Christianity. But don’t fear, every other religious person reading this: your time has come! The Lords of Dewey have deigned the 290s the “Oh Crap We Forgot All The Other Religions” section. Hence Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and every other possible religious -ism bunched together in the caboose for a SparkNotes tour through ancient and modern religion and spirituality. Certainly not adequate space for the plethora of writing out there, but it’s the best Dewey is willing to do at this point.

Time for an #OccupyDewey campaign? Only the people can decide. Meanwhile, we’ve concluded what has to be the most contentious section in all of Dewey. (What’s that? The 320s are Political Science?)

The Dew3:

Buddha or Bust: In Search of Truth, Meaning, Happiness and the Man Who Found Them All
By Perry Garfinkel
Dewey: 294.3
Random Sentence: “Like any tourist, I was eager to visit what has been dubbed the Disneyland of Buddhist monasteries.”

Bring Me the Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life
By John Tarrant
Dewey: 294.34432
Random Sentence: “Why can’t clear-eyed Bodhisattvas sever the red thread?”

Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari’a Law From the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World
By Sadakat Kadri
Dewey: 297
Random Sentence: “Shafi’i’s vision, as amplified by later generations of students, was destined to prevail.”

July 14, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 280-289: The denomination is in the details

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 280 Christian denominations & sects
  • 281 Early church & Eastern churches
  • 282 Roman Catholic Church
  • 283 Anglican churches
  • 284 Protestants of Continental origin
  • 285 Presbyterian, Reformed, Congregational
  • 286 Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Adventist
  • 287 Methodist & related churches
  • 288 No longer used—formerly Unitarian
  • 289 Other denominations & sects

Outside of being Protestant, I don’t have a specific denominational background. In spite (or because?) of that, I find other denominations, sects, and congregational interpretations fascinating. As a non-participant in the holy wars between Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, and of course Catholics, I watch with equal parts confusion and admiration for the dedication each section holds for their specific ways. Though all housed under the “Christian” umbrella, their adherents have found many ways to diverge from each other since the very beginning of the faith. (Only those in the culture can appreciate/disdain the irony of “no longer used” being paired with Unitarianism.) Despite the division, there is much to be gained historically, sociologically, and theologically from reading about how each of these parts interact with each other and with the whole of the faith.

Or, if you’re sick of Christianity, you can just wait for the 290s.

The Dew3:

Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint
By Nadia Bolz-Weber
Dewey: 284.135
Random Sentence: “I’m not certain of the exact origins of the idea, but I’m guessing it was a biopic about Jim Morrison.”

Living the Quaker Way: Timeless Wisdom for A Better Life Today
By Philip Gulley
Dewey: 289.6
Random Sentence: “We spend much time yoked to the very devices we hoped would liberate us.”

Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish
By Tom Shachtman
Dewey: 289.73
Random Sentence: “She counters with an additional demand for fenders on the wheels.”

July 11, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 270-279: Persecution junction

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 270 Christian church history
  • 271 Religious orders in church history
  • 272 Persecutions in church history
  • 273 Heresies in church history
  • 274 Christian church in Europe
  • 275 Christian church in Asia
  • 276 Christian church in Africa
  • 277 Christian church in North America
  • 278 Christian church in South America
  • 279 Christian church in other areas

As with any honest historical assessment, this section’s books take on the good, the bad, and the ugly of Christianity’s past. 272 Persecutions could fill up an entire library. But many forget that though the Catholic Church has been responsible for some pretty heinous persecution over the years, the Christian church in general were also persecuted themselves for a long time. And even though Western Christianity (and religion in general) is fairly protected from persecution, there are places in the Middle East and Asia where being a Christian can get you killed. That’s what makes books like The Irresistible Revolution (see below)—which call for radical, countercultural living—get real real fast. In whatever time or place, people who really take their faith to heart will face the consequences of it, good and bad. And that makes one hell of a story.

The Dew3:

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as An Ordinary Radical
By Shane Claiborne
Dewey: 277.3
Random Sentence: “I’m not sure the Christian Gospel always draws a crowd.”

The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns
By Elizabeth Kuhns
Dewey: 271.9
Random Sentence: “Walking was to be accomplished in a calm, demure manner–hurrying was discouraged.”

The Grand Inquisitor’s Manual: A History of Terror in the Name of God
By Jonathan Kirsch
Dewey: 272.2
Random Sentence: “The old authoritarian impulse was still fully alive.”

July 9, 2014 Add Comment

DDC 260-269: Fred Phelps would hate this

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 260 Christian social theology
  • 261 Social theology
  • 262 Ecclesiology
  • 263 Times, places of religious observance
  • 264 Public worship
  • 265 Sacraments, other rites & acts
  • 266 Missions
  • 267 Associations for religious work
  • 268 Religious education
  • 269 Spiritual renewal

Is Christianity cool? Starting with this section through the next few, a lot of the books would give you some proof in the affirmative and in the negative. Obvious examples include the first book featured below, which explicitly asks that question, but also the books that don’t overtly make a claim yet by merely existing make a case.

Sadly, much of what people see on cable news is the worst of so-called Christian social theology, propagated for clicks and viewers but not based in the day-to-day reality of living out the biggest religion on earth. If you love history or tradition, there is a lot of interesting stuff to explore in Christianity’s past that conveniently also has 0% to do with Westboro Baptist.

The Dew3:

Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide
By Brett McCracken
Dewey: 261.1
Random Sentence: “For some pastors, this means they include references to Paris Hilton and The Hills in their sermons.”

On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century
By Jorge Bergoglio
Dewey: 261.83
Random Sentence: “Christianity condemns both Communism and wild capitalism with the same vigor.”

Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity
By Keri Wyatt Kent
Dewey: 263.2
Random Sentence: “In play, we shed the shackles of schedule, efficiency, even purpose.”

July 7, 2014 Add Comment