[New Book Exploration] Ignite your desire to read! Why not hold a Bibliobattle with new books (PHP Shinsho edition)?
[What is a Bibliobattle?]
A Bibliobattle is a book introduction communication game that anyone can host.
With the catchphrase "Know books through people. Know people through books," it has spread nationwide and is widely used in elementary, junior high, and high schools, universities, corporate training and study sessions, libraries, bookstores, clubs, and more.
[Introduction]
The new books (shinsho) introduced here are basically non-fiction rather than stories.
The themes of new books are truly wide-ranging, including:
・Philosophy and thought
・Space and nature
・Animals and science
There are many other wide-ranging topics as well.
It feels like almost everything that exists as a book genre can also be found in new books.
So, what is the difference between these and general books (mainly hardcover books)? It can be said that the basics of the theme are compactly summarized.
If you want to deeply understand a theme you wish to learn about, since every theme is profound, it is better to read hardcover books or specialized books on that theme, but those are often thick, difficult, and full of technical jargon.
Therefore, you might end up giving up halfway through, and in the end, finish without even understanding the basics (^^;
To prevent that, new books are considered the most suitable books for those who want to grasp the basics or the overall picture of a theme.
For beginners, no matter what you are learning, the path is to start with the basics.
For those who want to learn about fields they didn't know before and gain an education, new books are recommended because they compactly cover the basics (^^)
Through such books, you can easily gain various new knowledge and life lessons, or let your thoughts wander to grand history and the universe that transcends humanity.
Doesn't just looking at the titles tickle your intellectual curiosity?
I have also made effective use of such new books, so I have selected the new books I've read so far that I thought were worth reading, as they came to mind, and organized them by new book label.
I have listed the new books that I have read and found to be good, organized by new book label, as books I would like to recommend.
Furthermore, since it is autumn, the season for reading, I have decided to try putting together presentation materials for a Bibliobattle using the PREP method (Point, Reason, Example, Point) to introduce one new book I have read and found interesting every other day, from today (Wednesday, October 11) until early December, in a way that can be presented in five minutes (^^)
[Reference Material]
Since the number of characters a person speaks in one minute is around 300, a three-minute speech would be around 900 characters.
For a five-minute speech, the guideline is around 1,500 characters, or about 1,250 to 1,750 characters.
However, since speaking slowly and confidently tends to make a better impression in speeches, I personally recommend preparing a manuscript of about 1,250 characters for five minutes.
The speed at which professionals like announcers smoothly read news scripts is roughly 1,500 characters in 5 minutes (300 characters per minute).
I think a slower speed is preferable for speeches and the like.
It would be great if you could practice your five-minute speech enough to use up the full five minutes with exactly 1,250 characters.
Of course, if you really need to use the full five minutes or if you tend to speak too fast when nervous, it is also fine to prepare around 1,500 to 1,750 characters.
[New book introduced today]
"What is History?" (PHP Shinsho) by Naoki Odanaka
[ Character count (ignoring spaces) ]
1,233 characters
[ Content ]
Why must we study history? Does it actually serve any purpose for society or individuals? This book addresses the skepticism toward history textbooks that merely list dates.
Meanwhile, relativism and structuralism criticize history as if its mission has ended.
However, history contains hidden tools for improving communication and fascinating 'intellectual techniques' that overturn common sense!
Using the differences between historical novels and history books, as well as the comfort women controversy as examples, it explores the significance of history rooted in daily life.
An introductory course on history for laypeople that peeks into the workplaces of historians and explores the possibilities of 'usable liberal arts.'
[ Table of Contents ]
Introduction: Troubled History ('Dad, what is history useful for?'; Scene 1: In a high school classroom, etc.)
Chapter 1: Can historical facts be clarified? (History books vs. historical novels; Has the 'Grand Narrative' disappeared?, etc.)
Chapter 2: Is history useful to society? (The comfort women controversy and history; The social utility of history)
Chapter 3: What do historians do? (Re-reading high school world history textbooks; Post-war history of Japanese historiography, etc.)
Final Chapter: Thinking about the framework of history ('Narrative and Memory' framework; What is 'normal science'?, etc.)
[ Point ]
There are multiple correct interpretations of history, and the role of history is to reject incorrect interpretations through methods like source criticism and seek more correct ones.
It argues for the necessity of an endeavor that transcends positivism and structuralism to seek communicatively correct understanding.
As a method for reaching a correct historical understanding, there is Marxist historiography, which posits that history has laws of development and that they are born from grasping them.
Looking back at the history of epistemology, it seems almost hopeless that history can be a science.
It pursues access to historical facts, to these facts themselves.
When treating history as a science, because it is a science, one must present grounds to prove that something is a fact.
By maintaining the stance of continuing to present these grounds, one pursues the ability to evaluate and interpret things more plausibly.
This is history as a science.
[ Reason ]
I think the way of thinking that treats things scientifically, not just in history, is the same in any academic field.
I felt that this is the same not only in academics but also in my own work.
While thinking that no one really knows the truth and wondering how one can know, I formulate a strategy that I believe is correct as my own judgment, and explain it to others logically, showing the grounds.
And I present answers that many people will likely find convincing.
I think one has no choice but to continue to sincerely execute such things.
I think history can be a personal benefit, such as being useful as a lesson for daily life or leading to improved communication.
I also think it can provide common sense.
I think history can be grasped more realistically when spoken of as a personal benefit rather than through the lens of ethnic identity or feminism.
[ Example ]
Finally, the author concludes, 'When one acquires this common sense, a skeptical spirit, and a sense of wonder, a person who constantly maintains a critical stance, as Edward Said says, is born, and creating such people is the significance and meaning of science. Of course, this applies to history as well.'
The Orient in Orientalism pointed out by Said generally referred to Arab society, including the Middle East and Africa.
Therefore, Said delved into how those living in the Middle East have been regarded as Arabs, Semites, Muslims, and multi-ethnic groups of the Middle East before they could try to be individuals.
This Middle Eastern sensibility is difficult for Japanese people to grasp.
In modern history, the Middle East and Arabs did not appear at all in Japan.
Rather, cutting-edge intellectuals preferred worlds like Marxism or Esperanto.
[ Point ]
Even in contemporary history, except for being a source of oil imports, it remains distant, including Islamic social culture.
We remain unable to explain to our children what the Middle East is to Japan.
However, some might say that this way of looking at things is just an excuse.
In fact, concepts like Asianism and Orientalism were created by modern Japan on its own, and they should be close to the meaning that Orientalism holds.
[New books I would like to recommend (PHP Shinsho edition: 5 books)]
Takashi Okamoto, 'A History of Japan-China Relations'
Tadasu Matsuo, 'Keynes's Counterattack, Hayek's Insight'
Akira Ishii, 'Wood, Coal, and Shale Gas'
Norihiro Oyama, 'Public Assistance vs. Child Poverty'
Toshihiko Hayashi, 'The Economics of Major Disasters'
[Reference Site]
[Reference Article]
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