And all of those books could fit on my Amazon Kindle, with room left over for a podcast or two.
I may be reading too much into it, but his desk doesn’t even have a computer or a laptop on it–just a phone and a physical(!) inbox. At some point, don’t we have to start counting the refusal to adopt technology against a presumed “intellectual”?
I’m finishing degrees in computer science and engineering, so I’m just a *little* bit more into the gadgets than most. I don’t own a Kindle or other e-reader (being Canadian) and I also happen to use a physical inbox. Sometimes, things just work.
The Unbeliever: And all of those books could fit on my Amazon Kindle, with room left over for a podcast or two.I may be reading too much into it, but his desk doesn’t even have a computer or a laptop on it–just a phone and a physical(!) inbox.At some point, don’t we have to start counting the refusal to adopt technology against a presumed “intellectual”?
Perhaps I lean to the cynical, but I can’t help but notice that his unusual display style (developed solely for this picture?) maximizes the “loaded” appearance of the bookshelf with the least number of actual books. The bookshelf would not look full if stacked in the usual manner…
Most people who own lots of books recognize them by their stems and don’t need to see the front covers.
Admittedly, I post this critical comment about Professor West in the hopes that President Obama will see it as a teaching moment and invite me to the White House for a beer…
Soronel Haetir: For those of us who cannot see, how many books are we talking about?
Two walls in the picture. The side wall is probably about twelve feet, the rear wall perhaps ten. Both are entirely book shelves, perhaps six feet high. The shelves are entirely full along with books on top of the shelves and piles on the floor. The odd thing about the photo… all the shelves mostly full, but not totally full with the books packed in and tidy, there is room on the shelves such that the books can lean. Then take most every shelf and put books at right angles to the normal way a book might be shelved on the outside lip of the shelf, so you can see the front covers of the books. Also there are books turned on their sides in the gaps between the normally shelved books and the shelves above. It’s a very cluttered space.
I was thinking of the perhaps outdated article by Leon Weiseltier in TNR that savages West’s work, pointing out, at least at the time, that he had produced one book and a few edited volumes. Perhaps he’s done more recently, but at least as of 2002, then-President Summer’s point that a University Professor at Harvard should have more on his resume than movie cameos and CDs doesn’t indicate as much.
Cool, but weird.
Not five minutes before seeing this post, I was watching the Matrix Reloaded, in which West is a high counselor, and reflecting on the controversial lack of publishing noted by plony.
An enviable office, though.
Perhaps the professor keeps a laptop holstered when not in use?
One of my professors displayed books in that manner; his office reminded me of a bookstore. I sensed the purpose was to attract students’ attention to favored books. I borrowed several.
Damn! Interesting picture. I’ve never seen anybody shelve so many books in that manner, so you can see the cover of most of them.
I may be wrong, but it looks like there is one layer of books in the usual manner with their spines facing out, and then a second layer of books with the covers facing out. It’s a good way to maximize shelf space, assuming you can find books when you want them.
I like the contrast between the mess on the bookshelves and the clean, ordered desk. Most people I know have the opposite situation.
The other weird thing about the books, besides being displayed as though they were in a bookstore (i.e. more for show than, seemingly, for use) is that a good 80%+ of the visible books seem to have a photograph of an individual on the cover. Presumably this means they are biographies. Why is the bulk of an academic’s (for so one must characterize him, I suppose) collection devoted to biographies rather than ideas?
Grigor: Why is the bulk of an academic’s (for so one must characterize him, I suppose)
Honestly, how on earth is one to take this? I don’t want to have to point out the obvious subtext of your post, but if a tenured professor at Princeton doesn’t count as an academic, who does? Or perhaps there’s some other personal characteristic of Cornel West’s that you think disqualifies him from being legitimately considered an academic. And if so, what might that be?
There are so many ridiculous posts in this thread.
I’ve never seen anybody shelve so many books in that manner, so you can see the cover of most of them.
As someone else pointed out, if you look closely it’s plain that the outward-facing books are only one layer covering a row (or 2) of conventionally stacked books. And many shelves are conventionally stacked.
And all of those books could fit on my Amazon Kindle, with room left over for a podcast or two.
Assuming they are actually available on the Kindle. I’d imagine there are many more books in existence than the ~300,000 the Kindle offers. And I’m guessing many of the books Professor West has are not available on the Kindle, because so few people would be interested in them. (Not to knock the Kindle, I love mine). And if Professor West had bought the Kindle 1, he definitely would not be able to store all those books on it – the original Kindle only holds about 200 titles. Although with a Kindle 2 or DX he’d probably be ok.
At some point, don’t we have to start counting the refusal to adopt technology against a presumed “intellectual”?
Because willingness to adopt technology makes you more “intellectual”? I’m not sure you know what “intellectual” means.
The other weird thing about the books, besides being displayed as though they were in a bookstore (i.e. more for show than, seemingly, for use) is that a good 80%+ of the visible books seem to have a photograph of an individual on the cover. Presumably this means they are biographies. Why is the bulk of an academic’s (for so one must characterize him, I suppose) collection devoted to biographies rather than ideas?
That is the most ridiculous notion I have ever heard. Because there’s a picture of a person on the cover of a book, it’s presumably a biography?? Are you serious? I guess this must be Milton Friedman’s biography? Oh and here’s Mark Levin’s biography.
Here’s an idea: books about an individual’s ideas might have a picture of the individual on the cover! At least often enough that we shouldn’t PRESUME that a book with a photo on the cover is a biography! Wow.
I don’t think Cornel West is a very interesting thinker but some of you guys make him look like Immanuel Kant.
I was thinking of the perhaps outdated article by Leon Weiseltier in TNR that savages West’s work, pointing out, at least at the time, that he had produced one book and a few edited volumes. Perhaps he’s done more recently, but at least as of 2002, then-President Summer’s point that a University Professor at Harvard should have more on his resume than movie cameos and CDs doesn’t indicate as much.
A quick wiki search suggests that the professor has published close to 20 books, about a dozen solo efforts and something like 7 written with co-authors. perhaps not surprisingly, most of those came before 2002. Your memory may not be functioning properly in this case.
For those of us who cannot see, how many books are we talking about?
Hmmm. I don’t know about 2000, but definitely well over 1000. Can’t really tell how deep the shelves are. It could be close to 3000 if the shelves are double-stacked, or if there’s a third wall of shelves off to the right (although I’d guess there isn’t).
(By the way, the capacity of a Kindle 2 is about 1500 books, and a Kindle DX is about 3500. So he’d even be pushing those).
There is also a continuous row of books along the top of the shelves.
1. What’s wrong with biography? It’s a perfectly valid form of academic writing, especially for someone with an interest in history (and African-American studies is very tied to history).
2. I wouldn’t be surprised if he selected those books for “outward” display precisely because of the photographs on the covers. Think of it as wall art for a wall with no space to hang pictures or paintings.
Neat picture. Thanks for sharing. As some others have mentioned, I also thought it was interesting that he shelves a lot of books with the covers facing out. I wonder if there’s a reason for it. Maybe those are his favorite books.
Is there a word for people who don’t like someone, then treat every new piece of information they learn about that person as further confirmation of their negative view of that person?
Uhhh, MCM, those posts are not ridiculous. I have never seen a serious reader display books in that fashion (or a professor do so in his or her office). Why? Because you can’t see the spines of the books behind the ones being shown frontally, so, unless you have a photographic memory, you have made it much more difficult for yourself to scan your shelves and find the books you want to pull down and refer to (unless, of course, you rarely do such typically bookish things with your books). Why is this being done? Probably because Professor West thinks this manner of display is impressive to people who come to his office (and take pictures of it). In other words, he sees owning certain books as akin to collecting merit badges. In any event, for a serious reader, it’s a dead give-away of a poseur.
Widmerpool: Uhhh, MCM, those posts are not ridiculous.I have never seen a serious reader display books in that fashion (or a professor do so in his or her office).Why?Because you can’t see the spines of the books behind the ones being shown frontally, so, unless you have a photographic memory, you have made it much more difficult for yourself to scan your shelves and find the books you want to pull down and refer to (unless, of course, you rarely do such typically bookish things with your books).Why is this being done?Probably because Professor West thinks this manner of display is impressive to people who come to his office (and take pictures of it).In other words, he sees owning certain books as akin to collecting merit badges.In any event, for a serious reader, it’s a dead give-away of a poseur.
Even now that I am blind I could tell someone the general area a book is shelved in my collection., to within a foot wouldn’t surprise me. And that is with close to 1k books spread across five sets of shelves in three different rooms. Keeping track of where a book is located isn’t that hard, it’s not like I even have them sorted by author or title, just general subject sorting.
Guest12345: All in all, probably about 2500 books.
There are six bookcases with eight shelves each. Since Dr. West has chosen to display the books face-outward, and not spine-outward in the usual fashion, there are only five or six books visible on each shelf. Not counting the stacks of magazines on the top shelves, there are only about 230 books. There may be more books behind the ones we can see, but I would be surprised if his collection broke four figures. My own paper library is about 3000 books — and I do most of my reading online. I have to agree with Widmerpool: he’s a poseur.
for a serious reader, it’s a dead give-away of a poseur
Wow, you managed to sound insufferable, pathetic and worthy of pity within one sentence fragment. Not sure what a “serious reader” is, but I presume most wouldnt refer to themselves as such.
there are only five or six books visible on each shelf
With the exception of two highest rows on the far left of the photo, I can count well over 10 books on each shelf. There are many parts of other books visible behind.
Malvolio:
There are six bookcases with eight shelves each.Since Dr. West has chosen to display the books face-outward, and not spine-outward in the usual fashion, there are only five or six books visible on each shelf.Not counting the stacks of magazines on the top shelves, there are only about 230 books.There may be more books behind the ones we can see, but I would be surprised if his collection broke four figures.My own paper library is about 3000 books — and I do most of my reading online.I have to agree with Widmerpool: he’s a poseur.
You need to look at that picture again. Near as I can tell there are books shelved normally behind all the displayed books. I estimated about 40 books per shelf. I see 42 shelves. Plus the piles on the floor and the books on top of the shelves and the books turned on their sides in the gaps between the shelves. 2500 might be high, maybe 2000. But 230 is just silly.
To Mr. Blankety-Blank: Yes, I agree with you that you are not sure what a serious reader is, and, given your level of grammatical knowledge, I doubt you will be blessed with such wisdom anytime soon. Coming from one of your ilk, I bear with pride your sobriquets of “insufferable, pathetic and worthy of pity.”
Grigor: Why is the bulk of an academic’s (for so one must characterize him, I suppose) collection devoted to biographies rather than ideas?
Having recently acquired Professor West’s “The Cornel West Reader”, which is a essentially a survey of some of what (I guess he believes) is his best work. Most are essays, not books. Most are narrowly tailored academic and philosophical responses that transform the thought under consideration into his own pragmatic-progressive-marxist framework, which you’d have to read to understand. I imagine that his penchant for biography (I didn’t look at the picture that closely) is tied to the fact that he identifies the person with their thoughts – heavily. A central consideration of his identity-based collectivized thought is that the person is inescapably tied to their historical and sociological environment and thus, their thoughts must be judged accordingly. While I think we would all acknowledge that “environment” plays a central role in molding the individual (nature v. nuture), his thought takes it to the extreme. My main objection to his philosophy (besides his unabashed worship of marxism) is that it subjugates the individual to some sort of conception of collective thought, which is held to be by far superior.
So it does look as though there are full shelves of normally shelved (spine out) books behind the front-facing ones we see, suggesting that those are put there that way simply for lack of space. And MCM’s point is well taken that those may not all be biographies; some may indeed be trade paperbacks or current best-sellers, most of which do have more attractive covers than the typical serious academic book. Obviously this is a posed photograph and it shouldn’t be at all surprising if the bookshelf display had been prettied up a bit for publication. None of that undercuts – in fact, it reinforces – the observation that the office as pictured is designed more for show than for use, which is consistent with the widely held view that Professor West is a scholar who produces remarkably little actual scholarship.
Anon21: Honestly, how on earth is one to take this? I don’t want to have to point out the obvious subtext of your post, but if a tenured professor at Princeton doesn’t count as an academic, who does? Or perhaps there’s some other personal characteristic of Cornel West’s that you think disqualifies him from being legitimately considered an academic. And if so, what might that be?
Easy. That would be his active courting of celebrity for himself on a personality basis, as opposed to on the power of his ideas. The same criticism is often levied at Stephen Jay Gould and a number of others. Not always reasonably, but levied it is.
I think he does qualify as an academic. But the view that he is a mere celebrity lecturer and polemicist, not a real academic, is widespread. Anon21 doesn’t realize that? I’m surprised … actually, I’m disbelieving.
Anon21, if you are attempting to alleged racism, please do so explicitly. If not, please explain, exactly what are you alleging. This is supposed to be an academic exchange, not a game of hide-the-accusatory-ball.
Actually, to me it looks like most of the shelves are filled in the ‘traditional’ style with an additional layer of books placed ‘covers outward.’ A somewhat odd arrangement, to be sure; perhaps those are books for some of his classes or he hopes to spark comments from visitors to his office.
Academics have been known to have rather odd quirks occasionally.
Is there a word for people who don’t like someone, then treat every new piece of information they learn about that person as further confirmation of their negative view of that person?
Irrationally hostile (2 words)
I have more books than I can manage – both in my home and office – to maintain a kind of order, I stack and shelve them in many ways; often the shelving style is dictated by the shelf height that happens to be available for my books on a certain subject matter.
I even have some books facing outwards. For example, I have a thin volume on Aristotle facing out in front of a stack of secondary sources on Aristotle.
The idea that there is some ‘normal’ way to shelve books is almost as silly as trying to use that claim to denigrate West’s book collection because one does not like him.
which is consistent with the widely held view that Professor West is a scholar who produces remarkably little actual scholarship.
Unfortunately, this “widely held view” is falsified by the facts.
No doubt you will return and say it is not how well-published he is that counts, but only your opinion of the merits of his work. Why not just cut to the entirely subjective chase to start with?
Yep, Chris, here I am to do exactly ….not that. I don’t believe I’ve expressed any opinion about the merits of his work, or even of his field, just commented on the apparent skew of his book collection and the quantity of his scholarship.
The three categories of public intellectual, academic, and scholar are neither mutually exclusive nor necessarily co-occurring. Professor West can reasonably be characterized as a public intellectual – he speaks and writes to the public about ideas – and an academic – he is on the professional staff of an academic institution. It is much harder to make the case that he is a scholar, that is, someone who produces respectable original learned work, published by academic presses or in academic journals, and cited by others in the field, still less a prolific one. http://www.cornelwest.com/books_music.html He is barely above the mean in citation ranking even within the subset of black scholars, http://www.jbhe.com/news_views/63_citationrankings.html let alone in the general academy.
I’m hardly the only one to note the paucity of his oeuvre, which was a subject of some discussion at his previous appointment as I’m sure you know. A lot of his students seem to enjoy his courses, though.
Grigor: He is barely above the mean in citation ranking even within the subset of black scholars[.]
Therefore:
Grigor: It is much harder to make the case that he is a scholar[.]
Hmmm…. so by this argument, a player who hits barely above the mean in the major leagues isn’t a real ballplayer? If I’m (just a little) above average as a doctor, I’m not a real physician?
You have very high standards! Perhaps you should move to Lake Woebegone?
I think all of us are zeroing in on the guy being more show than real thinker. Would contrast this to the personal library at the Virginia House. Where the diplomat husband of the rich wife spoke 11 languages! And maintained his personal library using the Dewey decimal system! And even had a card catalog. Now that was a rocking personal library! That impressed me!
Sorry about the exclamation points. I know one of you shmartie pedants will gig me for that. But I’ve been spending my time on weight loss forums. And I like to OOORAH motivate!!!
Regarding the lack of a computer: I attended Princeton and once wrote to Professor West on behalf of one of the student publications. The reply I received indicated that Professor West did not read his own e-mail, but instead had an assistant read it on his behalf.
I’m sure many people out there think this is Neanderthal behavior. But here are a few possible reasons for it:
1. He is a reasonably public figure, and may get too much e-mail to deal with himself–or get highly upsetting e-mails from internet crazies.
2. He may also feel that he can work better without a computer on his desk, because there are fewer distractions.
3. He may feel that a computer on his desk presents an unwelcome barrier between him and the students who come to his office.
4.He may even have some modern ailment such as carpal tunnel.
Now, as to the number of books, in my experience most Princeton professors had their offices clogged beyond capacity. Faculty offices are deceptively small, and their occupants read and write for a living. Prominent professors also receive many books for their comments and endorsements.
The only remarkable thing in the picture is the odd organization of the books, with some books facing outward as if on display. My guess is that these are books he consults often. I don’t think it’s a very sensible system, but it may not be a system at all. In periods of hard work many a desk has decayed into chaos.
I can’t speak to the quality of West’s scholarship, but I knew several people who took his classes, and he was always highly praised.
Princeton is primarily an undergraduate institution, and so puts somewhat more emphasis on teaching (as opposed to publication) than some other universities. If his production of scholarship is low (about which I have no opinion), this may be why it is tolerated.
“interesting that he’s read so many (or at least bought them) but produced so few himself.”
Nonsense, Cornel West has written quite a few books.
SuperSkeptic says:
“My main objection to his philosophy (besides his unabashed worship of marxism) is that it subjugates the individual to some sort of conception of collective thought, which is held to be by far superior.”
Your comment only serves to inform us that you are a very poor reader, as West has never been an “unabashed worship[per] of [M]arxism,” as several of his works make clear in an utterly pellucid fashion. What is worse, the claim that West’s prophetic pragmatism, (which he conceives as situated within the Christian tradition), “subjugates the individual to some sort of conception of collective thought, which is held to be by far superior,” is complete misrepresentation and absolute poppycock. In the introduction to The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought (1991), West describes himself as both a Christian and a “non-Marxist socialist” (which reminds one of R.H. Tawney).
For a fair summary of important features of West’s worldview, see his book, The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism (1989), especially the sections titled “Tragedy, Tradition, and Political Praxis,” and “Prophetic Pragmatism and Postmodernity,” 226-239.
PatHMV says:
Damn! Interesting picture. I’ve never seen anybody shelve so many books in that manner, so you can see the cover of most of them.
October 9, 2009, 12:05 amresh says:
Sometimes ya can judge a book by its cover.
October 9, 2009, 12:28 amSoronel Haetir says:
For those of us who cannot see, how many books are we talking about?
October 9, 2009, 12:30 amThe Unbeliever says:
And all of those books could fit on my Amazon Kindle, with room left over for a podcast or two.
I may be reading too much into it, but his desk doesn’t even have a computer or a laptop on it–just a phone and a physical(!) inbox. At some point, don’t we have to start counting the refusal to adopt technology against a presumed “intellectual”?
October 9, 2009, 12:31 amplony says:
interesting that he’s read so many (or at least bought them) but produced so few himself.
October 9, 2009, 12:39 amSitnah7 says:
Wonder if he’s got a copy of the Matrix trilogy in there somewhere to draw upon for philosophical inspiration.
October 9, 2009, 12:39 amRob says:
I’m finishing degrees in computer science and engineering, so I’m just a *little* bit more into the gadgets than most. I don’t own a Kindle or other e-reader (being Canadian) and I also happen to use a physical inbox. Sometimes, things just work.
October 9, 2009, 12:43 amhomais says:
Uhh, not counting the autobiography (which has a co-author), I think he’s authored something like eight books.
October 9, 2009, 1:02 amOff Kilter says:
Perhaps I lean to the cynical, but I can’t help but notice that his unusual display style (developed solely for this picture?) maximizes the “loaded” appearance of the bookshelf with the least number of actual books. The bookshelf would not look full if stacked in the usual manner…
Most people who own lots of books recognize them by their stems and don’t need to see the front covers.
Admittedly, I post this critical comment about Professor West in the hopes that President Obama will see it as a teaching moment and invite me to the White House for a beer…
October 9, 2009, 1:04 amGuest12345 says:
Two walls in the picture. The side wall is probably about twelve feet, the rear wall perhaps ten. Both are entirely book shelves, perhaps six feet high. The shelves are entirely full along with books on top of the shelves and piles on the floor. The odd thing about the photo… all the shelves mostly full, but not totally full with the books packed in and tidy, there is room on the shelves such that the books can lean. Then take most every shelf and put books at right angles to the normal way a book might be shelved on the outside lip of the shelf, so you can see the front covers of the books. Also there are books turned on their sides in the gaps between the normally shelved books and the shelves above. It’s a very cluttered space.
All in all, probably about 2500 books.
October 9, 2009, 1:06 amplony says:
I was thinking of the perhaps outdated article by Leon Weiseltier in TNR that savages West’s work, pointing out, at least at the time, that he had produced one book and a few edited volumes. Perhaps he’s done more recently, but at least as of 2002, then-President Summer’s point that a University Professor at Harvard should have more on his resume than movie cameos and CDs doesn’t indicate as much.
October 9, 2009, 1:20 amAndrew says:
Cool, but weird.
October 9, 2009, 1:32 amNot five minutes before seeing this post, I was watching the Matrix Reloaded, in which West is a high counselor, and reflecting on the controversial lack of publishing noted by plony.
An enviable office, though.
ArthurKirkland says:
Perhaps the professor keeps a laptop holstered when not in use?
One of my professors displayed books in that manner; his office reminded me of a bookstore. I sensed the purpose was to attract students’ attention to favored books. I borrowed several.
October 9, 2009, 1:33 amNathanM says:
I may be wrong, but it looks like there is one layer of books in the usual manner with their spines facing out, and then a second layer of books with the covers facing out. It’s a good way to maximize shelf space, assuming you can find books when you want them.
I like the contrast between the mess on the bookshelves and the clean, ordered desk. Most people I know have the opposite situation.
October 9, 2009, 1:38 amGrigor says:
The other weird thing about the books, besides being displayed as though they were in a bookstore (i.e. more for show than, seemingly, for use) is that a good 80%+ of the visible books seem to have a photograph of an individual on the cover. Presumably this means they are biographies. Why is the bulk of an academic’s (for so one must characterize him, I suppose) collection devoted to biographies rather than ideas?
October 9, 2009, 1:48 amAnon21 says:
Honestly, how on earth is one to take this? I don’t want to have to point out the obvious subtext of your post, but if a tenured professor at Princeton doesn’t count as an academic, who does? Or perhaps there’s some other personal characteristic of Cornel West’s that you think disqualifies him from being legitimately considered an academic. And if so, what might that be?
October 9, 2009, 2:07 amMCM says:
There are so many ridiculous posts in this thread.
As someone else pointed out, if you look closely it’s plain that the outward-facing books are only one layer covering a row (or 2) of conventionally stacked books. And many shelves are conventionally stacked.
Assuming they are actually available on the Kindle. I’d imagine there are many more books in existence than the ~300,000 the Kindle offers. And I’m guessing many of the books Professor West has are not available on the Kindle, because so few people would be interested in them. (Not to knock the Kindle, I love mine). And if Professor West had bought the Kindle 1, he definitely would not be able to store all those books on it – the original Kindle only holds about 200 titles. Although with a Kindle 2 or DX he’d probably be ok.
Because willingness to adopt technology makes you more “intellectual”? I’m not sure you know what “intellectual” means.
That is the most ridiculous notion I have ever heard. Because there’s a picture of a person on the cover of a book, it’s presumably a biography?? Are you serious? I guess this must be Milton Friedman’s biography? Oh and here’s Mark Levin’s biography.
Here’s an idea: books about an individual’s ideas might have a picture of the individual on the cover! At least often enough that we shouldn’t PRESUME that a book with a photo on the cover is a biography! Wow.
I don’t think Cornel West is a very interesting thinker but some of you guys make him look like Immanuel Kant.
October 9, 2009, 2:43 amdr says:
A quick wiki search suggests that the professor has published close to 20 books, about a dozen solo efforts and something like 7 written with co-authors. perhaps not surprisingly, most of those came before 2002. Your memory may not be functioning properly in this case.
October 9, 2009, 2:46 amMCM says:
Hmmm. I don’t know about 2000, but definitely well over 1000. Can’t really tell how deep the shelves are. It could be close to 3000 if the shelves are double-stacked, or if there’s a third wall of shelves off to the right (although I’d guess there isn’t).
(By the way, the capacity of a Kindle 2 is about 1500 books, and a Kindle DX is about 3500. So he’d even be pushing those).
There is also a continuous row of books along the top of the shelves.
October 9, 2009, 2:53 amRon says:
I see I’m not alone in my aversion to books whose author is photographed on the cover.
October 9, 2009, 6:48 amAngus says:
A few points:
1. What’s wrong with biography? It’s a perfectly valid form of academic writing, especially for someone with an interest in history (and African-American studies is very tied to history).
2. I wouldn’t be surprised if he selected those books for “outward” display precisely because of the photographs on the covers. Think of it as wall art for a wall with no space to hang pictures or paintings.
October 9, 2009, 8:06 amTom T. says:
Would not want to be there during an earthquake.
October 9, 2009, 8:41 amAnonymous Troll says:
Plony thought the pic was Obama – you know that they all look the same to him…
October 9, 2009, 9:00 amkrs says:
Neat picture. Thanks for sharing. As some others have mentioned, I also thought it was interesting that he shelves a lot of books with the covers facing out. I wonder if there’s a reason for it. Maybe those are his favorite books.
Is there a word for people who don’t like someone, then treat every new piece of information they learn about that person as further confirmation of their negative view of that person?
October 9, 2009, 9:31 amWidmerpool says:
Uhhh, MCM, those posts are not ridiculous. I have never seen a serious reader display books in that fashion (or a professor do so in his or her office). Why? Because you can’t see the spines of the books behind the ones being shown frontally, so, unless you have a photographic memory, you have made it much more difficult for yourself to scan your shelves and find the books you want to pull down and refer to (unless, of course, you rarely do such typically bookish things with your books). Why is this being done? Probably because Professor West thinks this manner of display is impressive to people who come to his office (and take pictures of it). In other words, he sees owning certain books as akin to collecting merit badges. In any event, for a serious reader, it’s a dead give-away of a poseur.
October 9, 2009, 9:54 amSoronel Haetir says:
Even now that I am blind I could tell someone the general area a book is shelved in my collection., to within a foot wouldn’t surprise me. And that is with close to 1k books spread across five sets of shelves in three different rooms. Keeping track of where a book is located isn’t that hard, it’s not like I even have them sorted by author or title, just general subject sorting.
October 9, 2009, 10:28 amMalvolio says:
There are six bookcases with eight shelves each. Since Dr. West has chosen to display the books face-outward, and not spine-outward in the usual fashion, there are only five or six books visible on each shelf. Not counting the stacks of magazines on the top shelves, there are only about 230 books. There may be more books behind the ones we can see, but I would be surprised if his collection broke four figures. My own paper library is about 3000 books — and I do most of my reading online. I have to agree with Widmerpool: he’s a poseur.
October 9, 2009, 10:36 am__ says:
for a serious reader, it’s a dead give-away of a poseur
Wow, you managed to sound insufferable, pathetic and worthy of pity within one sentence fragment. Not sure what a “serious reader” is, but I presume most wouldnt refer to themselves as such.
With the exception of two highest rows on the far left of the photo, I can count well over 10 books on each shelf. There are many parts of other books visible behind.
October 9, 2009, 11:44 amGuest12345 says:
You need to look at that picture again. Near as I can tell there are books shelved normally behind all the displayed books. I estimated about 40 books per shelf. I see 42 shelves. Plus the piles on the floor and the books on top of the shelves and the books turned on their sides in the gaps between the shelves. 2500 might be high, maybe 2000. But 230 is just silly.
October 9, 2009, 12:12 pmWidmerpool says:
To Mr. Blankety-Blank: Yes, I agree with you that you are not sure what a serious reader is, and, given your level of grammatical knowledge, I doubt you will be blessed with such wisdom anytime soon. Coming from one of your ilk, I bear with pride your sobriquets of “insufferable, pathetic and worthy of pity.”
October 9, 2009, 12:12 pmAngus says:
The estimate of 230 books is reverse “tea party” math.
The 70,000 people at the 9/12 rallies became 2 million.
The 1400+ books (my estimate) on West’s bookshelf become 200.
It’s magic!
October 9, 2009, 12:34 pmSuperSkeptic says:
Having recently acquired Professor West’s “The Cornel West Reader”, which is a essentially a survey of some of what (I guess he believes) is his best work. Most are essays, not books. Most are narrowly tailored academic and philosophical responses that transform the thought under consideration into his own pragmatic-progressive-marxist framework, which you’d have to read to understand. I imagine that his penchant for biography (I didn’t look at the picture that closely) is tied to the fact that he identifies the person with their thoughts – heavily. A central consideration of his identity-based collectivized thought is that the person is inescapably tied to their historical and sociological environment and thus, their thoughts must be judged accordingly. While I think we would all acknowledge that “environment” plays a central role in molding the individual (nature v. nuture), his thought takes it to the extreme. My main objection to his philosophy (besides his unabashed worship of marxism) is that it subjugates the individual to some sort of conception of collective thought, which is held to be by far superior.
October 9, 2009, 12:43 pmGrigor says:
So it does look as though there are full shelves of normally shelved (spine out) books behind the front-facing ones we see, suggesting that those are put there that way simply for lack of space. And MCM’s point is well taken that those may not all be biographies; some may indeed be trade paperbacks or current best-sellers, most of which do have more attractive covers than the typical serious academic book. Obviously this is a posed photograph and it shouldn’t be at all surprising if the bookshelf display had been prettied up a bit for publication. None of that undercuts – in fact, it reinforces – the observation that the office as pictured is designed more for show than for use, which is consistent with the widely held view that Professor West is a scholar who produces remarkably little actual scholarship.
October 9, 2009, 1:19 pmRowerinVA says:
Easy. That would be his active courting of celebrity for himself on a personality basis, as opposed to on the power of his ideas. The same criticism is often levied at Stephen Jay Gould and a number of others. Not always reasonably, but levied it is.
I think he does qualify as an academic. But the view that he is a mere celebrity lecturer and polemicist, not a real academic, is widespread. Anon21 doesn’t realize that? I’m surprised … actually, I’m disbelieving.
Anon21, if you are attempting to alleged racism, please do so explicitly. If not, please explain, exactly what are you alleging. This is supposed to be an academic exchange, not a game of hide-the-accusatory-ball.
October 9, 2009, 2:53 pmMr. Bingley says:
Actually, to me it looks like most of the shelves are filled in the ‘traditional’ style with an additional layer of books placed ‘covers outward.’ A somewhat odd arrangement, to be sure; perhaps those are books for some of his classes or he hopes to spark comments from visitors to his office.
Academics have been known to have rather odd quirks occasionally.
October 9, 2009, 3:02 pmChrisTS says:
Is there a word for people who don’t like someone, then treat every new piece of information they learn about that person as further confirmation of their negative view of that person?
Irrationally hostile (2 words)
I have more books than I can manage – both in my home and office – to maintain a kind of order, I stack and shelve them in many ways; often the shelving style is dictated by the shelf height that happens to be available for my books on a certain subject matter.
I even have some books facing outwards. For example, I have a thin volume on Aristotle facing out in front of a stack of secondary sources on Aristotle.
The idea that there is some ‘normal’ way to shelve books is almost as silly as trying to use that claim to denigrate West’s book collection because one does not like him.
October 9, 2009, 6:34 pmChrisTS says:
which is consistent with the widely held view that Professor West is a scholar who produces remarkably little actual scholarship.
Unfortunately, this “widely held view” is falsified by the facts.
No doubt you will return and say it is not how well-published he is that counts, but only your opinion of the merits of his work. Why not just cut to the entirely subjective chase to start with?
October 9, 2009, 6:37 pmGlenn Bowen says:
He crazy.
October 9, 2009, 7:08 pmGrigor says:
Yep, Chris, here I am to do exactly ….not that. I don’t believe I’ve expressed any opinion about the merits of his work, or even of his field, just commented on the apparent skew of his book collection and the quantity of his scholarship.
The three categories of public intellectual, academic, and scholar are neither mutually exclusive nor necessarily co-occurring. Professor West can reasonably be characterized as a public intellectual – he speaks and writes to the public about ideas – and an academic – he is on the professional staff of an academic institution. It is much harder to make the case that he is a scholar, that is, someone who produces respectable original learned work, published by academic presses or in academic journals, and cited by others in the field, still less a prolific one. http://www.cornelwest.com/books_music.html He is barely above the mean in citation ranking even within the subset of black scholars, http://www.jbhe.com/news_views/63_citationrankings.html let alone in the general academy.
I’m hardly the only one to note the paucity of his oeuvre, which was a subject of some discussion at his previous appointment as I’m sure you know. A lot of his students seem to enjoy his courses, though.
October 9, 2009, 7:40 pmloki13 says:
Therefore:
Hmmm…. so by this argument, a player who hits barely above the mean in the major leagues isn’t a real ballplayer? If I’m (just a little) above average as a doctor, I’m not a real physician?
You have very high standards! Perhaps you should move to Lake Woebegone?
October 9, 2009, 9:32 pmTCO says:
I think all of us are zeroing in on the guy being more show than real thinker. Would contrast this to the personal library at the Virginia House. Where the diplomat husband of the rich wife spoke 11 languages! And maintained his personal library using the Dewey decimal system! And even had a card catalog. Now that was a rocking personal library! That impressed me!
October 11, 2009, 5:13 pmTCO says:
Sorry about the exclamation points. I know one of you shmartie pedants will gig me for that. But I’ve been spending my time on weight loss forums. And I like to OOORAH motivate!!!
October 11, 2009, 5:14 pmVernon Cassin says:
Regarding the lack of a computer: I attended Princeton and once wrote to Professor West on behalf of one of the student publications. The reply I received indicated that Professor West did not read his own e-mail, but instead had an assistant read it on his behalf.
I’m sure many people out there think this is Neanderthal behavior. But here are a few possible reasons for it:
1. He is a reasonably public figure, and may get too much e-mail to deal with himself–or get highly upsetting e-mails from internet crazies.
2. He may also feel that he can work better without a computer on his desk, because there are fewer distractions.
3. He may feel that a computer on his desk presents an unwelcome barrier between him and the students who come to his office.
4.He may even have some modern ailment such as carpal tunnel.
Now, as to the number of books, in my experience most Princeton professors had their offices clogged beyond capacity. Faculty offices are deceptively small, and their occupants read and write for a living. Prominent professors also receive many books for their comments and endorsements.
The only remarkable thing in the picture is the odd organization of the books, with some books facing outward as if on display. My guess is that these are books he consults often. I don’t think it’s a very sensible system, but it may not be a system at all. In periods of hard work many a desk has decayed into chaos.
I can’t speak to the quality of West’s scholarship, but I knew several people who took his classes, and he was always highly praised.
Princeton is primarily an undergraduate institution, and so puts somewhat more emphasis on teaching (as opposed to publication) than some other universities. If his production of scholarship is low (about which I have no opinion), this may be why it is tolerated.
October 11, 2009, 6:22 pmPatrick S. O'Donnell says:
plony says:
“interesting that he’s read so many (or at least bought them) but produced so few himself.”
Nonsense, Cornel West has written quite a few books.
SuperSkeptic says:
“My main objection to his philosophy (besides his unabashed worship of marxism) is that it subjugates the individual to some sort of conception of collective thought, which is held to be by far superior.”
Your comment only serves to inform us that you are a very poor reader, as West has never been an “unabashed worship[per] of [M]arxism,” as several of his works make clear in an utterly pellucid fashion. What is worse, the claim that West’s prophetic pragmatism, (which he conceives as situated within the Christian tradition), “subjugates the individual to some sort of conception of collective thought, which is held to be by far superior,” is complete misrepresentation and absolute poppycock. In the introduction to The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought (1991), West describes himself as both a Christian and a “non-Marxist socialist” (which reminds one of R.H. Tawney).
For a fair summary of important features of West’s worldview, see his book, The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism (1989), especially the sections titled “Tragedy, Tradition, and Political Praxis,” and “Prophetic Pragmatism and Postmodernity,” 226-239.
October 12, 2009, 12:26 am