University Presses Publish More Than Your Average Textbook

The university press—not the first place you would think to go for sexy, subversive, or scandalous reading? Maybe it should be.

By definition, a university press is an academic, nonprofit publishing house that is affiliated with and usually subsidized by a large university and publishes work that has been peer-reviewed by scholars in the field. Happily, modern academic presses publish more than dry and didactic tomes, such as The Hypoelliptic Laplacian or Ray-Singer Metrics (a $70 bargain at Princeton University Press). Since the publication of Harry Frankfurt’s dignified academic treatise On Bullshit, there has been increased interest in the intellectual treatment of traditionally non-academic subjects. New titles provide a scholarly approach to topics as varied as pornography (The Porn Report, Melbourne University Publishing), smoking weed (Dying to Get High, NYU Press), fashion trends (Gothic: Dark Glamour, Yale University Press), the death of the university (Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life, Yale University Press), and more topics relevant to the average college student. The selections below provide a smattering of the lighter reading options that modern university presses have to offer.

Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century
By Michio Kaku
Oxford University Press

This book is everything Frontiers of Science wasn’t—thought-provoking, topical, and completely free of dinosaurs. Michio Kaku uses the cutting-edge research of today’s top scientists as a launching-off point to explore the possibilities of the invisible computer, cyborgs, the ultimate artificial intelligence, immortality, designer children, clones, and the birth of planetary civilization.

Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity
By Gary Cross
Columbia University Press

Ah, the modern boy-man. We all know one (or are one)—the guy who will be enjoying Entourage reruns and gaming for the rest of his life. Well-known cultural historian Gary Cross identifies this enigmatic figure and his habits while examining the attitudes and practices of three generations to make sense of this gradual but profound shift in American masculinity. Even more enticing is his suggestion for a cure.

Swindled: The Dark History of Food Fraud, from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee
By Bee Wilson
Princeton University Press

Bad food has a long and sordid history. Swindled uncovers it. Through a combination of cultural and scientific history, food politics, and culinary detective work, Bee Wilson reveals the many ways swindlers have cheapened, falsified, and even poisoned food throughout history. Swindled traces food’s dark past from the leaded wine of the ancient Romans to modern-day food frauds, such as fake organics and Chinese pastries made from cardboard.

The City’s End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fears, and Premonitions of New York’s Destruction By Max Page
Yale University Press

New York City has been bombed, burned, drowned, frozen, invaded by aliens, and destroyed by several varieties of monsters in the minds of American writers and image-makers. Max Page examines the harrowing and often humorous record of imaginary carnage from the beginning of the city’s existence until Sept. 11, showing how each era’s destruction fantasies reflect and shape Americans’ perceptions of New York and other urban spaces.

The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God
By David Linden
Harvard University Press

David Linden, a well-known neuroscientist, tackles the big questions about the brain: Why do we seek long-term relationships? Why do we need sleep? How do we form memories? Linden addresses these questions and more while debunking popular myths—for instance, he notes people do use more than 10 percent of their brains. Linden also makes the claim that constraints of evolved brain design have, ironically, led to the impulse to create religious and/or scientific explanations for everything.

The Gold Leaf Lady and Other Parapsychological Investigations
By Stephen Braude
University of Chicago Press

Stephen Braude recounts five particular cases from his thirty-year career as a paranormal psychologist. Case studies include a woman who can make gold-colored foil appear on her skin, a man who claims he can transfer images from photographs onto his body, and Braude’s own wife, who uses astrology to lead professional soccer teams to success.