Our favourite books at GotDis
Today is the 25th anniversary of World Book Day, with this year’s theme being marked by the message:
“You are a reader.”
To mark the occasion, we wanted to share our team’s favourite books with you!
Lara, CEO at GotDis
“I’m going to pick two as they stick out in my mind from when I was younger and shaped some of the knowledge passions which I still have today.
The first is The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin which mixes anthropology with non-fiction elements. I hadn’t come across anthropology at school but reading this book opened my eyes to academic fields I was unaware of. It also sparked years of travelling across various continents, immersing myself in other cultures to learn from their perspectives.
The Songlines offers insight into ‘secret’ pathways throughout Australia which are known to Aboriginal communities. They connect people to the nature of their surroundings through songs which are passed down generations. I was fascinated by the assertion that an Aboriginal could hear songlines from an area that they’ve never visited before, in a language they didn’t know and somehow understand the land through possible telepathy or connection to their ancestors. The songlines are what bring land to life and if the songs are forgotten, then the land will die. This deep connection to the environment and its ancestors can be throughout the world in various cultures, where a connection to their cultural past is kept alive through oral history and music. I find something very inspiring when people, nature and culture are intertwined and kept alive through music.
In a similar way, my favourite author is Ben Okri and The Famished Road was the first book I read by him. Set in an African country, it tells the tale of a young boy who is caught between wanting to continue with his life but feels as if he’s being pulled into the spirit world. It is the poetic way that Okri brings his characters to life, connected to concepts within African culture which helps your mind to wander in ways that are inspiring and uplifting. I will leave you with a quote that reflects this well:
“The road will never swallow you. The river of destiny will always overcome evil. May you understand your fate. Suffering will never destroy you, but will make you stronger. Success will never confuse you of scatter your spirit, but will make you fly higher into the good sunlight. Your life will always surprise you.””
Sorrel, Marketing Assistant at GotDis
“My favourite book is ‘The Mushroom at the End of the World’ by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. I was introduced to the world of the matsutake mushroom, a cultural delicacy in Japan. However, the mushroom represents more than a popular Japanese food item; it shows us the possibilities in the ruins of capitalism.
The matsutake mushroom thrives in pine forests. Pine forests flourish in the wake of human disturbance, as soil erosion leads to the emergence of mineral soils, where pine forests develop rapidly. In Oregon, pine forests were a consequence of the logging industry, which involved human disturbance, soil erosion and cutting down competing trees. Following the collapse of the logging industry in Oregon, pine forests developed, and thus, the matsutake mushroom bloomed.
At the same time, the introduction of the Pine Wilt Nematode (a tree-eating bug) through American pine wood imports on Japanese soil destroyed pine forests across Japan. As a result, the matsutake mushroom no longer grows in Japan, hindering its place in modern Japanese culture. This prompted the development of the matsutake mushroom trade between Oregon and Japan. This is ironic, as America was responsible for the end of the domestic matsutake growth in Japan, whilst developing an international matsutake supply chain between America and Japan.
I never thought a book about mushrooms would become my favourite book. The book has taught me about the importance of value beyond monetary gain, including the value of freedom and gift exchange. Through the matsutake mushroom, Tsing has shown us that there are possibilities in the ruins of failed capitalist ventures, alluding to the development of the matsutake trade in the wake of the logging industry collapse in Oregon. I love how each chapter is short, giving the book a rapid and fluid nature that mimics the precarity of mushroom growth. Ultimately, I love how Tsing develops a post-human narrative that accepts the precarity and non-scalability of the matsutake mushroom trade; a process that juxtaposes with the predictability and scalability of modern capitalist ventures. Tsing teaches us to be more comfortable with unpredictability.”
Hannah, Marketing Assistant at GotDis
“I’ve read lots of great books recently, but one I always return to is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Whilst on the surface it may appear to be a dramatic YA (Young Adult) novel with an overbearing love triangle, when you examine it more closely it becomes so much more. Set in a place once known as North America is the nation of Panem, formed of the Capitol and twelve surrounding districts. To keep the districts in line, the Capitol forces them to send one boy and one girl aged between 12–18 to participate in the annual Hunger Games. If you’ve not read the book, then I’ll enlighten you: it’s a fight to the death broadcast on television for the amusement of the Capitol. So why is a book about teenage violence my favourite? Firstly, the main character Katniss. She remains stoic and immovable throughout, despite the tragedies she experiences. When I was younger I thought she was really unlikeable, as she had little interest in pleasing or helping others. When I look at her now however, I see a young girl just trying her best to survive. Collins has managed to capture the essence of the human spirit within a YA character without it being cringey or shallow. Secondly, the most powerful aspect of this book: its genre. Collins uses the YA dystopian genre as a tool to desensitise readers from the violence within the book, just as we are desensitised to violence we see on the news. By steering the narrative away from the violence of the games to the relationship blooming between Katniss and Peeta, Collins distracts us from the true dangers at hand. The corruption of the Capitol and the extent of Snow’s control is not quite realised until the end of the book, when Katniss has won the games but has lost control over her own life.
This novel is so haunting in its display of human suffering and violence, it’s hard to believe that it’s a work of fiction. When I revisit this book from time to time, I’m struck by the universality of it all. It explores the extreme inequality between the rich and the poor, suffering as entertainment and government control. Yet it somehow also explores love, family and the power of community.
This book had a profound impact on me as a teenager, and continues to do so now. To have the flaws of society explicitly laid out in a book highlighted to me how much we ignore in order to feel better. We ignore our flaws and the flaws of capitalism. We feel powerless in the face of such vast inequality between the rich and the poor in this country. We watch helplessly as people suffer on television. The Hunger Games holds up a troubling mirror to our society, and its message has never been more poignant.”
What are some of your favourite books?
At GotDis, we aim to make everyone passionate about their learning! GotDis is an exciting platform that enables students and graduates to share their dissertation or academic work ‘blog-style’. We aim to make learning accessible for others, where you will have the opportunity to learn from others’ passions, share to your social networks and help promote an authors’ potential.
We aim to close the ‘relationship gap’ between emerging and existing talent by creating multi-directional learning opportunities and better career-stage diversity in our networks. The future of work will depend on our ability to learn, collaborate and innovate beyond traditional boundaries.
