Learn all summer long with 14 books from MIT faculty
After reading the books, deepen your knowledge with free courses and educational resources from MIT Open Learning.
By Katherine Ouellette
What’s on your summer reading list? Dive into a selection of books from MIT faculty published in the past year, and let each turned page bring you new insights about technology and innovation, science and engineering, and history and culture.
For extra credit, explore the faculty’s online courses and other resources on MIT OpenCourseWare, MITx, and MIT xPRO, all part of MIT Open Learning.
Technology and innovation
“Counting Feminicide: Data Feminism in Action”
By Catherine D’Ignazio, associate professor of urban science and planning
Free courses and resources:
- Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing
- Chalk Radio podcast: The Human Element in Machine Learning
“Dare to Invent the Future: Knowledge in the Service of and Through Problem-Solving”
By Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga, professor of science, technology, and society
Free course: Technology and Innovation in Africa
“Disciplined Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics: 15 Tactics to Turn Your Business Plan Into a Business”
By Paul Cheek, senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, with foreword by Bill Aulet, professor of the practice of entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management
Free courses:
- Entrepreneurship 101: Who is Your Customer
- Entrepreneurship 102: What Can You Do for Your Customer?
- Entrepreneurship 103: Show Me the Money
- Entrepreneurship 104: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship Finance
- New Enterprises
“The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots”
By Daniela Rus, Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Courses:
- Driving Innovation with Generative AI
- Startup Success: How to Launch a Technology Company in 6 Steps
- System Thinking
“Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools”
By Justin Reich, associate professor in comparative media studies/writing
Free courses:
- Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices
- Competency-Based Education: The Why, What, and How
- Design Thinking for Leading and Learning
- Envisioning the Graduate of the Future
- Launching Innovation in Schools
- Sorting Truth from Fiction: Civic Online Reasoning
Science and engineering
“A Book of Waves”
By Stefan Helmreich, professor of anthropology
Free courses:
- The Anthropology of Biology
- The Anthropology of Sound
- Anthropology Through Speculative Fiction
- Cultures of Computing
- History and Anthropology of Medicine and Biology
- Science of Race, Sex, and Gender
- Social Theory and Analysis
- Technology and Culture
“An Introduction to System Safety Engineering”
By Nancy G. Leveson, professor of aeronautics and astronautics
Free courses:
- System Safety (undergraduate level)
- System Safety (graduate level)
“The Visual Elements: Handbooks for Communicating Science and Engineering”
By Felice Frankel, research scientist in chemical engineering
For extra credit, try Making Science and Engineering Pictures: A Practical Guide to Presenting Your Work, available on MITx and MIT OpenCourseWare.
History and culture
“Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China”
By Tristan Brown, assistant professor of history
Free course: Modern China
“Life at the Center: Haitians and Corporate Catholicism in Boston”
By Erica Caple James, professor of medical anthropology and urban studies
Free courses:
- Anthropology Through Speculative Fiction
- Culture, Embodiment, and the Senses
- Dilemmas in Biomedical Ethics: Playing God or Doing Good?
- Medicine, Religion, and Politics in Africa and the African Diaspora
- Violence, Human Rights, and Justice
“Lines Drawn across the Globe”
By Mary Fuller, professor of literature and chair of the faculty
Free courses:
- After Columbus
- Foundations of Western Culture II
- Major Authors: Rewriting Genesis: “Paradise Lost” and Twentieth Century Fantasy
- Renaissance Literature
- The Supernatural in Music, Literature, and Culture
- Writing Early American Lives: Gender, Race, Nation, Faith
- World Literatures: Travel Writing
“The Long First Millennium: Affluence, Architecture, and Its Dark Matter Economy”
By Mark Jarzombek, professor of the history and theory of architecture
Free courses:
- Architectural Design Workshop: Collage Method and Form
- A Global History of Architecture
- A Global History of Architecture Writing
- Introduction to the History and Theory of Architecture
- Thinking About Architecture: In History and at Present
“The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline”
By Yasheng Huang, the Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management and professor of global economics and management
Free courses:
- Economy and Business in Modern China and India
- Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Asia-Pacific
- Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa
“They All Made Peace — What Is Peace?”
Chapter by Lerna Ekmekcioglu, professor of history and director of the Program in Women’s and Gender Studies
Free courses:
Adapted from a summer reading list originally published at https://news.mit.edu/2024/summer-reading-from-mit-0703.
These courses and resources are available through MIT OpenCourseWare, MITx, and MIT xPRO, which are part of MIT Open Learning. OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. MITx, which includes the Open Learning Library, offers hundreds of high-quality massive open online courses adapted from the MIT classroom for learners worldwide. xPRO provides professional development opportunities to a global audience via online courses and blended programs.
