It's a Don's Life

An entertaining collection of short pieces from a newspaper blog on academic life by the well-known classicist and media pundit on the Roman world. The academic situations are mostly familiar, although I worked at northern UK universities that nurtured fewer traditions and less social privilege. Overall, it’s a good glimpse of the concerns of higher education in the Classics in the Oxbridge style.

I had never heard of Mary Beard or her blog before picking up this book – my loss indeed: for those similarly ignorant, I heartily recommend ‘It’s a Don’s Life’.

Cambridge classicist Professor Mary Beard, fellow of the all-female Newnham College, is the classics editor of the Times Literary supplement who, in 2006, asked her to blog for them: hers has become one of the most popular sites on the blogosphere.

You need not have studied classics or even been to University to find her meditations completely enthralling, whether she is discoursing on tampons for Africa or racism or the ancient world. Definitely a Summa cum Laude

This is a collection of blog posts written by Professor Mary Beard on her Times Online blog "It's a Don's Life". As you might expect, most of the posts discuss university life, the classics, and how aspects of Roman times can be applied to the modern world. It's a good book to read on the bus because the posts are fairly short. Some are on the repetitive side, if only because there are certain university issues that crop up on an annual basis: for example, freshers' week, the terror-inducing Oxbridge interview, and whether exams are getting too easy. On the blog itself there would be a much greater length of time between these posts.

Another interesting aspect is the inclusion of some of the comments (reprinted with permission). They show more provide a taste of what regular blog readers are like, and also illustrate reactions to her more controversial posts. She herself also provides editorial comments and context for some remarks.

Overall a good book if you're interested in the subject matter. show less

A collection of posts from classicist Beard's blog. Entries range in topics from current events, academic life, and classics misconceptions, new finds, and so on. Entertaining and enlightening.

A collection of articles from Mary Beard's blog. One of my comments was included so I got a freebie. Just right for dipping into while waiting.