Summer reading list: Week 3

Summertime is the very best time to relax on the back porch with a cold beverage and a book.

We’re asking UIC readers for their summer reading recommendations. Send yours (and why you like them), plus what you’re doing this summer, to ncardo2@uic.edu

Amy Doherty, program analyst, College of Business Administration

Although summer is moving faster than Doherty would like, she found time for J.K. Rowling’s mystery novel The Cuckoo’s Calling, written under the pen name Robert Galbraith, for its “great summer reading pace.”

“I tend to read a lot of New York Times best-selling novels that I can’t put down,” Doherty said. “It was refreshing to read something at a slower pace that still kept my interest.”

Besides reading, Doherty has been enjoying the weather and neighborhood festivals.

Sheela Raja, assistant professor, clinical psychologist and director of clinical behavioral sciences, pediatric dentistry, College of Dentistry

Raja, who recently took a family vacation to Toronto, is reading David McRaney’s first book, You Are Now Less Dumb.

“It is a fun, accessible book on ways that social psychology can be applied to everyday life,” Raja said.

Although she’s in summer mode, Raja made time for heavier reading with Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience by Scott O. Lilienfeld.

“This is a really interesting book on how we need to be cautious when applying brain scans to the study of mental phenomenon,” Raja said.

Raja has suggested Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly to several friends. The book encourages readers to engage in every aspect of life, both good and bad.

“I think almost everyone can relate to the discussion of emotions and wanting to be loved for who they are,” she said. “Brown is a qualitative researcher and a fantastic, inspirational writer.”