16 Holiday Reads for the Intellectually Curious

The Editors | 28.11.2024

As the year winds down and the holiday season fills the air, there's no better time to dive into thought-provoking books that both spark the imagination and challenge the intellect. Look no further than our holiday reading guide!

In these turbulent and uncertain times, carving out a quiet moment with a meaningful book feels more important than ever. This year’s holiday reading guide features works that encourage reflection, offer fresh insights and invite a deeper, more inclusive understanding of the world around us. Great books don’t always resolve uncertainty, but they invite us to sit with it, learn from it, and grow.

We’re pleased to share with you 16 neatly packaged reading recommendations that reflect the best and brightest of what we publish at De Gruyter Brill. There’s something here for everyone: For the scientist, artist, and architect; for the music nerd and Marxologist; for the storyteller and future-shaper; or for anyone who loves a good read. Even better, some of our titles don’t even need to be unwrapped – they’re already open access.

To unlock your discount, head to the De Gruyter, Brill, and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht webshops and use the code DGBHOLIDAY at the checkout.

And don’t forget: All titles are 30% off during the De Gruyter Brill holiday sale. ‘Tis the season to get cozy with a holiday read for the intellectually curious!

DGB Holiday Sale graphic, reading "Happy Holidays" and featuring the De Gruyter Brill logo turned into a santa hat.

1. Practices of Futurecasting

Practices of Futurecasting: Ways of Sharing Imagined TomorrowsEducator Michael Shamiyeh has brought together over 40 thought leaders from the worlds of business, politics, art, and science address the question of “futurecasting.” A reader by and for all those who want to shape the future.

2. Women of Chinese Modern Art

Doris Sung's Women of Chinese Modern Art. Book cover.

Women of Chinese Modern Art: Gender and Reforming Traditions in National and Global Spheres, 1900s–1930sDrawing on a wealth of overlooked sources and previously unexhibited artworks, Doris Sung not only affirms women’s significant roles as guardians and innovators of traditionalist art forms in modern China, she also reveals their contribution to cultural diplomacy and revaluation of Chinese artistic heritage on the international stage in the early twentieth century.

Winner of the SECAC Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication.

Selen Kars-Ünlüoğlu, Carol Jarvis and Hugo Gaggiotti, the authors of Unleadership, were also featured in a blog post earlier this year. Read it here.

7. What is Edible?

What is edible? A journey through the world of food taboos and food culturesIf you’re having a tough time deciding what to eat over the holiday season, Adel den Hartog shows how complex the food choices of humans have been for millenia. His book, now translated in English, inspires a range of interventions when it comes to food and lifestyle. Those who wonder why we eat what we eat will find plenty to satisfy their curiosity.

8. Music and its Narrative Potential

Open AccessMusic and its Narrative PotentialThis is a book about musical stories, whose contributors interweave contemporary music with narratology, intermediality and interdisciplinary approaches. It offers a multifaceted consideration of musical narrative: From radio plays and musical theater to post-classical and postminimalist experimentation.

9. Touch Nature

Touch Nature: Art in the Age of the Climate CrisisCaptures a dynamic conversation exploring the profound impact of human activity on the environment and climate. Artists delve into pressing issues like global food systems, epidemics, and the legacy of colonialism, with many drawing inspiration from nature’s restorative qualities and its role in various mythologies.

10. Queer Pop

Book cover: Queer Pop: Aesthetic Interventions in Contemporary Culture

Open AccessQueer Pop: Aesthetic Interventions in Contemporary CultureThis volume considers how feminist, queer, and trans* musicians, filmmakers, curators, and performance artists contribute to popular culture. It explores the many ways of relating to difference, however this is conceived, that their contributions enable. What affects do their works engender? How do they rouse their audience, and to what ends? What visions do they inspire?

11. Colonial Diplocmacy through Art

Book cover: Colonial Diplocmacy through Art, Brill

Colonial Diplomacy through ArtIn the example of Jerusalem under British rule, Moya Tönnies analyses how three members of the British administration, Ashbee, architect Ernest Tatham Richmond, and governor Ronald Storrs, all three identifying with the International Arts and Crafts Movement, used art as a diplomatic sphere for their British colonial anti-Zionist interventions.

On the Brill Blog: Author Moya Tönnies on searching for Palestine’s “national dress,” a spectacular thob al-malak from Bethlehem given to Princess Mary in 1922

12. InformELLEs

InformELLEs book cover, Deutscher Kunst Verlag

Presented in English and GermanInformELLEs: Women Artists and Art Informel in the 1950s/60sThis volume takes a new look at the art of Informel and honors high-profile positions by 16 female artists. In addition to well-known names such as Maria Lassnig, Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff, Judit Reigl and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, long-forgotten artists are being rediscovered. Using art-sociological questions about networks, participation in exhibitions and reception, the mechanisms of the art world are also investigated.

13. Warum ist der Himmel blau? (“Why is the Sky Blue?”)

Book cover: Warum ist der Himmel blau? De Gruyter

German-language titleWarum ist der Himmel blau?How round is a rainbow and why does a piece of bread always fall butter side down? Joachim Brockow explains these questions and many more through a series of amusing stories from everyday encounters with nature and technology. They are easy and fluid to read – while traveling home for Christmas, on the sofa, or when the TV is just too boring.

14. A Marxist Mosaic

Historical MaterialismJairus Banaji: Selected Writings 1968–2022From the esteemed theorist of late antique economic history and merchant capitalism comes a remarkable essay collection that exemplifies the explanatory power of historical materialism across time and space. They were written over some fifty years of both activism and academic work, embodying Banaji’s lifelong engagement with Marxist theory. Perfect for the Marx-head in your life!

15. In Search of Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob

In Search of Zera Yacob book cover. Zärʾa Yaʿǝqob

Open AccessIn Search of Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob: On the History, Philosophy, and Authorship of the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob and the Ḥatäta Wäldä ḤəywätThe Ḥatäta Zärʾa Yaʿǝqob and the Ḥatäta Wäldä Ḥəywät are enigmatic and controversial works, composed in the Gǝʿǝz language and set in the highlands of 17th-century Ethiopia. Expressed in prose of great power and beauty, they have also been condemned by some as an elaborate forgery. This volume breaks new ground for the study of these texts, presenting a clear account of the most up-to-date scholarship.

Learn more about the enduring mysteries of Ethiopian philosophy in this blog post by Jonathan Egid, one of the book’s co-authors.

16. Fake News in Ancient Greece

Book cover. Fake News in Ancient Greece. De Gruyter

Fake News in Ancient GreeceYou may be surprised to learn that the problem of fake news goes back a lot further than social media and cyberwarfare – all the way back to antiquity! The contributions in this volume offer a selective approach to this phenomenon in ancient Greece, applying media and cultural studies instruments to ancient texts.

To unlock your discount, head to the De Gruyter, Brill, and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht webshops and use the code DGBHOLIDAY at the checkout.

[Title image by Liudmila Chernetska/iStock/Getty Images Plus]