Already backed up files to CD, so here's the last day:
At Ratusz: one each display of "new" guides (sm, kaz, nh) in Polish and english. Others: the pictorial guides, ital russian etc abt 4-5 languages; the little orange ones w cutout, pamphlet and sm book abt K legeneds, some books on salt mine (also entire display, they must pay for the space, ask), book about polish painting, not anything else specifically on nh or kaz but not the usual mass market display of bookstores, etiher.
some people at the counter asking the single person working there some stuff in accented english.
at empik: cworka - both regular and the royal route, lots of langs; Kier orange guide w cutouts, TEssa guides
only 3 NH left; lots of SM and Kaz but on the table, not shelved
coffe table books
lots of red ital guides
Kiosk
Wieliczka in fr eng pol
orange w cutout
SM guide only, eng, not kaz or nh
legneds
pict guide
very little by way of books, some pamphlet things
hrs m-sat 9-7, sun 9-5
no cool tours or crazy guide flyers
ul Jana
vy sparse: pictorial guides in several langs
1 each pol and eng of the 3 guides sm, kaz, nh (but no polish for kaz)
cutout guide in 7 langs: polish, eng, russ span fren ital german
sorry abt spelling, in a hurry.
Architecture and ideology in Eastern Europe during the Stalin era : an aspect of Cold War history / Anders Åman.
New York : Architectural History Foundation ; Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c1992
arch/la NA958 .A4713 1992
I found it in the cached titles I type into MNCAT (that's not the right phrase for them but the auto completer thingy); I must have been too lazy on some day to go over to East Bank and actually GET the book.
I've been surfing lately for organizational tips for dissertations. This is for a slightly earlier phase of research, but it still strikes me as having some useful features, and it IS superficial and sound-bitey, not suited for deep reading of theoretical stuff. Written by "larryc" on a forum at Chronicles of Higher Education.
Q: Do you really read a book in an hour?
A: Indeed I do--though to parapharase a great American, it depends on what the definition of "read" is. Here's how you do it:
1. Create a clean space--a table, the book, paper and a writing utensil, and nothing else.
2. Read two academic reviews of the book you photocopied beforehand. Don't skip this step, these will tell you the book's perceived strengths and weakness. Allow five minutes for this.
3. Read the introduction, carefully. A good intro will give you the book's thesis, clues on the methods and sources, and thumbnail synopses of each chapter. Work quickly but take good notes (with a bibliographic citation at the top of the page.) Allow twenty minutes here.
4. Now turn directly to the conclusion and read that. The conclusion will reinforce the thesis and have some more quotable material. In your notes write down 1-2 direct quotes suitable for using in a review or literature review, should you later be assigned to write such a beast.
Ten to fifteen minutes.
5. Turn to the table of contents and think about what each chapter likely contains. You may be done--in many cases in grad school the facts in any particular book will already be familiar to you, what is novel is the interpretation. And you should already have that from the intro and conclusion. Five minutes.
6. (Optional) Skim 1-2 of what seem to be the key chapters. Look for something clever the author has done with her or his evidence, memorable phrases, glaring weaknesses--stuff you can mention and sound thoughtful yourself when it is your turn to talk in the seminar room. Ten minutes, max.
7. Put the notes and photocopied review in a file folder and squirrel it away. These folders will serve as fodder for future assignments, reviews of similar books, lectures, grant applications, etc.
8. Miller time. Meet some friends and tell them the interesting things you just learned (driving it deeper it your memory).
The above works better with some books than others, but will generally do the trick. Another good technique to have is paragraph surfing. Read the first sentence in each paragraph--and nothing else. After a few disconcerting minutes, it become surprisingly easy to make sense out of a book this way, and it is fast.
Andrzej mentioned a book I should read: The Establishment of Communist Rule in Poland 1943-1948," Krystyna Kersten, 1991.
MNCAT has it, of course. Also there is a book called The est of communist regimes in e Europe which might also be interesting to take a look at.
I'm interested in seeing what the rhetoric was like then, at the beginning, compared with the retrospective position that is now being formed - and, I'd argue, solidified.
Because I will be on fellowship this year, and my only official obligation will be teaching a course I've taught several times before, there will probably be lots of free time in my weeks, or at least a lot of unscheduled time.
This is highly dangerous - with the blogs and the solitaire and the newspapers and the staring off into space. And because the Infamous B will also be highly unscheduled, we could have four intensive months of Doing Nothing, if we are not careful.
I have some ideas about inculcating some habits of self-discipline:
1. I am tentatively scheduled to join a writing group in my department.
2. I need to make some modifications to the home working space (eg better chair) to make it more conducive to spending loads of time there.
3. I will take some time every weekend to formulate a dissertation "to do" list for the week - calls, emails, books/articles to look for; topics to write about; organizational matters to handle. I will keep these lists as a progress report of my thinking and achievements. I will not plan more at one time than can reasonably be achieved in a week.
4. I plan to write for 90 minutes (to start) every day. Real writing, not lists or babbling. This block should begin at a consistent time every day and have NO interruptions: no phone or checking email or solitaire or surfing. I will pretend I am in an empty library carrel with no wifi.
5. At the end of the 90 minutes (which I plan to up to 2 hours and then more, once I sort of get the groove) I will take a break from my desk and attend to household chores for a short time.
6. The afternoons/evenings will be for reading/summarizing and for translation work. Taking materials to the library and reading them there might be a good deal more productive than reading on the couch.
7. My teaching obligations will be scheduled for a specific block of time and will not be allowed to spill over into dissertation time.
8. I am mindful that now is not the time to plan to lose 40 pounds, or read all the plays of Shakespeare, or other vast self-improvement tasks, but we are going to need to figure out some sort of get-out-of-the-house exercise plan and to avoid purchasing snack food, or we won't fit into those academic robes at commencement.
9. I have still to figure out a way to build in Polish language maintenance into the plan.
10. I am putting in my calendar a note to check back on this entry on October 1 to see how it's going.