Scholarly blogs

Updated Feb. 10, 2009

Did you ever wish you could eavesdrop on really smart people while they argue about the topics that interest them the most?   That’s what you get when you browse academic blogs.

You can browse for academic bloggers on your own favorite topics at The Academic Blog Portal and at Blogscholar.

Here are a few of my favorites.  (I also include some non-academic blogs that I just like.)

Note: This directory is a work in progress.  Have questions? Blogs to recommend? Drop me a line either by entering a comment or writing to me at Davka99 at gmail dot com.

Archaeology/Ancient history

PaleoJudaica, James Davila, University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

A scholar of ancient Judaism, James Davila posts news about scholarly papers, exhibitions, book reviews and archeological finds. His links are a lot of fun to explore.

PhDiva, Dorothy King

Archaeologist and historian Dorothy King blogs about a wide variety of topics, ranging from recipes and funny Christmas cards to musings about the possible illegal provenance of antiquities at art auctions.

Books

BibliOdyssey, Paul aka “peacay,” a bibliophile from Sydney, Austalia.
If you love beautiful old illustrated books, do yourself a favor and browse through the wonderful book illustrations that peacay has found in odd corners of the web. He reproduces the illustrations and then comments on the books.  A recent favorite of mine: Le Livre d’Heures d’Isabeau de Roubaix.

Economics

The Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman, Princeton University.

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman writes a regular column for the New York Times in addition to his day job as a Princeton professor. And he still has time to write this blog which includes wonkish academic stuff with charts and graphs along with explanations for the rest of us.

Econbrowser, James Hamilton, University of California, San Diego and Menzie Chinn, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

James Hamilton and Menzie Chinn analyze the economic news and emerging trends. Check out the comments on their posts. Very serious discussions here.

Economist’s View, Mark Thoma, University of Oregon.
Mark Thoma offers thoughtful analysis of the economic news and interesting comparisons with economic history. He also has a link to his course lectures on Youtube.

Grasping Reality with Both Hands Brad DeLong, University of California, Berkeley.
Brad DeLong is proudly liberal and his political posts are quite partisan. But he also has thought provoking analysis of the economics behind the headlines.

Nudge, Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, University of Chicago
Sunstein and Thaler, authors of Nudge the book, blog about how the insights of behavioral psychology can help us do what is good for us.  If you tell them of a new and delightful “nudge,” they’ll send you a free copy of their book.

History

Religion in America, multiple authors.
This blog offers lots of thought-provoking essays on the history of religion in America.

Linguistics

Separated by a Common Language, M Lynne Murphy, University of Sussex, UK.
Linguist Lynne Murphy blogs about the differences between American English and British English.  Did you know that cars in the US honk, while cars in the UK hoot?

Philosophy

Manyul Im’s Chinese Philosophy Blog, Manyul Im, Fairfield University, Connecticut.
Manyul Im discusses Chinese philosophy and draws lots of thoughtful comments from his readers.  He also has a Question Board where he answers question relating to Chinese philosophy.

Public Affairs

Amitai Etzioni Notes, Amitai Etzioni, George Washington University.
Sociologist Amitai Etzioni has written a gazillion books on public policy topics like nuclear proliferation and terrorism.  His commentary on current events is always illuminating.