One of the benefits of the course I'm completing at the University of Leeds is that this summer I have no set academic work to do. This means I have months of free time to spend on anything I want! Economic orthodoxy points in no uncertain terms to getting a job but having worked hard to get here I really can't be bothered subjugating myself to whatever terrible jobs will likely be on offer for summer students. Poor pay and working conditions are all too frequent in the New Capitalism, and given that I don't have to play that game right now, I will abstain.
Instead I am going to work my way through a series of classic texts that will (hopefully) make me a better and more learned person! I'm starting with all of Ayn Rands stuff then moving onto works by recently deceased social democratic author Tony Judt. Judt wrote the set text for my first semester module on post-war Europe, and his fluid writing style and analytical ability have made me a fan (possessing near identical political sympathies is always a bonus!). I am certainly making a conscious effort to not allow selective bias to filter out any works I would not normally work through, if you only read those who cleave closely to your own beliefs then you will end up all the poorer. If, as a social democrat, you cannot engage with Hayek and Friedman then you will end up a political caricature and infinitively less able to defend your tenuous position against others better prepared.
My only real academic task for the summer is to come up with a topic for my dissertation next year (and select a supervisor based on this decision), but inspiration can come from the strangest of places so broad reading is perhaps no bad thing. The Leeds University Library contains a substantial archive on the Great War, so perhaps that would be a good resource to tap into? Further investigation is required but I look forward to a summer of learning whatever I decide to research!
