Exeter faculty hitting the books

Math Instructor Brandon Hew is hitting the books hard this summer. Textbooks that is. Hew is in his second season of graduate school at University of New Hampshire and working towards his MST (master of science for teachers) degree in math. He’s racking up classes in Euclidean and Non-Euclidean geometry, statistics and real analysis. What’s the probability that he’s reading anything not related to math? Fairly high. “Once classes finish, I’ll be taking a vacation to Europe with my fiancée, Sally Komarek, who teaches in the history department,” he says. Here’s what he plans to pack:

“How Are You Going to Save Yourself,” by JM Holmes

“I usually prefer nonfiction, but this popped up in an email from my alma mater last fall. Holmes and I overlapped while at Amherst, and although I did not know him on a personal level, the student-athlete community there is pretty tightly knit. When I saw his name in the email, I bought it, but never got around to reading it. I am excited to read Holmes’ work and his approach to exploring issues such as race, class, and sex.”

“The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations,” by John McCain

“I decided to buy this after McCain passed away last year. I never forced myself to allocate time to read it, but I’m partially through it now. It has been interesting reading his perspective on some of the political and social issues he wrestled with during the latter part of his career. I’m excited to read through the remainder of it in the next couple of weeks.” 

“Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometries,” by Marvin Greenberg

“This is a textbook for one of my grad school classes, but geometry has always fascinated me. With high-school geometry focusing primarily in the Euclidean realm, diving back into geometries that I haven’t studied since my undergrad work has been enjoyable.”