In The Field

A Selected Title of the National Book Foundation and the Alfred B. Sloan Foundation's Science + Literature Program Brilliant, terribly stubborn, and ill-suited to the expectations of the period, Kate Croft has shattered her widowed mother's traditional hopes for her in favor of higher education. Rejecting domestic pressures, she has cleaved out an alternative channel for herself, one that deprioritizes marriage and children. More subversive still are the complexities of her sexuality, her pursuit of queer relationships in an intensely heteronormative era. Most notably, though, she has taken a hammer to her field, making debris of its governing premises and challenging the very fundamentals of evolutionary theory. Spanning nearly sixty years, we follow Kate from her first introductory biology course at Cornell to her receipt of the Prize, a journey ridden with obstacles. Kate's scientific medium, maize, is unglamorous and undervalued in academia. Her research is so visionary that it alienates her peers, who are unable to grasp its complex implications. Subject to both implicit and explicit sexism, Kate finds herself perpetually on the defensive, struggling to distinguish between those who care for her and those who wish to oppress her, a dynamic that traps even her longtime friendships in a state of precarity. She struggles to straddle the chasm between the physical field where her corn grows, her oasis, and the corresponding professional field, beleaguered by bias and petty politics.

This is a collection of interviews with contemporary sound artists who use field recording in their work. These conversations explore the fundamental issues that underlie the development of field recording as the core of their practice. Recurring themes include early motivations, aesthetic preferences, the audible presence of the recordist and the nature of the field. Conversations with Manuela Barile, Angus Carlyle, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, Viv Corringham, Peter Cusack, Steven Feld, Felicity Ford, Jez Riley French, Antye Greie, Christina Kubisch, Cathy Lane, Francisco López, Annea Lockwood, Andrea Polli, Ian Rawes, Lasse-Marc Riek, Hiroki Sasajima, Davide Tidoni, Hildegard Westerkamp and Jana Winderen.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year | An O Magazine Best Book of the Year The New York Times bestselling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy delivers another “luminous, unforgettable, and perfectly rendered” (Dennis Lehane) novel—a poignant and probing psychological drama that follows the lives of three siblings in the wake of a violent crime. One September afternoon in 1999, teenagers Matthew, Zoe, and Duncan Lang are walking home from school when they discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed. Matthew, the oldest, becomes obsessed with tracking down the assailant, secretly searching the local town with the victim’s brother. Zoe wanders the streets of Oxford, looking at men, and one of them, a visiting American graduate student, looks back. Duncan, the youngest, who has seldom thought about being adopted, suddenly decides he wants to find his birth mother. Overshadowing all three is the awareness that something is amiss in their parents’ marriage. Over the course of the autumn, as each of the siblings confronts the complications and contradictions of their approaching adulthood, they find themselves at once drawn together and driven apart. Written with the deceptive simplicity and power of a fable, The Boy in the Field showcases Margot Livesey’s unmatched ability to “tell her tale masterfully, with intelligence, tenderness, and a shrewd understanding of all our mercurial human impulses” (Lily King, author of Euphoria).

Now in paperback! Soccer fan or not, the call of The Field is irresistible. A Junior Library Guild Selection Winner of the Sonia Lynn Sadler Award « “Irresistible fun.”— Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review? « “A wonderful depiction of a joyful pastime . . . and a reminder of some of the ways we are more alike than different.”—Booklist, Starred Review Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2018? School Library Journal Best Book of 2018? The Horn Book Fanfare 2018? Shelf Awareness Best Children’s Book of the Year Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year “Vini! Come! The field calls!” cries a girl as she and her younger brother rouse their community—family, friends, and the local fruit vendor—for a pick-up soccer (futbol) game. Boys and girls, young and old, players and spectators come running—bringing balls, shoes, goals, and a love of the sport. “Friends versus friends” teams are formed, the field is cleared of cows, and the game begins! But will a tropical rainstorm threaten their plans? The world’s most popular and inclusive sport has?found its spirited and authentic voice in Baptiste Paul’s debut picture book— highlighting the joys of the game along with its universal themes: teamwork, leadership, diversity, and acceptance. Creole words (as spoken in Saint Lucia, the author’s birthplace island in the Caribbean) add spice to the story and are a strong reminder of the sport’s world fame. Bright and brilliant illustrations by debut children’s book illustrator Jacqueline Alcántara— winner of the We Need Diverse Books Illustration Mentorship award— capture the grit and glory of the game and the beauty of the island setting that inspired this particular field.

On a cold April day, Ben Hylden tried on his suit coat for the upcoming spring prom, then sped toward nearby Park River, North Dakota, for an appointment. Running late and driving too fast, he lost control of his car on ice, flipped the car, and was thrown out the passenger's door, plunging face-first into an icy field. Ben's face and body were crushed, along with his dreams of being a basketball star. As his battered body lay in the field, Ben's life seemed to be coming to an end. However, it turned out to only be the beginning of a journey of faith that shoed him glimpses of life beyond this world, and gave him a new perspective on what matters most.

A revealing look at the common causes of failures in randomized control experiments during field reseach—and how to avoid them All across the social sciences, from development economics to political science, researchers are going into the field to collect data and learn about the world. Successful randomized controlled trials have brought about enormous gains, but less is learned when projects fail. In Failing in the Field, Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel examine the taboo subject of failure in field research so that researchers might avoid the same pitfalls in future work. Drawing on the experiences of top social scientists working in developing countries, this book describes five common categories of failures, reviews six case studies in detail, and concludes with reflections on best (and worst) practices for designing and running field projects, with an emphasis on randomized controlled trials. Failing in the Field is an invaluable “how-not-to” guide to conducting fieldwork and running randomized controlled trials in development settings.

Caroline has loved Isaiah for as long as she can remember…even though nothing about him is acceptable, according to her family, her town, and everyone in it. All she has ever wanted is a simple life with the right person, but when things fall apart in her tiny town, she struggles to remember that. When she loses everything, she rebuilds her life and gains a new, unconventional family. For someone who was neglected, she learns what it’s like to truly have people who care about her. When her past clashes with her present, she has to decide what to leave behind and what to grip with everything she has. And Isaiah has to decide whether he fits in this life or if he’s only part of the past. Spanning over a long stretch of time, In the Fields is a timeless story of love conquering all.

An excellent introduction to real-world ethnography, this book covers short- and long-term participant observation and ethnographic interviewing and uses diverse cultures as cases.

First Published in 2004. An authoritative guide to the problems and procedures associated with data collection and analysis in field research.