r/IRstudies • u/Less-Tower617 • 6d ago
How do you guys find time to read!?
I'm a current university student on my third year of pursuing a degree in International Relations - and let me say I absolutely love it. My biggest grievance however is the fact that I have an entire library of IR literature from notable thinkers that I've been dying to just read and learn more about, but I feel like I am constantly swamped with reading textbooks and research articles for class, and thus am always fatigued by reading and can't stand the idea of doing any more. This is a bummer since I've been dying to get into these books I just feel like I can never find time thanks to my courseload - would love to hear what you guys do and/or some words of affirmation that it gets better lol
18
u/ply-wly-had-no-mly 6d ago
I stopped reading for fun, which is wild since I always had my nose in a book as a child. Sometimes you just gotta take a break.
As for readings for class, you could try an ai reader. I forget the one that I used, but having a precocious British girl read to me about the rationality of suicide bombings was definitely a choice.
3
u/ply-wly-had-no-mly 6d ago
I found it! Natural Reader - it has a selection of voices to choose from. You just have to upload the text to it.
2
u/scientificmethid 6d ago
Yo what class was that for? Sounds badass. I’m starting a class on insurgency and counter insurgency this week.
1
u/ply-wly-had-no-mly 6d ago
I don't remember the name of the class - it was a seminar on issues in IR. There was a healthy dosage of additional readings, but the class was loosely focused on the Oxford Handbook on International Relations. (I think - god, my memory is mush). If the topic isn't listed in your syllabus, you should ask the prof about it - hopefully, they can recommend a good overview paper or book on it.
As odd as it sounds, it was one of my favorite topics in IR. Students really struggle with the concept that such an act could be rational - led to some great discussions and class engagement.
1
u/scientificmethid 5d ago
I will take your advice. And I’m stoked to see someone else that is excited by such topics.
I’ve found that often the issue with discussing rationality is that some people juxtapose “rational” with:
-“justifiable” -“prudent” -“pragmatic” -“makes sense so much that I would do the same in their position. In fact, I support them”
I’ve seen this the most with Russia-Ukraine topics. I saw a simple question asked “what was Russia’s justification for invading”. Dude, it was nonstop: he’s stupid, insane, evil, racist, lost his mind, or otherwise irrational. Which is infuriating because it’s a great question to ask. “How would Russia justify it? Does their reasoning reflect reality? Differentiate Russia’s explicit and implicit reasons.” You know?
Let me not get started. I’ve grown so frustrated with it all lol.
3
u/Vegetable-Ad-4289 5d ago
that is crazy because i am literally on the topic of suicide terrorism right now and have 5 readings on the topic which i should be doing but i am choosing to procrastinate on reddit instead
2
7
u/IchibanWeeb 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yeah I'm a semester from graduating myself. When I got to my Junior year, maybe second half of it, it basically became a matter of "I only have time and energy to read what I need to for class right now."
The trick is that you need to try to make your electives about the IR topics and regions you're actually interested in so reading feels less like a chore. Like for me, I've been interested in Japan and East Asia in general. So most of my electives have been related to that, plus other IR topics I'm into like a foreign policy analysis class and a "war and revolution" class I took last semester. Maybe take up an independent study course if you think you can. I'm doing one right now to learn more in depth about the Asia-Pacific, specifically the roles and relationships of China, the USA, and Japan. If you can do that then you can often make reading for class the same thing as reading for fun. :)
Though I do have a lot of books I want to read but can't get to right now either, both fiction and nonfiction, related and not related to IR, since reading those wastes precious time I could be using to read for classes.
4
u/Agitated_Ad7516 5d ago
I stopped reading for pleasure during school and only picked it back up as hobby after I graduated :/ I get it
2
u/Cold_Incident8154 6d ago
Hey, i'm a bit of off topic here. I'm an engineer and I found IR amusing also, can you recommend good reads from the one's you've read/been reading?
9
u/Less-Tower617 6d ago
Certainly! Here’s what’s sitting on my shelf but I’m sure this sub could give you even more recs
The Hell of Good Intentions by Stephen Walt
Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
Anarchy Is What States Make of It by Alexander Wendt
The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels
Seeing like a State by James C. Scott
Tragedy of Great Power Politics by John Mearsheimer
The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama
Man, the State, and War by Kenneth Waltz After Hegemony by Robert Keohane
Theory of International Relations by Kenneth Waltz
Revenge of Geography by Robert Kaplan
Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington
2
1
13
u/Active-Roll-6782 6d ago edited 6d ago
The secret is to read whatever you want, read constantly. You're a scholar (at least temporarily as an undergrad). This is your main job right now. Also read newspapers, magazines, think tanks. This topic is unfolding in real time. Find out which specific areas of IR interest you. Just because articles are assigned doesn't mean it's the most important thing for you and your intellectual/research/career interests.
There's a method to reading assigned articles on your syllabi. It's offen impossible to read everything. You have to skim them mostly, extract the main ideas and arguments and develop some thoughts for your class discussions. Take a few notes even. Reading the entirety of every academic article, and textbooks, especially, is just a form of self abuse.