1: If you could only have four books on you island, what would you take?

The Art of Listening – Les Back

Les Back is one of my favourite writers, sociological or otherwise, and this is book I reach for if I ever need a reminder of why I wanted to do sociological research or writing in the first place. The sociology this book puts forward is one with a strong ethical commitment to a close and thoughtful examination of everyday life – particularly the over-looked or dismissed – in order to better understand how the world works. The chapters deal with all sorts of different examples, from how we might read London as a city in the wake of the 7/7 bombings from listening to its sounds, to a reading of tattoos as ‘inscriptions of love’. What cuts through the book is the argument that sociologists must listen to…