Library Activities
Books that students should read in 2024
Faculty of International Studies
Department of International Studies
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eiji Nakayama | The Essence of Language: How Language Arose and Evolved | Mutsumi Imai Akita Yoshimi |
What is the appeal of words? What are your thoughts about words, students? Reading this book will surely deepen your interest in words. Please pick up a copy and read it. |
| Eiji Nakayama | Changing society with board games: towards playful care | Jun Yonahara Takuya Ono |
What is the difference between analog games and digital games? I feel like the two are rapidly approaching each other recently. I learned about the social and metaphorical aspects of analog games from this book. Please read it! |
| Nagisa Hidaka | The way is open | D. Carnegie | This is one of Carnegie's two great masterpieces, along with "How to Win Friends and Influence People," and is a timeless classic! It specifically describes the essence of how to deal with various problems that everyone encounters, how to have a good attitude, and how to deal with them from your actions and habits. Please give it a read! |
Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences
Department of Sport and Health Sciences
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yoshiaki Sato | Buddhism: A Must-Learn Cultural Knowledge | Hiromi Shimada | Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many people have been visiting temples and shrines in tourist areas. If students also learn about Buddhism when visiting temples, they may discover a new worldview! |
Faculty of Business Management
Department of Business Management
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atsushi Miyake | Financial Freedom: Achieve financial freedom and happiness in life at the same time! | Bodo Schaefer | It is important to learn about "money" during your student years. This book, written by a German author, is about financial freedom and happiness, and is a departure from simple "how-to" books. |
| Masako Futamura | Steady Innovation: From the Perspective of an Anthropologist and an Institutional Economist | Kitagawa Kota Natsuko Higa Takashi Watanabe |
The book provides a thorough discussion of the practices and background behind innovation at organizations that act as agents for their client companies, through the work of practitioners, anthropologists, and institutional economists. |
Department of Commercial Sciences
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akihiro Hamasaki | The mask dances | Sadao Toji | A collection of essays written by a manga artist and essayist during the COVID-19 pandemic. These essays are excellent, with sharp insight, excellent writing skills, and a rich vocabulary. They are a great way to look back on the COVID-19 pandemic and also study writing. |
| Yusuke Ikuta | How to study economics and society: Cultivating a healthy skeptical eye | Takenori Inoki | This book will help you develop sound critical thinking about the economy, including business and management. The book is filled with the author's extensive knowledge and skillful writing, making it a learning experience in itself. |
Faculty of Economics
Department of Economics
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michiya Kato | The Structure of Modern Japan: Alliances and Disparities | Junji Sakano | This is an excellent book that looks to prewar history for clues to thinking about domestic issues such as inequality and taxes facing modern Japan, as well as international issues such as how to determine Japan's international position amid the conflict between the United States and China. |
| Shinsuke Furuya | The Rules of Tekiya: Culture, Organization, and Customs of Festivals | Hirosue Noboru | Nowadays, festival stalls have begun to be lined up in a disorganized fashion. I remember the stalls being neatly lined up when I was a child, so this was puzzling. This book answered my questions. One of the reasons seems to be that the anti-gang ordinance has made it impossible for tekiya (traders) to control festival stalls. I also now understand why my mother got angry at me when I bought a candy apple at a festival and came home. |
Department of International Economics
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Chang-hoon | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind : The Structure of Civilization and Human Happiness | Yuval Noah Harari | This book is a humanities book that speaks to humanity as a whole. It tells in detail how we, the human species Homo sapiens, came to dominate the Earth. Please read it. |
| Kazunori Mizushima | Assembly: The formation of a new democracy | Antonio Negri Michael Hart |
This is a stimulating book that explores from various perspectives the possibilities for new gatherings and assemblies of people to create global democracy in the 21st century. |
Faculty of Design Technology
Department of Information Systems Engineering
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toru Takahashi | Active Reasoning: The Free Energy Principle of Mind, Brain, and Behavior | Thomas Parr Giovanni Pezzulo Karl Friston |
Information systems have always been a way to connect people. In the near future, they will evolve into a way to connect hearts. Now is your chance to learn about the free energy principle of the mind, brain, and behavior! |
| Hitoshi Ogaki | Civil defense: protection from all dangers | Compiled by the Swiss Government Translated by Hara Shobo Editorial Department |
Invasion and combat against a nation (sovereignty, territory, and people (nation)) does not begin in a visible form. It cannot be denied that our country has already been exposed to invasion by other countries. What should we prepare as civilians for such attacks, what can we do, and what should we do in the unlikely event of an attack? This is a must-read manual presented by the Swiss Federal Government to its citizens in order to defend the nation. |
Department of Architectural and Environmental Design
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etsuko Funabiki | Japanese-style Room Studies: Spaces that are unique to Japan | Shuichi Matsumura Hattori Mineo |
In today's world where Japanese-style rooms are becoming extraordinary spaces, this book will allow readers to rediscover the many unique features of excellent Japanese-style rooms and the long and deep connection that Japanese-style rooms have with the lifestyle and spiritual culture of the Japanese people. |
| Ryo Watada | Factfulness: Overcoming 10 misconceptions and developing the habit of seeing the world correctly based on data | Hans Rosling Ola Rosling Anna Rosling Ronlund |
This book will make you realize your various preconceptions about the world. I'm sure there are many people who will get more wrong answers to the 13 multiple choice questions at the beginning than a chimpanzee (random), and then be shocked. (I was one of them.) |
Faculty of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shinichi Enoki | Modern translation of the Heart Sutra | Genyu Sokyu | This is a book that I think people should read to gain knowledge to help them go through life. |
| Minako Ohashi | The Good Life: It's never too late to be happy | Robert Waldinger Mark Schultz |
What is happiness? I thought it was different for each person. Human relationships are difficult, aren't they? You might find some hints here. I also recommend using the author's YouTube videos. |
Department of Mechanical Engineering for Transportation
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shinya Mashita | 400 Hours of Testimony from the Imperial Japanese Navy: The Defeat of the Japanese Navy | NHK Special Reporting Team | How did the last war that virtually destroyed Japan come about? This book vividly describes one aspect of that process. I highly recommend you read it to prevent the same thing from happening again. |
Department of Civil Engineering
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norihiko Yamashita | The complete guide to strengthening your calculation skills: By changing your perspective, you can "see" how to solve problems | Satoshi Kagimoto | You may think that it's okay if your calculation skills are low because there are calculators that can perform complex calculations. In the future, you will need calculation skills for work or studying for qualifications. This is a book that will help you improve your calculation skills little by little. |
Department of Electrical, Electronics and Information Engineering (Department of Electronics,Information and Communication Engineering)
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiroyuki Kumazawa | Never lost again: The birth of Google Maps | Bill Kilday | This is the story behind the birth of Google Map, which you use every day. It depicts how an American venture company with map technology was acquired by Google and became a huge success. After spinning out of Google, they also had great success with Pokemon Go. |
Institute of Education
| Recommended Teachers | Book title | Author | Testimonials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Katsutoshi Kawashima | Osaka's life history | Masahiko Kishi | This book features the life stories of 150 Osakans. In today's society, where we feel like we know everything through the Internet, it's heartwarming to hear stories from people close to us. This is a book that will give you that experience. |
| Kengo Kawamura | Tangible math: from Galilei to Poincaré | Mathematics Visualization Project Hokkaido University Museum Project; Edited by Jun Masamune |
This book is linked to the Hokkaido University Museum's 2022 summer exhibition. A video explaining the mathematics exhibits can be viewed on the Kyoritsu Shuppan website. Please take a look at both the book and the video. |