Rich Pickings

Reviews / Votes

"Although a slim volume, Rich Pickings is indeed a treasure trove of delightful vignettes plus some really useful ideas. It comprises 26 chapters, which are mainly only a page or two in length but feel much longer in terms of the richness of the material, and while it was written by an academic developer this is not a 'how to run a class' type of book. It is much, much more than that. It is provocation, it is challenge, it is a tiny, power-packed ideas generator, and for me, it is a book for our time."



- Lorraine Anderson, University of Dundee, in: Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice Vol 8 | Issue 1 (2020), p. 163


"Every so often a little book crosses your path, stops you in your tracks and encourages you to look at the world around you with a different set of eyes. Rich Pickings is one such book. [...] Each chapter is accompanied by a line drawing that really enhances its theme and speaks to visual thinkers. Daphne's book is a testament to the power of prose that is short and succinct to grab our attention and really make us reflect on what we're doing in our campus classrooms. [...] Read it. It will brighten your day and make you think differently about who you are and how you teach." - Hazel Christie, Institute for Academic Development, University of Edinburgh, in: Scottish Higher Education Developers

"We often speak of different forms of writing as if they are different animals altogether, and our expectations of what these forms are capable of and how they are appreciated, as well as how they are produced, are very different. We can see these divisions everywhere - in the variation in product design between which different forms are shared (newsprint, book, blog, pamphlet, magazine, television), in the way these forms are organised in libraries or online and in the way they are taught at schools and universities. The separation between 'creative writing' and 'academic writing' feels entrenched at university level, and yet as a creative writer myself, I am increasingly drawn to explore the lyric essay, the poetic memoir... types of writing that defy formal distinctions and allow the writer to employ the best of what each form has to offer - being able to play with language, word placement on the page, thesis and argument, memory, description and imagination. Daphne's own elegantly-composed and carefully considered language posits vital questions to those writing, and perhaps struggling to write, academic papers - why does it feel painful? Why can't it be beautiful? Would it be easier to think through academic writing (the creation of it, the understanding of it) if we approached it like poetry; something difficult but breathtakingly meaningful, a rich art that does not use language like a conveyor belt to deliver ideas but like cocoons opening to release butterflies into sunlight. We are often unaware of the prejudices we have been taught regarding 'serious, difficult academic writing' and 'emotive, aesthetically-obsessed creative writing', and it may be these very prejudices that are causing us to hit blocks when we attempt to generate important contributions to academia. [..] Academics are under increasing pressures, squeezed between mounting priorities and demands on their time, and this book comes like a caressing hand on a tense shoulder to offer another way in to reading and writing research: taking joy in the music of creation, sculpting our most precious thoughts, and sharing what we've learned in a way that carries each reader with us, deep into our own learning." - J.L. Williams