With the close of another semester, you’ll have a well-deserved break to spend time with family, catch up on pursuits you put off during the semester, and generally enjoy yourself. But the things you’ve learned – particularly critical thinking and how to research – can accentuate your everyday pleasures, too.

For example, lots of us like to unwind after a long day with some time watching television. Plenty of TV shows and movies create immersive worlds for us to enjoy, but oftentimes the particulars have been changed to suit the dramatic narrative, and can give a skewed impression about what’s real and what isn’t. Maybe you watch history-inspired fiction on the History Channel, like Vikings, Knightfall, or The Curse of Oak Island. Or shark shows on the Discovery Channel. Or even more ‘history-lite’ and ‘inspired by a true story’ fare like Game of Thrones.

Whatever you enjoy, there’s more to learn about it. Scholarship doesn’t just have to be about your professional concerns! A little research into your casual interests can make that light viewing into an even more enjoyable experience – and vice versa, as the things you’ve watched paint evocative visuals in your reading!

Vikings as envisioned by Howard La Fay, and by the History Channel

Probe a historical or academic source on the same material, and see how much more you get out of both. If you like Viking entertainment, try The death-song of Ragnar Lodbrach (translated from the original Latin by Hugh Downman) or Eddic, Skaldic, and beyond: poetic variety in Medieval Iceland and Norway by Martin Chase or The Vikings by Howard La Fay. For the Knights Templar example, give The Templars: history & myth by Michael Haag, The debate on the Trial of the Templars, (1307-1314) by Jochen Burgtorf, or Templars and Hospitallers as professed religious in the Holy Land by Jonathan Riley-Smith a shot. Or Real-Life X-Files : Investigating the Paranormal by Joe Nickell, The Oak Island Treasure by Charles Driscoll, or The money pit : the story of Oak Island and the world’s greatest treasure hunt by D’Arcy O’Connor. Or volume 4 of Grzimek’s animal life encyclopedia for your shark-related needs. Or even The Wars of the Roses by Michael Hicks to explore a historical source behind the Game of Thrones saga. After all, we can learn about fun things, too!

This is a break from classes, and a time of ease. But it isn’t a time to turn your brain off, and forget everything you’ve learned. It’s time to carry the thoughtfulness sharpened in the classroom into the rest of our lives. And the next time you watch a history-adjacent movie or television show, you’ll find that your experience will be the richer for it.

Need help finding academic resources on your favorite interest? Ask us at iueref@iue.edu!