TOPICS OFFERED FOR
SPRING 2014
Please
note that the books listed for each course are only
possible candidates.
Do not buy any until the pre-meeting and a decision on the
common reading is
made.
Classes start
January 2nd and end April
30th.
Holiday periods
are adapted to by individual class
voting.
1.
(ARR) AMERICAÕS RAILROADS
Every American
town, great or small, aspired to be connected to a railroad
and by the early
years 1900s, almost every American lived within easy access of
a station. Soon
the country was covered in a latticework of more than 200,000
miles of railroad
track.
This
study/discussion group will learn how America was made by the
railroads.
Promoted by visionaries and built by the biggest corporations
in the land, the
American railroad network exceeded EuropeÕs in every sense. It united far-flung
parts of the large
country, boosted economic development, and was the catalyst
for AmericaÕs rise
to world-power status. In recent years, the car, truck, and
airplane have
eclipsed the railroad in peopleÕs minds. But, industry still
heavily relies on
them.
Suggestions
for research presentation: earliest railroads, technology of
engines/fuels,
impacts on Civil War, rail barons, transcontinental railroad, tunnels and bridges,
car types/service,
refrigeration, train stations, train terminals, control and
safety,
time/schedules, hobos, train museums, scenic train tours, etc.
Our goal is to
gain an understanding of the role of railroads in the
development of America.
Common Reading: The Great Railroad
Revolution, by
Christian Wolmer (Sept.
2012)
2. (CHN) CHINAÕS LONG
MARCH INTO THE
21ST CENTURY
How did a
nation, after a long and painful period of dynastic decline,
intellectual
upheaval, foreign occupation, civil war, and revolution,
manage to burst forth
onto the world stage with the dynamism of China today? The class will
consider this
question by examining the lives of influential officials,
writers, activists,
and leaders whose contributions helped create modern China. The proposed text
suggests eleven who
have met the criterion and proposes to show the common goal
that unites these
disparate figures is their determined pursuit of fuqiang,
Òwealth and power.Ó Presentation
topics
might include other leaders beyond the eleven, an examination
of the
limits of present day ChinaÕs Òwealth and power,Ó and key
historical events
such as the Japanese Occupation and the Treaty of Nanjing.
Common
Reading: Wealth
and Power: ChinaÕs
Long March to
the Twenty-First Century, by Orville Schell & John Delury (July 2013)
A look back at
HuntingtonÕs ÒA Clash of CivilizationsÕ: How well or poorly
did his predictions
work out. P.
Huntington has
postulated a new model for international interactions after
the end of the Cold
War. The
important entities are
Òcivilizations,Ó not nations.
Example civilizations include:
The West, Islamic, Sinic
(China+), Hindu,
etc. Common
blood, history, values,
religion, language and geographic bases define these
civilizations. Peoples
not in oneÕs own civilization
can be seen as potential or real enemies.
Reading this
1996 publication after 9/11/2001, the onset of the War on
Terror and the US
experiment in "regime change" and "nation building," one
cannot but be amazed at the accuracy of its prognostication
and the degree to
which its advice was not heeded. The basic thesis of the book
is that it is
impossible to impose Western political, religious and cultural
values on
non-Western countries. This model provides an important
perspective for
assessing current world events, and hopefully, aiding in
avoiding future
calamities.
Possible
subjects for research/presentation:
Is the West really in decline?
Are the Balkans a Òworld in
miniatureÓ from
this perspective? Should
we embark
on future wars of intervention:
e.g., Iran, China vs. Taiwan, or the Middle East, and
if so, under what
conditions? Have we learned anything from our present Òwars of
intervention
Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya What is the ÒDavos Culture,Ó and how
does it relate to
ÒGlobalizationÓ and ÒAnti-Globalization?Ó
How might expanded education and the expanded role of
women affect the
course of civilizations and their clashes? How does the UN fit
into this new
world model? What
is ÒmulticulturismÓ in the USA,
how does it fit with
HuntingtonÕs model, and what are the potential good and bad
effects of it? What
are the commonalities and points of
conflict and what are the lines of communication between
civilizations. Our
goal is to gain a new perspective from
which to assess, evaluate, and perhaps understand the lessons
of the past
thirty years.
4.
(CKD) COOKED
Cooked is based on
the book by Michael Pollan, the
author of The
OmnivoreÕs Dilemma, which was a
popular Omnilore class several years ago.
It describes Michael PollanÕs
adventures in
learning to cook (believe it or not he didnÕt cook before
this). The book
is divided into four sections:
Fire, which examines cooking with fire, in particular barbecue
techniques in
North Carolina: Water, which covers cooking with water,
boiling, braising, and
poaching; Air, in which the author learns to bake bread and
other goodies; and
Earth, which delves into the mysteries of fermentation,
including beer and
pickles among other foods.
ItÕs a
fascinating book which explores many of the more mysterious
aspects of food
preparation. There
are multiple
opportunities for presentations in this course, for example,
different types of
regional barbecue, the history and evolution of stews, ethnic
breads, and other
pickling techniques not described in the book.
Common Reading: Cooked: A
Natural History of Transformation, by Michael
Pollan
(April
2013)
5.
(CON) REWRITING THE
U.S. CONSTITUTION
Suppose you
could rewrite our
Constitution. What
would you
change? What
would you add? Should
we adopt a parliamentary form of
government to attempt to reduce gridlock in Washington or
perhaps elect the
president directly? How
would we
change or clarify the Bill of Rights Ð add a right of privacy,
allow or
not allow gun ownership, modify the 10th Amendment to require
the federal
government to fund mandates?
Class
members will present their
proposed changes for discussion and class vote. Optionally two
members may present two
sides of a proposal. Presentation
topics
could also include the Federalist Papers, the Articles of
Confederation,
or the historical background for issues like presidential
election by electors
or for key amendments, such as direct election of senators,
womenÕs right to
vote, or the right against self-incrimination.
Common
Reading: The
Constitution is available
on-line and bound copies are widely available
for one to five
dollars.
We all
ÒknowÓ that the US Government is
functioning badly. Many people think that what is going on is
the fault of one
of the two major political parties Ð different people pick
different
sides. But, do we have an accurate picture. This S/DG will
investigate such
topics as: the
extent of
gerrymandering to provide Òsafe seatsÓ (nearly all of them),
the revolving door
by which members of Congress become lobbyists with access to
members of
Congress, etc. Hopefully, we will come up with realistic
suggestions for
improving the situation
Common
Reading: This
Town: Two
Parties and a FuneralÉ, by
Mark Leibovich (July 2013)
7. (CTY) CITIES: HOW THEY MAKE US
RICHER, SMARTER, HEALTHIER
&
HAPPIER
This class
shatters myths about city living. Did you know that New
Yorkers, for instance,
live longer than other Americans?
Or that heart disease and cancer rates are lower in NYC
than in the
nation as a whole.? Or that city
dwellers use 40
percent less energy than suburbanites? Curious about why
Detroit is dying while
other old industrial cities like Chicago, and Boston thrive?
Join us and learn whatÕs really
happening in the big city. The author of our suggested text
Òmakes an
impassioned case for the city's import and splendor. Ò What
does he know that
we donÕt?
Common Reading: Triumph of the City: How
Our Greatest
Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and
Happier by Edward
L. Glaeser (February 2011)
8.
(DTA) BIG DATA
TodayÕs
technology allows us to collect, store and instantly analyze
billions of pieces
of information each day. The information flows in from
everywhere: climate
sensors, social media postings, cell phone signals, purchase
transaction
records, digital photographs, and countless other sources. Analyzing all this
data allows us to
answer questions such as:
Which paint
color is most likely to tell you that a used car is in good
shape? How can officials
identify the most dangerous New York City manholes before they
explode? How can
Google searches predict the spread of flu outbreak?
The book used
in this class will explain how our ability to search and
analyze massive
amounts of data (such as airline ticket prices or the texts of
millions of
books) is causing an Òinformation revolution,Ó which has
implications for
business, healthcare, politics, education and scientific
innovation. We
will also explore the downside of
Òbig data,Ó which includes loss of privacy and societal
implications of the
ability to predict behavior.
Common Reading: Big Data: A Revolution
That Will Transform
How We Live, Work, and Think, by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger
& Kenneth Cukier (March
5, 2013)
The British publication The Economist is known for
its informative and thought-provoking reporting on political
and economic
developments around the world. In this S/DG, we will discuss
articles selected
from four key areas (America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East,
and Africa) plus
the occasional ÒSpecial ReportÓ of the last two issues as
catalysts for
informed and lively discussion on the burning topics of our
time. The Economist
is available as a magazine subscription, a web site, or as
Apps for your I Pad
or smart phone. All Articles selected are easily accessed
online at no cost at www.theeconomist.com.
10. (EDU) REIMAGINING
EDUCATION
Education is a
hot topic in the news -- from testing programs, magnet
schools, charter
schools, costs, teacher evaluations, and whether we get the
resulting quality
for the costs involved.
The
author of the referenced common reading, Salman Khan, is the
founder of Khan
Academy. He
offers one perspective
on this major topic and his thoughts on what could be done to
improve learning
from both the student and teacherÕs viewpoint.
Possible
presentation topics might cover: historical review of
education, testing in
schools; economics of public and private schooling; home
schooling; teacher
qualifications; involvement of parents; multi-lingual issues
in schools; etc.
Common Reading: The One World
Schoolhouse: Education
Reimagined by Salman
Khan (October 2012)
11. (EXP) THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING
Every year, the
website Edge.orgÑa sort of
online round table where experts in various fields trade
ideasÑasks its
contributors a specific question. The 2012 Edge question
was, ÒWhat is your
favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?Ó (A
beautiful or elegant
explanation is one that reduces a complex puzzle to a simple
set of principles
or assumptions.) The responses Brockman, founder of Edge,
received range from
the obvious (DarwinÕs theory of natural selection; DNAÕs
double helix shape;
the principle of inertia) to the obscure (the Higgs
Mechanism, for example, or
the Faurie-Raymond hypothesis).
The more than 100
responses have a couple of things in common: they are
clearly written, and
their authors are enthusiastic, in some cases downright
passionate, about
selling their response as the one true answer to the Edge
question. ItÕs an
eclectic collection of contributors, too: famed theoretical
physicist Freeman
Dyson is here, but also actor and writer Alan Alda; noted
psychologist Susan Blackmore weighs in, as does musician and
producer Brian Eno. A thought-provoking collection that
should appeal to both general readers and trained
scientists.
Unfortunately this is the (current and) last book edited by
Brockman. He passed
away before he could pose the 2013 question. BTW the 2011
book: This Will Make
You Smarter, is also
excellent. Current
contributors include: Nassim Taleb,
Jared Diamond, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Daniel
Dennett, Richard Thaler, Martin
Rees, and many many
more.
This
study/discussion group would focus on these great thinkers and
their ideas
combining research and lively discussions by our great
Omnilore thinkers.
Common Reading:
This
Explains
Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of
How the World Works, edited
by
John Brockman (January 2013)
12. (FBI)
ENEMIES:
A HISTORY OF
THE FBI
This class
about the FBI, one of our most mysterious instutions,
will be based on the newly published book by Tim Weiner, winner of the
Pulitzer Prize and the
National Book Award. (Both the Wall St. Journal and the New
York Times give
this book high praise.) Come learn about the FBI's 100-year
history of domestic
surveillance, and about how the Bureau has served presidents
from Teddy
Roosevelt through Geroge W. Bush. Presentation topics
can cover what role
the FBI played during the "Red Scares", World War II, the Cold
War,
the Civil Rights era, and
up
through the present day drone surveillance.
Common Reading: Enemies: A History of the FBI,
by Tim Weiner (February 2012)
13. (FUT) ABUNDANCE: THE FUTURE IS BETTER THAN YOU THINK
A
powerful antidote to todayÕs malaise and pessimism, our common
reading, Abundance,
describes practical solutions
to such pressing concerns as overpopulation, food, water,
energy, education,
healthcare and freedom. Innovative small teams are now
empowered to accomplish
what only governments and large corporations once achieved.
The results could
be the most transformative and inspiring period in human
history. Presentations
can cover the keys to the coming era of abundance, replacing
eons of scarcity.
One
author, Peter Diamandis, is a
polymath, with degrees
in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering from MIT and
an MD from Harvard
Medical School. He is the founder of two universities and more
than a dozen
high-tech companies. The second author, Steven Kotler,
is an
award-winning journalist whose writings have appeared in many
periodicals,
including the New York Times Magazine, Discover and National Geographic. Come
join the discussion
of the future direction of our global society.
14. (GAR) GARBOLOGY
What
is America's largest export, most prodigious product and
greatest legacy -- the
biggest thing we make? Answer our trash. On average, we
Americans toss 102 tons
of garbage each in a lifetime, averaging 7.1 pounds a day,
every day. We roll
to the curb our collective body weight each year -- eighteen
times over. Our
disposable plastic alone outweighs the entire U.S. Navy -- and
it costs us
hundreds of billions of dollars. However, there are families,
companies and
whole communities who are finding a way to reduce waste, and
profiting in the
process. Through a compellingly human, at times absurdly
humorous trash travelogue,
Edward Humes reveals how
government cooks the books
to conceal the severity of our trashy ways, how the consumer
economy is
hijacked to encourage our costly love affair with waste, and
how a new
generation of waste-weary men and women are just saying no --
and finding that
our biggest roadblock to restoring prosperity and our planet
just might be our
trash cans. Humes
book, Garbology, Our
Dirty Love Affair
with Trash, is a prime candidate for this S/DG. Presentations can
include topics such
as: recycling vs. banning polystyrene; where do all those
plastic water bottles
end up and how much does that cost?; are we running out of
holes/land to bury
garbage in?; can we get other countries to take our garbage?;
how big are those
giant ocean garbage gyres and can they be mitigated?; is the
mafia involved in
garbage collection?.
15. (HWW)
HARDBOILED WOMEN WRITERS
Decades before Sara Paretsky and
Sue
Grafton topped the best seller
list with what was described as
hard boiled fiction,
there was a group of
women writers who probed the hell in
the
human heart.
Those authors wrote such
things as ÒLauraÓ and
ÒStrangers
on the TrainÓ and
were favored by Alfred Hitchcock. They did not write English
cozies
or Òchick litÓ but
serious
probes of evil.
Patricia Highsmith,
Vera Caspary,
Margaret Millar (Ross
MacDonaldÕs
wife) and Shirley Jackson
were among those published between the
1940s and
1970s. Millar was
published long before her famous husband and Caspary was
criticized
for her realistic writings of morality in
the
20s and 30s
that seem laughable
in todayÕs
world.
Sara Weinman has collected
stories written by these women in a new
anthology that is as
appealing today as
when they were published, some
in pulp magazines.
Common Reading: Troubled Daughters, Twisted
Wives, edited by
Sara
Weinman
(August 27,
2013)
16.
(IMP) CALIFORNIA IMPRESSIONISTS
Nearly everyone
knows the art of the French
Impressionists; not so of California.
The work of late 19th and 20th
century California
impressionists is characterized by colorful, light-filled
canvases,
memorializing the beauty of CaliforniaÕs landscape and
coastline. Well-known
artists such as Childe
Hassam, William Meritt Chase, George Bellows, and George Innes
came here to
paint.
We are fortunate
to live near the Irvine
Museum which has permanent as well as traveling exhibits of
the finest
collection of Southern California impressionists, including
Payne, Bishoff,
Rose, Wendt, Redmond, Brown and Wachtel.
Meetings could
focus on an overview of
various periods or individual artists, with possible field
trips to the Irvine
Museum and Laguna Beach and/or the Los Angeles Art Museum.
Common Reading: California
Impressionists, by Susan Landauer (July 1996)
17.
(MAT) WHAT
YOU DO
MATTERS: MODERN SCIENCEÕS
AFFIRMATION
OF ANCIENT WISDOM
Do you ever
wonder if what you do really matters one way or another? Why
do material
acquisitions and power not bring happiness? How is one to
reconcile the
teachings of ancient wisdom and religious traditions with
modern science? Using
Jonathan HaidtÕs book we will
explore together what
clinical research has shown about our rational and not so
rational behaviors.
We will learn about the sources of meaning, why too many
choices can lead to
unhappiness, and how a different attitude changes everything.
We will explore
examples of the positive uses of adversity, see the biological
roots of
hypocrisy, and come to understand why virtue is its own
reward. We will do
exercises to experiment with HaidtÕs
findings and
gain actual experience in knowing that what we do matters.
Common
Reading:
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient
Wisdom, by Jonathan
Haidt (2003)
18. MEL)
MEL
BROOKS
Mel Brooks has
produced 11 films and been connected to many TV shows, such as
Sid Caesar's
Show of Shows, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. Many
are satires on
other productions and are very topical, dealing with societal
taboos. Presenters
can pick a movie and provide insight into its making and lead
class discussions
of the elements of comedy combined with social impact. One
question the class
could explore is the likelihood of these movies being produced
in today's
Politically Correct atmosphere.
No Common Reading.
19. (MMA) MYSTERIES OF THE
MIDDLE AGES: THE
RISE OF FEMINISM,
SCIENCE AND ART
FROM THE CULTS OF
CATHOLIC EUROPE
This course
provides an interesting human and historical look at the rise
of the West from
the so called ÒDark AgesÓ. Given the wide range of characters
and ideas in the
book further research should result in numerous presentations
which can be
easily chosen.
By
deliberate choice, the books in
CahillÕs Òhinges of historyÓ series concentrate on individual
people and their
positive contributions to the world, playing down wars,
pestilence and cruelty.
Hence, rather than providing a comprehensive history of Europe
from the 6th
through the 14th centuries, ÒMysteries of the Middle AgesÓ
presents a series of
individuals Ñ Hildegard of Bingen,
Eleanor of
Aquitaine, Peter Abelard, Francis of Assisi, Giotto, Dante Ñ
whose lives
provide a vivid and sympathetic picture of these nine
turbulent centuries.
His
introduction proves that feminism,
science and art arose just as plausibly from the cosmopolitan
haunts of
Alexandria as they did from the cults of Catholic Europe, and
an equally strong
case might be made for the Egypt of the pharaohs. So, too, his
story of
Cleopatra (in the introduction) shows plainly that Eleanor of
Aquitaine
(Chapter 2) was not, in fact, the first woman to take charge
of her own
political and sexual life. Most storytellers revel in
exaggeration; it is what
gives stories the point that both history and daily life so
evidently lack. Cahill
loves to spin out a yarn, and his personal asides seem to add
to this intimate,
old-time atmosphere. His familiarity with ancient languages
allows him to treat
titans like Plato and Thomas Aquinas on a human scale, as
fellow spinners of
tales; he notes with touching acuity that Aquinas, for all his
monumental
reputation (he was both famously prolific and famously fat)
died at 49.
Common Reading: Mysteries of the Middle
Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science and Art from the Cults
of Catholic Europe,
by Thomas Cahill (Oct. 2006)
20. (MUS)
THE REST IS
NOISE (Bob
Bragonier coordinator)
When
many of us listen to contemporary music, how do we react? Do we associate it
with cacophony,
dissonance, chaos? Do
we make an
effort to understand it, or do we simply ignore it and avoid
it whenever we
can?
For
those of us who would like a better understanding of twentieth
century
composers and their works, Alex Ross, the music critic for The New Yorker, has written a readable and
enlightening book which
juxtaposes history and graphic arts with the musical
compositions of the last
century. This
book gives a
comprehensive and detailed tour of music beginning with Vienna
before World War
I, Paris in the Twenties, HitlerÕs Germany, StalinÕs Russia
and New York in the
60Õs and 70Õs. It
includes the
influence of jazz, bebop, folksongs and other genres. We learn about many
of twentieth
centuryÕs most acclaimed composers (including some of the avant garde ones),
beginning with Mahler and
continuing with Debussy, Schoenberg, Duke Ellington, Alban
Berg, and John Cage,
among others. An
analysis of John
AdamÕs opera Nixon in
China appears
in the final chapter.
The
book has 15 chapters, and the S/DG will be spread over two
trimesters, Spring and Summer
2014.
This course, which has been offered two times
previously to enthusiastic
participants, provides wonderful opportunities for lively
discussion and
presentations featuring many musical samples. It will likely
explore new areas for
lovers of Western art music.
Common Reading: The Rest is Noise,
by Alex Ross (October
2008)
21. (ORD) ORDER OUT OF
CHAOS
At
the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat, the
sound of cycles in
sync. Along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of
fireflies congregate and
flash in unison; the moon spins in perfect resonance with its
orbit around the
earth; our hearts depend on the synchronous firing of ten
thousand pacemaker
cells. While the forces that synchronize the flashing of
fireflies may seem to
have nothing to do with our heart cells, there is in fact a
deep connection.
Synchrony is a science in its infancy, and Strogatz,
author of our common reading, is a pioneer in this new
frontier in which
mathematicians and physicists attempt to pinpoint just how
spontaneous order
emerges from chaos. From underground caves in Texas where a
French scientist
spent six months alone tracking his sleep-wake cycle, to the
home of a Dutch
physicist who in 1665 discovered two of his pendulum clocks
swinging in perfect
time, this fascinating book spans disciplines, continents, and
centuries.
Engagingly written for the nonscientist, Sync
is a tour-de-force of nonfiction writing and lends itself to
picking topics for
further investigation as presentations.
Common Reading:
Sync: The
Emerging Science of
Spontaneous Orderby Steven H. Strogatz (March 2003)
22. (REN) THE
HARLEM RENAISSANCE
The Harlem
Renaissance lasted only a very short time (from about 1920
through the early
1930s). Yet in this brief period there was a flowering of
African-American
literature, art, and music, especially jazz. Among the writers
of the period
are Langston Hughes, Zora Neale
Hurston, James Weldon
Johnson, Walter White, Claude McKay, Carl Van Vechten,
Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer,
Marcus Garvey, Alaine Locke, and
A'Lelia
Walker Robinson. In addition, we shall be introduced to the
black artists of
the period and investigate the flowering of jazz in Harlem of
this time. Any of
these people or subjects would be possible presentation
topics. Our
common reading will give us the
historical and sociological background of the period and
introduce us to the
main figures of the Harlem Renaissance.
Common Reading: When Harlem Was in Vogue,
by David L
Lewis (1997)
23. (SHK) SHAKESPEARE:
ALL THE WORLDÕS
A STAGE
The Omnilorean
New Globe Theater plans a January-April season featuring one
each of the BardÕs
Comedy, and Tragedy, and History plays.
With players standing and with a few props, we propose
to do reading
walk-throughs of 3 of the BardÕs great plays to be selected by
the pre-meeting
in December.
In this SDG
you will learn how to research all perspectives of
ShakespeareÕs works Ñ
sources of each play upon which the Bard builds rich
characters and enhances
the plots, how to play each character Òin character,Ó themes,
symbols, images,
motifs, commentary on issues of the day, and all manner of rhyme and reason.
Class
members each serve on one playÕs Board of Directors,
responsible for casting
roles for the repertory and leading discussions based on the
research Ñ
optionally adding videos, music, and costumes. For a glimpse of how
we live the Bard in
this S/DG, check out http://omnilore.org/members/Curriculum/SDGs/13c-SHK-Shakespeare
to view the Fall Shakespeare classÕs website of links to
references relevant to
our plays and downloadable organizing artifacts.
There are no
prerequisites, theatrical or otherwise.
You will find that the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon will
teach us, just as
heÕs taught others for four hundred years.
With plenty for the novice as well as the veteran, it
is a foregone
conclusion members will leave
this class with a fuller understanding of the masterful story
construction,
realistic characters with depth and humanity, and the rich,
evocative language
which have earned William Shakespeare the title of greatest
writer in the
English language.
Common Reading:
Selected Plays
24. (SOC) THE
SOCIAL CONTRACT
Rousseau,
founder of the Romantic Movement, arguably the most
influential philosopher of
the 18th Century, who, according to 20th Century philosopher
Isaiah Berlin,
Ôbeheaded the Enlightenment with a single blowÕ, published his
small essay The
Social Contract in 1762, at the pinnacle of his fame.
It is a
remarkable document in that it contains all the key ideas that
form the
political foundations of all modern democracies, arguing from
history,
philosophy and experience. Its ideas influenced
both
the America Revolution, an Enlightenment revolution; and the
French Revolution,
a Romantic Revolution (which happened the year after his
death) which lead
inevitably to the guillotine.
Besides
working our way through this small, dense text, there are
literally hundreds of
potential subjects for presentations, from Rousseau himself,
to the dozens of
authorities he cites, to the detailed structures of modern
societies and
governments, including our own, and where his ideas can be
found in the
contemporary world.
Common
Reading:
The Social Contract,
by J.J. Rousseau
(Reprint January 2012)
25. (VIO) THE VIOLINIST'S THUMB
Scientists can
now read, for the first time, the lost tales buried in the
human genome. Did the
human race almost go extinct? Can genetics explain a crazy cat
ladyÕs love for
felines? How does DNA lead to people with no fingerprints, or
humans born with
tails? And how did the right combination of genes create the
exceptionally
flexible thumbs and fingers of a truly singular violinist?
Unraveling the
genetic code hasnÕt always been easyÑfrom its earliest days,
genetics has
been rife with infighting, backstabbing, and controversial
theoriesÑbut
scientists can now finally read the astounding stories
inscribed in our DNA. As
we make advances into DNA mapping and modification, genetics
will continue to
be the hottest topic in science, shaping the very makeup of
our bodies and the
world around us.
Sam Kean
untangles the secrets of our genetic code, explaining how
genetics has shaped
our past, and how DNA will determine humankindÕs future.
This course
will expand your knowledge of the work done on the human
genetic code while
providing many areas to be explored in presentations.
Common Reading:
The
Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and
Genius, as Written
by Our Genetic Code, by Sam Kean (July 2013) by
Steven H. Strogatz (March 2003)
26. (WSH) GEORGE
WASHINGTON
Ð THE
LIFE AND LEGACY OF
OUR
FIRST PRESIDENT
What was it
like being born in 1732, growing up in the American colonies,
and then becoming
the father of your country?
This
S/DG will study the life of George Washington and his
accomplishments. His was a
dominant personality in three of the most critical events in
the founding of
the United States: as winning general in our Revolutionary
War, as the
presiding head over the Constitutional Convention, and as
leader of the first
national administration Ð our first Presidency. He kept
together a
rebellious, inexperienced band of patriots to defeat the
then largest
superpower in the world - always lacking sufficient funds
from a Congress that
could often barely muster a quorum. He kept the course
presiding over a secret
convention of Congressional delegates that were committed to
factions that
needed to compromise to accomplish their true purpose. He
could have become
Emperor - but unlike many power-seeking presidents of the
past century Ð
simply chose not to, retiring in beloved obscurity to Mount
Vernon. We will
learn why they called him "first in war, first in peace, and
first in the
hearts of his countrymen.Ó The assigned text will be
supplemented by
presentations on various aspects of his life so that we may
appreciate the
interplay between the man and the period.
Topics for
presentation might include:
WashingtonÕs early life, his experience in the French
Ð Indian
War, running Mount Vernon, leading the Revolutionary War
effort, His private
life after the War, his role in the Constitutional
Convention, being the 1st
US president etc.
Common
Reading: George
Washington, The Founding
Father, by Paul Johnson (2005)
27. (WTS) WILLIAM TREVOR
SHORT STORIES
William
Trevor, KBE, (born 24 May 1928) is an Irish author and
playwright. Over the
course of his long career he has written several novels and
hundreds of short
stories. He is best-known for his
short stories.. He has won the Whitbread Prize three
times and has been
nominated four times for the Booker Prize, most recently for
his novel Love
and Summer (2009). Tim Adams, a staff writer for The
Observer described him
as "widely believed to be the most astute observer of the
human condition
currently writing in fiction." "Trevor is probably the
greatest
living writer of short stories in the English languageÉ" -
The New Yorker.
Trevor
has written several collections of short stories that were
well-received. His
short stories often follow a Chekhovian pattern. The
characters in Trevor's
work are usually marginalized members of society: children,
old people, single
middle-aged men and women, or the unhappily married. Those who
cannot accept
the reality of their lives create their own alternative worlds
into which they
retreat. A number of the stories use elements of the Gothic
convention to
explore the nature of evil and its connection with madness.
Trevor has
acknowledged the influence of James Joyce on his short-story
writing, and
"the odor of ash pits and old weeds and offal" can be detected
in his
work, but the overall impression is not of gloominess, since,
particularly in
the early work, the author's wry humor offers the reader a
tragicomic version
of the world. He has adapted much of his work for stage,
television and radio.
You
will find that one reason that short story S/DGs are so
popular is the
fascinating differences in interpretation by your presenters
and classmates.
Common
Reading: William Trevor: The
Collected Stories