Dear Class,Well, you're likely not going to believe this, but I was actually pretty pleased tonight with the discussion of Emergence! (You don't have to like the book, but at least you're not even vaguely apathetic about it!!)
However, my offer still stands... You guys present Johnson & me with an alternative on which we can all reach a consensus by next Thursday, and I'll drop making you read Emergence and we'll read your choice instead! (Otherwise, we pick up reading Emergence again the following week!!)
You may post as a comment here your suggested nominations that I hope might be every bit as good fodder for thoughtful, imaginative (and hopefully impassioned) discussion as Emergence seems to be turning out to be. :-)
Leaping out from a quick glance of the lists of "the best books of 2006": Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change; The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream; The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals; The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million; Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed; and the Pulizer-Prize-Winning Polio: An American Story. Then, of course, there were my personal picks of Ishmael & The Ghost Map. Johnson may not like 'em, but I don't exactly hear him making any suggestions! :-)
Last but not least, props to Joanna & Sarah B. for their wonderful presentation today... Nice balance of article analysis synthesized with supplemental concepts, not to mention deft moderation of the subsequent discussion! Does anybody have anything further they'd like to add to the discussion here?
In the meantime, keep up the good work, ya'll!
Have a good weekend!!
Dr. Laughran
P.S. I don't think Johnson ever checks in here himself... So we could plan on doing something fun but harmless and he'd never know, like each person in the class bringing a camera on Tuesday and then everybody insisting on getting up and taking his picture, for example!
;-)
P.P.S. What are we fighting for? Check out these statistics (which, if true, are sad!)
- 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
- 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
- 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
- 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years. (more at "Some startling book statistics")
6 comments:
First of all those stats on people not reading or going near a book makes me very depressed. Secondly, I know that I am in the minority of liking "Emergence"; I would be in favor with reading it to the end. After all I paid the money for it and we have spent valuble syllabus time "discussing" it. On the other hand, if the class were to vote on another book, I would go with the Polio one because I am very picky about what I read, and the Pulitzer Prize caught my eye, along with the subject matter. So yea, that's pretty much my two cents worth...
Although the book is not my cup of tea I think we should have trust in our professors’ choice. Instead of automatically objecting to it since it does not follow a specific/predictable pattern, we should still have open minds and embrace something different.
Thanks for your votes of confidence, guys! I'm good with whatever you decide, though... Either way, it's discussion time well spent! :-)
Personally, I would love to read Field Notes from a Catastrophe, or An Inconvenient Truth. But that's just because those books reflect my personal interests. I don't have anything against Emergence and neither strongly like or dislike it.
I just got done reading article 39 for class and I think a good option would be to read Reading Lolita in Tehran. The author of the article intrigued me, and the book has been on the bestseller list for quite some time. The author likes banned books, and so do I. I have found that banned books are usually the better ones! Also, I think that her story could provide some powerful insight that would pertain to us and this part of our young lives. So yea, just another thought...
i personally think that reading barack obama's book would lead to some really good discussions, encompassing ideas beyond the book. It would help us get to know this presidential candidate better (or, in Dev-balls case, at all).
If no one cares about that, then I'd go with Christine and say Inconvenient Truth.
Post a Comment