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")
MOLDS... BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK!