Nick - I teach a Junior level course for our Honors Program. Our program is open to students from all majors, so my "audience" in the class comes from everywhere -- majors of students in the class this Fall range across Art, English, History, Math, Biology, Business, Teacher Prep, Psychology, Computer Science, etc.
One of the primary objectives of the class is to get them started on / excited about doing their Senior Honors thesis (which typically is some form of research/scholarship/creative activity in their own discipline). The title of my course is "Methods of Discovery" . . . so some of it is "research methods" type stuff, but I do quite a bit of "interdisciplinary" work with them. Latour, for example, makes them think hard about how science really works, but also how sociology/philosophy of science works . . . I like to have them read a reasonable amount of fiction, partly so they can develop a sense of the roles that narrative and metaphor play in our efforts to understand the world. I like ending with Richard Powers' "Gold Bug Variations" because it is "science fiction" in the sense that main characters are scientists doing real science (much of the book is set in the 50's in a research lab working on making sense of the DNA codon coding system) -- but also Bach's Goldberg Variations plays an important role in the book (whence, partly, pace Poe, the title :-) tom On Oct 9, 2010, at 1:44 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > Tom, > > You wrote > > This semester, in a class I am teaching, we're reading (among other things, > including "Pandora's Hope" by Bruno Latour). > > Can you say a bit more about the context in which you are reading these > things? > > Nick > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of Tom Carter > Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 12:07 PM > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works > > All - > > 10??? Oh, well . . . > > When I was a kid, my parents installed this in the living room (you can > still sometimes find it in used book stores -- saw one a few years ago for > $150, missing Marx and Freud !). I learned a lot :-) : > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World > > Some years ago, I was asked for "recommended reading" (by a group of > students), and I pulled this together: > > Fiction - July, 2001 (html) (mostly 20th century, but some other stuff > . . . This needs to be updated :-) > > This semester, in a class I am teaching, we're reading (among other things, > including "Pandora's Hope" by Bruno Latour). > > Earth Abides, by George Stewart > Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig > The Goldbug Variations, by Richard Powers > > In prior years of the class, we've also read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by > Walter Miller, "The Golden Notebook" by Doris Lessing, "Naked Lunch" by > William Burroughs, and "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad (so we could > watch Apocalypse Now :-). I guess if I'm ready to require students to > read them, I must think they're worthwhile . . . > > tom > > > On Oct 8, 2010, at 12:44 PM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: > > > Ok, so I've decided my literary education is somewhat lacking and would like > to know this group's recommendations for the "10 Best Literary Works" I > should read. They have to be works of fiction and available in English and > not just say of 2009 but of all time. Google searches tend to list the best > of a year or be listed by one particular publisher. This is a good group to > poll since you all (most) have at least some kind of scientific/technical > bent. So I know the suggestions will be good ones for me! > > Once I have a list of all suggestions maybe I'll ask you all to vote on them. > > My list currently starts with Frank's recommendation today: > > "Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West" by Cormac McCarthy > > Thanks! > Robert C. > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
