COURSES
(SDGs) OFFERED FOR Winter/Spring 2024
Classes
start Jan. 1st and
end Apr. 28th.
Each S/DG
may choose to adjust its schedule to account for holidays.
Scroll
down past this page to view all 30 Course (SDG)
descriptions, or click any ID/Name below to view a specific
one:
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1. (AGB) Empires
of the Steppes: Attila, Genghis
and Other Barbarians |
16. (LNZ) Science
and Art of Longevity
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2. (AMA) 50
American Artists You Should Know - In Classroom Only |
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18. (MYC) Best
Mystery Stories of the Year 2023 |
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4. (CLM) The Role
Climate Has Played in the History of the World |
19. (MYZ) Best
Mystery Stories of the Year 2023 |
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20. (ODY) The
Five-Million-Year Odyssey |
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11. (GNC) Generations - In Classroom Only |
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15. (LNC) Science
and Art of Longevity |
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1. (AGB) Empires of the Steppes: Attila, Genghis and Other Barbarians |
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Common
Reading: Empires
of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes
Who Shaped Civilization, by Kenneth W. Harl (August 2023) |
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The
barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes have played a
decisive role in world history, but their achievements
have gone largely unnoticed. These nomadic tribes have
produced some of the world’s greatest conquerors:
Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, among
others. Their deeds still resonate today. Indeed,
these nomads built long-lasting empires, facilitated
the first global trade of the Silk Road and
disseminated religions, technology, knowledge and
goods of every description that enriched and changed
the lives of so many across Europe, China and the
Middle East. From a single region emerged a great many
peoples—the Huns, the Mongols, the Magyars, the Turks,
the Xiongnu, the
Scythians, the Goths—all of whom went on to profoundly
and irrevocably shape the modern world. Our
recommended reading vividly re-creates the lives and
world of these often-forgotten peoples from their
beginnings to the early modern age. Their brutal
struggle to survive on the steppes bred a resilient,
pragmatic people ever ready to learn from their more
advanced neighbors. In warfare, they dominated the
battlefield for over fifteen hundred years. Under
charismatic rulers, they could topple empires and win
their own. A story not to be missed. Presentations
could include: ·
A
deeper exploration of a topic mentioned by the author
(e.g., papermaking, gunpowder, a particular religion,
or one of the interesting “secondary” personalities);
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An
explanation using maps to demonstrate the various
migrations discussed in the text; ·
Modern
archaeological discoveries related to the relevant
Eurasian areas; or ·
A
deeper dive into the weapons of war used by these
civilizations. |
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2. (AMA) 50 American Artists You Should Know - In Classroom Only |
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Common Reading: 50
American Artists You Should Know, by
Debra N. Mancoff
(Prestel; Illustrated edition; April 2010, paperback) |
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How
many American Artists can you name? Well, here's
your chance to learn about some American artists that
you're unfamiliar with. The
history of American art is as varied as the fifty
states the country is comprised of. Starting
with the portraits of John Singleton Copley and the
landscape masterpieces of Frederic Church, this course
will examine American artists through the era of
Cassatt, Whistler, and Sargent to the groundbreaking
works of O'Keeffe, Cornell, and Calder. The
common book, 50
American Artists You Should Know, also
celebrates the artists who placed America at the
forefront of American art: Pollock, de Kooning,
Rauschenberg, Warhol, Oldenburg, and Johns. This
is your chance to become familiar with 21st century
artists Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and
Matthew Barney. Topics for presentations might
include any of the artists in the book, other American
artists, or art movements. |
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3. (BOA) Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us |
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Common
Reading: Your Brain on Art: How
the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross (March
2023) |
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In Your
Brain on Art, Susan Magsamen,
Executive Director of the International Art+Minds Lab at the John
Hopkins School of Medicine Brain Science Institute,
and Ivy Ross, a Vice-President of Hardware Design at
Google and a jewelry designer, introduce readers to an
emerging scientific field known as neuroaesthetics, using case
studies to show how the arts have lasting benefits for
our mental and physical health. The authors present
compelling research on how arts and aesthetics can
promote well-being and longevity. Engaging in an art
project for as little as forty-five minutes can reduce
the stress hormone cortisol. Dance can help manage
chronic pain. Playing music enhances cognitive skills.
Interactive exhibits engage our senses and improve
memory. Featuring conversations with artists such as
David Byrne, Renee Fleming and evolutionary biologist
E.O. Wilson, the book weaves breakthrough research
with insights from these multidisciplinary pioneers
and compelling stories from people using the arts to
enhance their lives. Presentations can be about the impact of art or an art form, including but not limited to paintings, photographs, poetry, plays, books, movies, music, sculpture and interactive experiences |
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4. (CLM) The Role Climate Has Played in the History of the World |
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Common
Reading: The Earth Transformed: An
Untold Story, by Peter Frankopan (April 2023) |
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In
a new book that spans centuries and continents,
Oxford historian Peter Frankopan
argues that nature has always played a fundamental
role in history. From the fall of the Moche
civilization in South America because of the
cyclical pressures of El Nino to volcanic eruptions
in Iceland that affected Egypt and helped bring the
Ottoman empire to its knees, climate change and its
influences have always been with us. Frankopan explains how the
Vikings emerged due to catastrophic crop failure,
why the roots of regime change in eleventh-century
Baghdad lay in the collapse of cotton prices
resulting from unusual climate patterns, and why
western expansion of the frontiers in North America
directly affected solar flare activity in the
eighteenth century. Frankopan
shows that when past empires have failed to act
sustainably, they have been met with catastrophe. He
uses a wealth of new climate data and huge advances
in climate modeling to show the role that climate
has played in shaping the history of the world. Possible
presentations could expand on the examples in the
book, address the way climate change has influenced
the scale and force of storms such as hurricanes,
tornados and typhoons; explore how global warming is
currently affecting the many systems on earth, such
as polar-ice conditions, monsoon cycles, ocean
temperature, and the dynamics of the major ocean
currents and oscillations, the effect of climate
changes on various communities of humans and other
species; and efforts currently underway to curb
various climate impacts. |
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Common
Reading: The Social Instinct: How
Cooperation Shaped the World by Nichola Raihani (August 2021) |
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In
the tradition of Richard Dawkins’s The Selfish
Gene, Nichola Raihani’s
The Social Instinct is a profound and engaging
look at the hidden relationships underpinning
human evolution, and why cooperation is key to our
future survival. Cooperation
is the means by which life arose in the first place.
It’s how we progressed through scale and complexity,
from free-floating strands of genetic material, to
nation states. But given what we know about the
mechanisms of evolution, cooperation is also
something of a puzzle. How does cooperation begin,
when on a Darwinian level, all that the genes in
your body care about is being passed on to the next
generation? Why do meerkat colonies care for one
another’s children? Why do babbler birds in the
Kalahari form colonies in which only a single pair
breeds? And how come some coral wrasse fish actually
punish each other for harming fish from another
species? A
biologist by training, Raihani
looks at where and how collaborative behavior
emerges throughout the animal kingdom, and what
problems it solves. She reveals that the species
that exhibit cooperative behavior–teaching, helping,
grooming, and self-sacrifice–most similar to our own
tend not to be other apes; they are birds, insects,
and fish, occupying far more distant branches of the
evolutionary tree. By understanding the problems
they face, and how they cooperate to solve them, we
can glimpse how human cooperation first evolved. And
we can also understand what it is about the way we
cooperate that has made humans so distinctive–and so
successful. Presentations
could cover various societies and show how
cooperation or failure to cooperate affected their
future. Other topics could be how trust works in
businesses, such as a restaurant, bank, education
systems, and taxes. |
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Common
Reading: Cuba:
An American History,
by
Ada Ferrer (Scribner,
September 2021) |
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In
1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United
States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where
a momentous revolution had taken power three years
earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off
continued—through the tenure of ten American
presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro.
His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother
and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred
questions about the country’s future. Meanwhile,
politics in Washington have made the relationship
between the two nations a subject of debate once
more. Now,
Pulitzer Prize award-winning historian Ada Ferrer
delivers an important and moving chronicle that demands
a new reckoning with both the island’s past and its
relationship with the United States. Spanning more
than five centuries, Cuba: An American History
provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the
evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic
record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and
freedom, of independence and revolutions made and
unmade. Along
the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising,
often troubled intimacy between the two countries,
documenting not only the influence of the United
States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has
been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a
story that will give Americans unexpected insights
into the history of their own nation and, in so
doing, help them imagine a new relationship with
Cuba; “readers will close [this] fascinating book
with a sense of hope” (The Economist). Filled
with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on
more than thirty years of research in Cuba, Spain,
and the United States—as well as the author’s own
extensive travel to the island over the same
period—this is a stunning and monumental account
like no other. Possible
Presentation Topics:
architecture, music, art, literature,
tourism, medicine, educations, literature,
emigration to U.S., suppression of dissident groups,
international relations |
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Common
Reading: Great Decisions 2024, from the Foreign Policy
Association. |
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Foreign
Policy Association's Great Decisions program has
flourished over the past 60 years into a
multi-dimensional global studies program, adapted to
multiple formats, including informal discussion
groups, public lectures and formal secondary and
university courses. Published annually by FPA, the
Great Decisions briefing book highlights eight of
the most thought-provoking foreign policy challenges
facing Americans today. The Great Decisions briefing
book serves as the focal text for discussion groups
by providing background information, expert
analysis, and suggested discussion questions for
each foreign policy issue. The
8 topics (conveniently one for each class) are: 1.
Mideast
Realignment,
by Marc Lynch 2.
Climate
Technology and Competition,
by Bud Ward 3.
Science
Across Borders,
by Mila Rosenthal 4.
U.S.-China
Trade Rivalry,
by Jonathan Chanis 5.
NATO’s
Future,
by Sarwar Kashmeri 6.
Understanding
Indonesia,
by Charles Sullivan 7.
High
Seas Treaty,
by FPA editors 8.
Pandemic
Preparedness,
by Carolyn Reynolds Class
members read a chapter each week; the “presenter”
sends out discussion questions, as in other S/DGs.
Extra information on the topic is given by the
scheduled “presenter” at the beginning, with most of
each class devoted to discussion. |
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8. (DEM) Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America |
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Common
Reading: Democracy Awakening:
Notes on the State of America by Heather Cox Richardson
(available September 2023) |
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Historian,
professor, and author of the popular daily newsletter
Letters from an American and six prior books on
history and politics, Heather Cox Richardson explains
in her new book how America, once a beacon of
democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy—and
how we can change this. She describes how over the
decades a small group of wealthy people have made war
on American ideals. By weaponizing language and
promoting false history, they have led us to
authoritarianism, creating a disaffected population
and then promising to recreate an imagined past where
those people could feel important again. She argues
that taking our country back starts by remembering the
principles upon which this nation was founded that
have enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to
democracy. Her command of history allows her to pivot
effortlessly from the Founders to the Abolitionists to
Reconstruction to Goldwater to McConnell, highlighting
the political legacy of the New Deal, the lingering
fears of socialism, the death of the liberal consensus
and the birth of movement conservatism. She is both
realistic and optimistic in discussing what we should
pay attention to, what the precedents are, and what
potential paths lie ahead. Presentations
could expand on any of the numerous topics in the
book, in the Substack of
HCR's daily Letters from an American, on the
trends in both federal and state government and the
courts, on current political and social issues, events
and groups and much more. |
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9. (DMB) Democracy Made Better |
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Common
Reading: Debating Democracy: Do We
need More or Less, by Jason Brennan and Helene
Landemore (November 2021,
paperback) |
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Many
people think we should try to become more like
Denmark, which has a prosperous economy, high living
standard, stable liberal democratic government, good
health care, etc. Some attribute these good
conditions to the high degree of democratic
government in Denmark. But, Singapore, a country of
about the same number of people, has had even
greater economic success with a high degree of
satisfaction with its government, even though it is
decidedly less liberal in its form of democracy.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia attempted
to switch quite rapidly to a democracy with a market
driven economy and got disastrous results. Russia
did not have a history or cultural values that could
support an open, win-win type of government and
economy. It seems that the extent and type of
democracy that is possible depends on social and
philosophical factors that not every country has.
Does the USA have the best form of democratic
government given its history and the rapidly
changing demographic conditions? The very low level
of trust in the Federal government over the last 50
years suggests we should be discussing possible
structural changes. What changes could we make that
would improve the quality of our democracy? For
example, the US Government would almost surely
function better if members of the House of
Representatives served 3-year terms rather than 2
years. Raising the minimum voting age to 25 might
result in better candidate selection. These are both
suggested reductions in our extent of democracy, but
are Constitutional issues and are not likely to be
adopted. Changing our our
voting system to avoid such flaws as Gerrymandering
and changing our taxation system to bolster our
social support programs and eliminate unfair
loopholes are possible. This
S/DG will explore the roots of American’s
dissatisfaction with our governmental system and
possible ways of improving it. This will be
particularly timely in a presidential election year.
Possible
research/presentation topics might include: bringing
back party conventions that select candidates;
multi-representative Congressional districts;
discarding the current plurality form of voting in
favor of some form of range voting in which voters
may indicate a degree of approval/disapproval for
each candidate on the ballot; objection to
demographic change as a source of political
polarization; increasing
the size of the House of Representatives;
proportional representation; requiring prospective
voters to pass a test similar to that required for
new citizens, etc. |
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Common
Reading: The Devil Never Sleeps:
Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters
by Juliette Kayyem (March 29, 2022; 240
pages) |
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The
future may still be unpredictable, but nowadays,
disasters are not. We live in a time of constant,
consistent catastrophe, where things more often go
wrong than they go right. So why do we still fumble
when disaster hits? Why are we always one step
behind? In
The Devil Never Sleeps, Juliette Kayyem lays the groundwork
for a new approach to dealing with disasters.
Presenting the basic themes of crisis management, Kayyem amends the principles
we rely on far too easily. Instead, she offers us a
new framework to anticipate the “devil’s” inevitable
return, highlighting the leadership deficiencies we
need to overcome and the forward thinking we need to
harness. It’s no longer about preventing a disaster
from occurring but learning how to use the tools at
our disposal to minimize the consequences when it
does. Filled
with personal anecdotes and real-life examples from
natural disasters like the California wildfires to
man-made ones like the Boeing 737 MAX crisis, The
Devil Never Sleeps is a guide for governments,
businesses, and individuals alike on how to alter
our thinking so that we can develop effective
strategies in the face of perpetual catastrophe. The
author is a former homeland security official. Presentations
can be of events that have occurred since the
publication of the book in March 2022, or on a book
like Jeff Godell’s The
Heat Will Kill You First, or on an article
like this one from the WP, The heat index
reached 152 degrees in the Middle East — nearly at
the limit for human survival, by Scott Dance |
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Common
Reading: Generations: The Real
Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X,
Boomers, and Si Silents - and What They Mean for
America's Future, by Jean M. Twenge, PhD,
550 pages, April 2023) |
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The
United States is currently home to six generations of
people: ·
Silents,
born 1925–1945 ·
Baby
Boomers, born 1946–1964 ·
Gen
X, born 1965–1979 ·
Millennials,
born 1980–1994 ·
Gen
Z, born 1995–2012 ·
and
the still-to-be-named cohorts born after 2012 (Some people have also identified a
smaller, transitional microgeneration of people born
between 1977 and 1983, known as Xennials. They have
characteristics of both GenX
and Millennials but differ from both.) The different generations have had
vastly different life experiences and thus, one
assumes, they must have vastly diverging beliefs and
behaviors. But what are those differences, what causes
them, and how deep do they actually run? Professor of psychology and expert
on generational change, Jean Twenge, the author of our
common reading, does a deep dive into a treasure trove
of long-running, government-funded surveys and
databases to answer these questions. Are we truly
defined by major historical events, such as the Great
Depression for the Silents and September 11 for
Millennials? Or, as Twenge argues, is it the rapid
evolution of technology that differentiates the
generations? With her clear-eyed and insightful
voice, Twenge explores what the Silents and Boomers
want out of the rest of their lives; how Gen X-ers are facing middle age; the
ideals of Millennials as parents and in the workplace;
and how Gen Z has been changed by COVID, among other
fascinating topics. Surprising, engaging, and
informative, Generations
will forever change the way you view your parents,
peers, coworkers, and children, no matter which
generation you call your own. Presentations
can address any facet of any of the generations,
possibly exploring how we and/or our children and/or
our grandchildren conform to the stereotypes or differ
from them. |
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Common
Reading: Generations: The Real
Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X,
Boomers, and Si Silents - and What They Mean for
America's Future, by Jean M. Twenge, PhD, 550
pages, April 2023) |
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The
United States is currently home to six generations of
people: ·
Silents,
born 1925–1945 ·
Baby
Boomers, born 1946–1964 ·
Gen
X, born 1965–1979 ·
Millennials,
born 1980–1994 ·
Gen
Z, born 1995–2012 ·
and
the still-to-be-named cohorts born after 2012 (Some people have also identified a
smaller, transitional microgeneration of people born
between 1977 and 1983, known as Xennials. They have
characteristics of both GenX
and Millennials but differ from both.) The different generations have had
vastly different life experiences and thus, one
assumes, they must have vastly diverging beliefs and
behaviors. But what are those differences, what causes
them, and how deep do they actually run? Professor of psychology and expert
on generational change, Jean Twenge, the author of our
common reading, does a deep dive into a treasure trove
of long-running, government-funded surveys and
databases to answer these questions. Are we truly
defined by major historical events, such as the Great
Depression for the Silents and September 11 for
Millennials? Or, as Twenge argues, is it the rapid
evolution of technology that differentiates the
generations? With her clear-eyed and insightful
voice, Twenge explores what the Silents and Boomers
want out of the rest of their lives; how Gen X-ers are facing middle age; the
ideals of Millennials as parents and in the workplace;
and how Gen Z has been changed by COVID, among other
fascinating topics. Surprising, engaging, and
informative, Generations
will forever change the way you view your parents,
peers, coworkers, and children, no matter which
generation you call your own. Presentations
can address any facet of any of the generations,
possibly exploring how we and/or our children and/or
our grandchildren conform to the stereotypes or differ
from them. |
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Common
Reading: India – Culture Smart!
The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture, by Becky Stephan (March
2021, paperback (no hardcover issue) |
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India
now is the most populous country on Earth. It is
projected to become the third largest economy (jumping
Japan and Germany) by the end of this decade. It has a
large, capable military (both land and sea) and it has
nuclear weapons. It has a democratic form of
government that is considered even messier than that
of the USA. It is becoming more interactive with USA
though there are serious differences. India is one of
the largest sources of immigrants to USA and
Indian-Americans are the most educated and most
affluent ethnic group in this country. The number of
corporate heads, government officials and even
presidential candidates with Indian backgrounds is
amazing. Few Americans know much of India. This
S/DG will endeavor to increase our knowledge and
understanding of India relative to the USA in the
world today. Our Common Reading, while written for
tourists, is a guide to the Indian culture rather than
sights and places. Possible research/presentation
topics might include: India’s current political
position and how it has changed over the last 50
years; India’s relationship to Russia: the essentials
of Hinduism; separation of church and state?; Muslims
in India today and in it’s
history; important Indian-Americans; etc. |
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Common
Reading: Knowing What We Know: The
Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to
Modern Magic by Simon Winchester (April
25, 2023; 380 pages of text) |
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Omnilore
has presented several S/DGs based on Simon
Winchester’s books. The ones I remember were on the
Pacific, the Atlantic, The Men
Who United the States, and The Meaning of
Everything. Each S/DG was well attended and
successful, because of the easy and interesting way
in which the author presents information. His
latest book, Knowing What We Know was
published in April. With
the advent of the internet, any topic we want to
know about is instantly available with the touch of
a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our
fingertips, what is there left for our brains to do?
At a time when we seem to be stripping all value
from the idea of knowing things—no need for math, no
need for map-reading, no need for memorization—are
we risking our ability to think? As we empty our
minds, will we one day be incapable of
thoughtfulness? Addressing these questions, Simon
Winchester explores how humans have attained,
stored, and disseminated knowledge. Examining such
disciplines as education, journalism, encyclopedia
creation, museum curation, photography, and
broadcasting, he looks at a whole range of knowledge
diffusion—from the cuneiform writings of Babylon to
the machine-made genius of artificial intelligence,
by way of Gutenberg, Google, and Wikipedia to the
huge Victorian assemblage of the Mundaneum, the
collection of everything ever known, currently
stored in a damp basement in northern Belgium. Any
of these subjects can be used as a basis for a
presentation. Other presentations can be based on
AI, e.g., how chat boxes may replace the human
produced information of Wikipedia. Studded
with strange and fascinating details, Knowing
What We Know is a deep dive into learning and
the human mind. Throughout the book, Winchester
forces us to ponder what rational humans are
becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it
leads to lack of thought? What is information
without wisdom? Does Rene Descartes’s Cogito,
ergo sum—“I think therefore I am,” the
foundation for human knowledge widely accepted since
the Enlightenment—still hold? And what will the
world be like if no one in it is wise? |
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Common
Reading: Outlive: The Science and Art of
Longevity, by Peter Attia MD
with
Bill Gifford (March 28, 2023, hardcover) |
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We
all want to live long, healthy, active lives. What
can we do to achieve this to the greatest extent
possible? Good diet, exercise, enough sleep,
avoiding risky behavior, a supporting social life.
We know all these. We also know that we will not
last forever. That may be the most unique
characteristic of humans. Our
Common Reading addresses all these and further makes
recommendations for actions we can take and how to
better utilize our health care system. This
approach aims to proactively prevent the chronic
diseases of aging for as long as possible and allows
us to maintain better health deeper into old age
with rigorous, detailed and personalized monitoring
and treatment of our nutrition, sleep, exercise and
mental health.
For example, he rates exercise as more
important than diet although he refers to the
Standard American Diet as SAD. We can strive for
more preventative actions from our health care
providers. There are now new tests for multiple
forms of cancer, while still expensive, which may
enable us to get a head start on problems we may
have. Research
and presentation topics might include: simple forms
of exercise that promote balance, e. g., standing on
one leg, and how to get up if we do fall; types of
meditation that promote calmness and lack of worry;
the impact of sleep on mental health; chronic
diseases common at end-of-life; what has worked for
you, e. g., having a dog. |
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Common
Reading: Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, by Peter Attia MD
with
Bill Gifford (March 28, 2023, hardcover) |
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We
all want to live long, healthy, active lives. What can
we do to achieve this to the greatest extent possible?
Good diet, exercise, enough sleep, avoiding risky
behavior, a supporting social life. We know all these.
We also know that we will not last forever. That may
be the most unique characteristic of humans. Our
Common Reading addresses all these and further makes
recommendations for actions we can take and how to
better utilize our health care system. This
approach aims to proactively prevent the chronic
diseases of aging for as long as possible and allows
us to maintain better health deeper into old age with
rigorous, detailed and personalized monitoring and
treatment of our nutrition, sleep, exercise and mental
health. For
example, he rates exercise as more important than diet
although he refers to the Standard American Diet as
SAD. We can strive for more preventative actions from
our health care providers. There are now new tests for
multiple forms of cancer, while still expensive, which
may enable us to get a head start on problems we may
have. Research
and presentation topics might include: simple forms of
exercise that promote balance, e. g., standing on one
leg, and how to get up if we do fall; types of
meditation that promote calmness and lack of worry;
the impact of sleep on mental health; chronic
diseases common at end-of-life; what has worked for
you, e. g., having a dog. |
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Common
Reading: The Best Movies You Never
Saw: 300 Under-the-Radar Films That Were
Overlooked, Unjustly Trashed – or Just Plain
Terrific by Joseph W. Smith III (July
2020) |
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Even
if you have watched a lot of movies, there are still
many good movies you haven’t seen. Author Joseph Smith
backs up that claim in his 2020 book: The Best
Movies You Never Saw: 300 Under-the-Radar Films That
Were Overlooked, Unjustly Trashed – or Just Plain
Terrific. Smith is a film critic and teacher who
clearly loves movies. Actually, you have likely seen a
few of the films on his list, but probably not most. As a
class, we might decide to devote a bit of class time
to agree or disagree with Smith’s choices. But mainly,
we will use this book to select the films for our
individual presentations and discussions as we have
done in previous movie S/DGs. For example, have you
ever seen Ace in the Hole (1951), Act of
Violence (1949), Appaloosa (2008), Ashes
and Diamonds (1958), Away We Go (2009),
Beautiful Girls (1996), Belle (2013), The
Best Man (1964), Bobby (2006), The
Bounty (1984), The Bridge at Remagen (1969), Brittany
Runs a Marathon (2019), Broadway Danny Rose
(1984), or The Buddy Holly Story (1978)?
And those are just some of the titles beginning with A
and B. |
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18. (MYC) Best
Mystery Stories of the Year 2023 |
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Common
Reading: The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the
Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023, by Amor Towles (Editor), Otto Penzler (Series Editor) (Hardcover – September 19, 2023) |
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Amor
Towles selects the best mystery short stories of the
year, including tales by Andrew Child, Jeffrey Deaver,
and T.C. Boyle. Under
the auspices of New York City's legendary mystery
fiction specialty bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop,
and aided by Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, New York Times
bestseller Amor Towles has selected the twenty most
puzzling, most thrilling, and most mysterious short
stories from the past year, collected now in one
entertaining volume. The volume also contains a “bonus
story” selected from the bookshop’s rare book room,
featuring a look into the history of this illustrious
genre. Each member of the class will be a story and do
a presentation related to the story chosen. |
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19. (MYZ) Best Mystery
Stories of the Year 2023 |
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Common
Reading: The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the
Best
Mystery Stories of the Year 2023, by Amor Towles (Editor), Otto Penzler (Series Editor) (Hardcover – September 19, 2023) |
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Amor
Towles selects the best mystery short stories of the
year, including tales by Andrew Child, Jeffrey
Deaver, and T.C. Boyle. Under
the auspices of New York City's legendary mystery
fiction specialty bookstore, The Mysterious
Bookshop, and aided by Edgar Award-winning
anthologist Otto Penzler,
New York Times bestseller Amor Towles has selected
the twenty most puzzling, most thrilling, and most
mysterious short stories from the past year,
collected now in one entertaining volume. The volume
also contains a “bonus story” selected from the
bookshop’s rare book room, featuring a look into the
history of this illustrious genre. Each member of
the class will be a story and do a presentation
related to the story chosen.
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Common
Reading: The Five-Million-Year
Odyssey: The Human Journey from Ape to Agriculture, by Peter Bellwood (Hardcover
– August 2, 2022) |
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The
epic story of human evolution, from our primate
beginnings more than five million years ago to the
agricultural era. Over
the course of five million years, our primate
ancestors evolved from a modest population of
sub-Saharan apes into the globally dominant species Homo sapiens. Along the
way, humans became incredibly diverse in appearance,
language, and culture. How did all of this happen? In
The Five-Million-Year
Odyssey, Peter Bellwood synthesizes
research from archaeology, biology, anthropology, and
linguistics to immerse us in the saga of human
evolution, from the earliest traces of our hominin
forebears in Africa, through waves of human expansion
across the continents, and to the rise of agriculture
and explosive demographic growth around the world. Bellwood
presents our modern diversity as a product of both
evolution, which led to the emergence of the genus Homo approximately 2.5
million years ago, and migration, which carried humans
into new environments. He introduces us to the ancient
hominins—including the australopithecines, Homo erectus, the
Neanderthals, and others—before turning to the
appearance of Homo
sapiens circa 300,000 years ago and
subsequent human movement into Eurasia, Australia, and
the Americas. Bellwood then explores the invention of
agriculture, which enabled farmers to disperse to new
territories over the last 10,000 years, facilitating
the spread of language families and cultural
practices. The outcome is now apparent in our vast
array of contemporary ethnicities, linguistic systems,
and customs. The
fascinating origin story of our varied human
existence, The
Five-Million-Year Odyssey underscores
the importance of recognizing our shared genetic
heritage to appreciate what makes us so diverse. Presentations
could cover the new results from DNA of which there
are many or pick an ancient or modern population and
show the influence of evolution on them. That is, the
impact of evolution on the Polynesian island hopping,
The latest on the Australian indigenous, or how were
the Americas populated, another could cover the
various breakouts of homin
population from Africa, covering when where and why. |
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Common
Reading: Complete Works of Oscar
Wilde (Collins Classics) by Oscar Wilde
(August 2003; Kindle version, August 2021)
Supplemental Reading: Oscar Wilde: A Life (October 2021, Hardcover) by Matthew
Sturgis |
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Author
Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde has
been described as a born entertainer with a talent for
comedy and a need for an audience. Born in Dublin in
1854, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and
Magdalen College, Oxford where, a disciple of Pater,
he founded an aesthetic cult. In 1884 he married
Constance Lloyd, and they soon had two sons. And to
put it succinctly, he led a unique and dazzling life. Wilde’s
novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and social comedies
(Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An
Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest),
established his reputation. In 1895, following his
libel action against the Marquess of Queensberry,
Wilde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for
homosexual conduct, as a result of which he wrote The
Ballad of Reading Gaol,
and his confessional letter De Profundis. On his
release from prison in 1897 he lived in obscurity in
Europe, and died in Paris in 1900. Our
S/DG will choose three (3) novels and several
essays and/or short stories ( to be selected
by the entire class at the Pre-meeting) to read
and discuss, accompanied by presentations to possibly
cover: particular periods of his life, comparison to
his contemporaries or to modern humorists, how Wilde’s
works were received critically, what works have been
derived from his, life as a gay man in the late 1800s,
a reenactment of a poem or short story, or information
on people who were friends (or enemies) of Wilde. |
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Common
Reading: State of World Population
2023: 8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: The Case
for Rights and Choices by United Nations/UNFPA (May
2023) |
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In
November 2022, world population surpassed 8 billion
people. Some of us observed that milestone by
wondering how many more humans the planet can
tolerate. Others worried because some countries
believe they have too few people and are attempting
to increase their birthrates to avoid a presumed
future of economic and political decline. In
contrast, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
says we should stop trying to manipulate fertility
rates, allow migration and repatriation to
distribute population to where it is needed, improve
gender equality, and give women the freedom and
ability to make their own decisions about sex and
reproduction. Our
text is 8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities:
The Case for Rights and Choices, AKA State
of World Population 2023, a 200-page report
published in 2023 by UNFPA and freely downloadable
here: https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/swop23/SWOP2023-ENGLISH-230329-web.pdf.
It provides a user-friendly history of humanity’s
concerns about over- and under-population as well as
loads of other population-related information. The
report’s recommendations may strike some of us as
overly optimistic. But that should spur some lively
discussions. The
potential topics for presentation and discussion are
endless. Are we really on track to stabilize world
population? Is the UNFPA unrealistically downplaying
the impact of population on climate change and other
environmental harms? Does it make sense to deal with
aging work forces by incentivizing a baby boom? Are
robots a better solution for dwindling work forces?
Are the leaders of aging nations more worried about
the optics of a shrinking population than with
solving the current problem of too many seniors
dependent on too few workers? With demagogs around
the world fear-mongering about the great
replacement, what are the chances of maintaining let
alone increasing migration quotas? The hundreds of
references cited in our text should also offer
plenty of ideas for good presentation/discussion
topics. |
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Common
Reading:
Once
Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between
Mathematics and Literature, by
Sarah Hart (April 2023) |
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An
exploration of the many ways mathematics can
transform our understanding of literature and vice
versa, by the first woman to hold England's oldest
mathematical chair. We
often think of mathematics and literature as polar
opposites. But what if, instead, they were
fundamentally linked? In her clear, insightful,
laugh-out-loud funny debut, Once Upon a Prime,
Professor Sarah Hart shows us the myriad connections
between math and literature, and how understanding
those connections can enhance our enjoyment of both. Did
you know, for instance, that Moby-Dick is full of
sophisticated geometry? That James Joyce’s
stream-of-consciousness novels are deliberately
checkered with mathematical references? That George
Eliot was obsessed with statistics? That Jurassic
Park is undergirded by fractal patterns? That Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
wrote mathematician characters? From sonnets to
fairytales to experimental French literature,
Professor Hart shows how math and literature are
complementary parts of the same quest, to understand
human life and our place in the universe. As
the first woman to hold England’s oldest
mathematical chair, Professor Hart is the ideal tour
guide, taking us on an unforgettable journey through
the books we thought we knew, revealing new layers
of beauty and wonder. As she promises, you’re going
to need a bigger bookcase. “An absolute joy to
read!” —Steven Levitt, New York Times bestselling
author of Freakonomics. Presentations
might cover math used in rhyming limericks or some
poems you like. How math is used in novels by James
Joyce or Flatland by Edwin Abbott, Last
Call by Tim Powers, or Cryptonomicon by Neal
Stephenson, or The Library of Babel by
Jorge Luis Borges. There are many other books that
could be chosen for a fun and informative
presentation. |
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Common
Reading: The
Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded
America by Michelle Wilde Anderson (June
2022; 368 pp) |
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What
happens to a town that has experienced a boom and a
bust? Why
do they tend to devolve into high levels of poverty
and violence? Many cities went through municipal
bankruptcy or state receivership during the Great
Recession. Yet some became places of hope
with people were coming together—to train trauma
recovery counselors, to rebuild a broken-down
library, to make parkland out of industrial
wasteland, to stop foreclosures. This
S/DG will examine various cities which experienced
such downturns and the actions of the citizenry that
made a difference or not! How much does place matter
to humans, and what are they willing to do to save a
place buffeted by global forces rather than abandon
it. Using
the book, The Fight to Save the Town, by
Michelle Wilde Anderson, the winner of the 2023 Zócalo Public Square Book
Prize, the class will discuss the stories of
Stockton, California; Josephine County, Oregon;
Lawrence, Massachusetts; and Detroit, Michigan. Anderson’s
portraits are a stirring antidote to anti-government
cynicism and a call to action against wealth
inequality and the disinvestment from public goods. Members
research and presentation on other cities and their
governing bodies such as Los Angeles or San Diego,
the presence of corruption in city management, the
work of various non-profits, the impacts of weak
educational systems, impacts of police systems and
racism as well as federal legislation and voting. |
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Common
Reading: Selected Plays |
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The
Omnilorean New Globe
Theater plans a Winter/Spring 2024 season of study,
continuing our usual pattern of reading 2 (maybe 3)
plays of different genres (Histories, Comedies,
and Tragedies) – the plays to be chosen during
our December pre-meeting (and lead-up email
discussions). With players
standing (or Zooming in) and with a few
props, we will do reading walk-throughs of the plays,
plus provocative questions
about, short presentations on, and
discussion of each play and the themes, issues,
motifs, etc. of the play. In
this SDG you will learn how to research all
perspectives of Shakespeare’s works — sources of each
play upon which the Bard builds rich characters and
enhances the plots, how to play each character “in
character,” themes, symbols, images, motifs,
commentary on issues arising in the day, and all
manner of rhyme
and reason. Class
members will each be responsible for a short
presentation (not
necessarily computerized) or questions intended
to stimulate discussions based on the research, optionally
including short videos,
music, webpage visits, etc. For a
glimpse of how we live the Bard in this S/DG, check
out https://omnilore.org/members/Curriculum/SDGs/23c-SHK-Shakespeare/ to view a
typical past Shakespeare class’s website of links to
research/references relevant to our plays. There
are no prerequisites, theatrical or otherwise. You will
find that the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon will teach us,
just as he’s 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. |
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Common
Reading: The House of Wisdom: How
Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us
the Renaissance, by Jim Al-Khalili (March 27, 2012) |
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Many
of the innovations that we think of as hallmarks of
Western science had their roots in the Islamic world
of the Middle Ages, a period when much of Europe lay
in intellectual darkness. During the
Islamic Golden Age, government leaders sponsored
scholars from many fields of study, including
mathematics, chemistry, physics, and astronomy. Eventually
those scholars expanded on the knowledge of ancient
Greece and even challenged Greek scientific theory. In many
cases, their discoveries were quite astounding. For
example, al-Biruni
devised a simple method for determining the radius
of the Earth that was within 17 km of the true
value. Avicenna’s
The Canon of
Medicine (1025) was used as a standard medical
textbook until the 18th century. This
S/DG seeks to discuss the reasons for this Golden
Age, the range of scientific achievements, and the
significance of those accomplishments. Presentation
topics could include the biographies of prominent
Islamic scholars of the period (e.g. al-Khwarizmi,
Avicenna, Omar Khayyam, and others), the
advancements in fields such as astronomy,
mathematics, medicine, chemistry, etc., the impact
on agriculture, the criticism of Greek scientific
theory, the influence of religion, the study of
alchemy, sponsorship by the Abbasid rulers, the
Indian influence on Islamic science, the impact on
the European Renaissance, and the status of science
in the Islamic world today. |
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27. (SUP) The Supermajority |
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Common
Reading: The Supermajority: How
the Supreme Court Divided America
by Michael Waldman
(June 6, 2023, 270 pages plus notes and index) |
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In
The Supermajority, Michael Waldman explores
the tumultuous 2021–2022 Supreme Court term. He
draws deeply on history to examine other times the
Court veered from the popular will, provoking
controversy and backlash. And he analyzes the most
important new rulings and their implications for the
law and for American society. Waldman asks: What can
we do when the Supreme Court challenges the country? Over
three days in June 2022, the conservative
supermajority ·
overturned
the constitutional right to abortion, possibly
opening the door to reconsider other major privacy
rights; ·
limited
the authority of the EPA, reducing the prospects for
combatting climate change; ·
radically
loosened curbs on guns amid an epidemic of mass
shootings; ·
fully
embraced legal theories such as “originalism” that
will affect thousands of cases throughout the
country. These
major decisions—and the next wave to come—will have
enormous ramifications for every American. Waldman
says, it was the most turbulent term in memory—with ·
the
leak of the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, ·
the
first Black woman justice sworn in, and ·
the
justices turning on each other in public. Waldman
previews the 2022–2023 term and how the brewing
fights over the Supreme Court and its role have
already begun to reshape politics. Presentations
can be on subjects covered in the book ·
or
on what is possibly still to come. ·
Or
the shadow docket. ·
Or
something on the past history of the court,
especially as it relates to or helps to explain the
present. ·
Or,
“should the SC be expanded to more than nine
justices?” ·
Or
should justices be appointed for life, since life
spans and thus terms can be so long? |
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28. (UND) The Underworld |
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Common
Reading: The Underworld: Journeys
to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey (August 1,
2023; 288 pages plus notes, bibliography &
resources) |
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Throughout
human history, the deep ocean has been a source of
wonder and terror, an unknown realm that evoked a
singular, compelling question: what is down there?
Unable to answer this question for centuries, we are
beginning to understand what’s down there: soaring
mountains, smoldering volcanoes, valleys where
tectonic plates collide and such extraordinary life
forms as pink gelatinous predators, shimmering
creatures a hundred feet long, ancient animals with
glass skeletons, sharks that live for half a
millennium and countless other marvels. In The
Underworld, bestselling author Susan Casey
joined scientists and explorers all over the world
on dives to the deepest places on earth. Casey
interviewed marine geologists, marine biologists and
oceanographers in a search for greater knowledge
about the deep ocean. Her new book is a fascinating
journey through the history of deep-sea exploration
from bathyspheres to shipwrecks, with scientists who
are just beginning to understand the mind-blowing
complexity and ecological importance of the
quadrillions of creatures who live in realms long
thought to be devoid of life. She explains how vital
the deep sea is to the future of the planet and to
understanding the increasing threats from climate
change, industrial fishing, pollution and the mining
companies that are also exploring the deep
sea. Presentations
could be on any of the many subjects presented in
the book, or a “deeper dive” on the creatures,
ecology or geology of the deep ocean, scientific or
environmental issues related to the deep ocean, or
history or current events involving the deep
ocean. |
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Common
Reading: The Journey of Humanity:
The Origins of Wealth and Inequality, by Oded Galor (March 2022) |
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In
a captivating journey from the dawn of human existence
to the present, world-renowned economist and thinker
Oded Galor offers an
intriguing solution to two of humanity’s great
mysteries. Why
are humans the only species to have escaped - only
very recently - the subsistence trap, allowing us to
enjoy a standard of living that vastly exceeds all
others? And why have we progressed so unequally around
the world, resulting in the great disparities between
nations that exist today? Immense in scope and packed
with astounding connections, Galor's
gripping narrative explains how technology, population
size, and adaptation led to a stunning “phase change”
in the human story a mere two hundred years ago. But
by tracing that same journey back in time and peeling
away the layers of influence - colonialism, political
institutions, societal structure, culture - he arrives
also at an explanation of inequality's ultimate
causes: those ancestral populations that enjoyed
fruitful geographical characteristics and rich
diversity were set on the path to prosperity, while
those that lacked it were disadvantaged in ways still
echoed today. As
we face ecological crisis across the globe, The
Journey of Humanity is a book of urgent truths and
enduring relevance, with lessons that are both hopeful
and profound. Presentations
could cover gender equality, how much to invest in
education and what types of education, how to balance
diversity with social cohesion, can UBI solve the
problem of poverty, the impact of reduced global
populations. |
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Common
Reading: The Exceptions: Nancy
Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science, by Kate Zernike (424 pages;
February 2023) |
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As late as 1999, women
who succeeded in science were called “exceptional”
as if it were unusual for them to be so bright.
They were exceptional, not because they
could succeed at science but because of all they
accomplished despite the hurdles. Our common reading
tells the story of one such woman, who, although a
noted molecular geneticist and cancer researcher at
MIT, found herself underpaid and denied the credit
and resources given to men of lesser rank.
Galvanized by the flagrant favoritism, Hopkins led a
group of sixteen women on the faculty in a campaign
that prompted MIT to make the historic admission
that it had long discriminated against its female
scientists. The sixteen women were a formidable
group: their work has advanced our understanding of
everything from cancer to geology, from fossil fuels
to the inner workings of the human brain. And their
work to highlight what they called “21st-century
discrimination”—a subtle, stubborn, often
unconscious bias—set off a national reckoning with
the pervasive sexism in science. From
the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who broke the
story, The
Exceptions chronicles
groundbreaking science and a history-making fight
for equal opportunity. It is the “excellent and
infuriating” (The
New York Times) story
of how this group of determined, brilliant women
used the power of the collective and the tools of
science to inspire ongoing radical change. And it
offers an intimate look at the passion that drives
discovery, and a rare glimpse into the competitive,
hierarchical world of elite science—and the women
who dared to challenge it. Presentations
can expound on the careers of any of these women
(or, for that matter, other successful female
scientists) or the obstacles that women face(d) in
other professional fields, such as law or medicine. |
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