TOPICS  OFFERED  FOR  SPRING  2008

 

 

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.

 

 

1.     (ART)    A  NEW  LOOK  AT  MASTERPIECES  OF  EUROPEAN  ART

You have looked at the great paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance period in Europe, but have you truly SEEN them?  This SD/G offers a fresh look at these works of art, providing the tools and insights for a better understanding -- and enjoyment -- of them.  Among the artists surveyed are such masters of the Italian Renaissance as Botticelli, Da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo; from the Dutch and German period the featured artists include Durer, Grunewald, Bruegel , and masters of the baroque period.  Presentations can focus on individual artists, specific artworks, or the relationship between the artists and the culture of their time.

Common Reading:     TBD

2nd & 4th Monday, p.m. – Room 7

 

 

2.     (ASC)     THE  ASCENT  OF  MAN

This S/DG will trace the development of science as an expression of the special gifts that characterize man and that have made him unique among animal species.  Each chapter of the common reading is an essay that presents part of a philosophy of nature which has as goal the understanding of the human condition and man's greatness within nature.  We will journey with Bronowski back through intellectual history in order to find "the great monuments of human invention": from "Lucy's" gravesite in the Rift Valley, to the caves of Altamira, to Macchu Pichu, Newton's library, Gauss's observatory in Goettingen, to the nearby Goettingen forest paths where quantum physics was born, to Persia with the Bakhtiari on their Spring migration, and ending in the natural ampitheatre of Thingvellir, the seat in Iceland of the oldest democracy in Europe.  Our personal research themes will address these great monuments of human invention and their philosophical implications today. Dr. Bronowski was a mathematician, poet, playwright and a founder of the Scientific Humanism movement.  He writes: "Man ascends by discovering the fullness of his own gifts . . . what he creates on the way are monuments to the stages in his understanding of nature and of self." and he ends the book with: "We are all afraid - for our confidence, for the future, for the world.  That is the nature of the human imagination. ... The personal commitment of a man to his skill, the intellectual commitment and the emotional commitment working together as one, has made the Ascent of Man

Common Reading:     The Ascent of Man, by Jacob Bronowski. At the Pre-Meeting we will finalize a schedule for optional after-class viewing of DVD essays correlated with the text chapters.

2nd & 4th Friday, p.m. – Room 7

 

3.     (CCC)      CAVES,  CELTS,  CAESARS,  CASTLES  AND  CATHEDRALS  IN

                 SOUTHERN  FRANCE   -  An  S/DG  with  Travel

This course looks at the history of Southern France which has been part of history for over 30,000 years - from the Cro-Magnon cave dweller to the fiercely independent Celts to the Roman Empire to the Romantic medieval knights to the magnificent cathedrals built to counteract the criticisms of the Roman church.  The area was also home to creative artists and to philosophers who inspired two great revolutions.

                        Caves & Celts

·        Cro-Magnon cave paintings of 30,000 years ago in Lascaux  & Pech Merle.  Celtic settlements in Languedoc (2500 BC – 125 BC).

Caesars

·        Early Roman Gaul (52 BC –100 CE) – Aix, Arles & Nimes - Julius Caesar; Vercingetorix;

·         Late Roman Gaul:  Narbonne, Bordeaux,  Le Pont du Gard (100–500 CE)

Castles

·        Rocamadour:  St. Amadour; Roland and his sword Durendal.

·        Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II; (12th c)

·        Carcassonne (1208):  stronghold of the Cathars until it fell to de Montfort.

·        The 100 year war in the Dordogne – Agincourt & Castillon  (15th c)

Cathedrals

·        Albi and the Albigensian Crusade  (13th c)

·        The seven popes of Avignon – (1305-1378)

·        St. Just in Narbonne; St. Cecilia in Albi; St. Andrew ‘s in Bordeaux

Other Topics

·        Huguenots (1562-1598)

·        Toulouse Lautrec; van Gogh in Arles & St. Remy

·        Montaigne:  Mayor of Bordeaux and inspiration for the Enlightenment

·        Cyrano de Bergerac

No Common Reading.

First ˝ of The Road from the Past by Ina Caro talks about many of the places we will visit.  It is an inexpensive paperback available used from Amazon.com.

Omnilore is offering an optional trip to Southern France April 6 – 20, 2008 in conjunction with this course.  See September Newsletter for more information.

1st & 3rd Wednesday, p.m. – Room 7

 

 

4.     (CTN)    OUT  OF  LINE:  POLITICAL  CARTOONISTS  ETCH  HISTORICAL

                           LEGACY

For 250 years American political cartoonists have provided visual social commentary about people and events in the news.  The cartoonist uses art with journalism to express ideas and concerns, to influence major political decisions, and to point out the satire in situations.  The S/DG will look at editorial cartoonists such as Bill Mauldin, Herblock, Paul Conrad and Michael Ramirez, and comic strips such as Pogo (Walt Kelly), Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau), and Mallard Fillmore (Bruce Tinsley) as well as their historical counterparts to examine political events.

Common Reading:     TBD

2nd & 4th Thursday, a.m. – Room 7

 

 

5.     (DIA)     DEMOCRACY  IN  AMERICA

“Every citizen in being assimilated with the rest, is lost in the crowd”…“No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country”….“Americans seek the value of everything in the answer to this question: how much money will it bring in?”

These –and scores of other provocative conclusions about American values—were made almost 200 years ago by Alexis de Tocqueville in his classic “Democracy in America”, a vivid analysis of our society, politics and culture.

De Tocqueville was a young French aristocrat, a lawyer and a rising politician in search for a model for post-revolutionary France (although the pretext for his trip was to study our penal system). For nine months he thoroughly digested our people and our institutions, producing a monumental study. His masterpiece is continuously quoted in speeches and in the media, most of his commentaries amazingly appropriate to this day.

We will read and discuss a 330 pg. abridged summary of his 900+pg.  work. Presentation topics will run the gamut from the political realities in 1831, female roles, slavery, prison conditions, French and English political realities, Tocqueville’s conclusions and Tocqueville’s biography; evaluations will continually be made with today’s America.

Common Reading:     Democracy in America, by Tocqueville and Grant

or Democracy in America, edited and abridged by Richard Heffner

1st & 3rd Thursday, p.m. - Room 7

 

 

6.     (ECN)    THE  NEW  ECONOMIC  INSECURITY:  POVERTY,  CRUMBLING

                       SAFETY  NETS  AND  GLOBALIZATION

This S/DG explores economic insecurity in the US, along with income disparities.  We will discuss questions like who will assume responsibility for safety net protection and what form these protections will take.  Economic insecurity involves not just the poor and the uneducated.  Insecurity reaches across the income spectrum, across the racial divide, and across lines of geography and gender.  More and more, economic risk is being shifted by government and corporations onto workers and their families.  Much of the coming debate over domestic policy will be about risky families, risky jobs, risky retirement and risky health care.  For perspective, our existing framework of economic security (developed primarily in the thirties and the sixties) may be revisited.  In the light of changes that now shape our future and within the context of globalization, is it time for a new look at free trade, globalization and world economics.

Common Reading:      The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, by Alan Greenspan

and

The World Is Flat, by Thomas Friedman (paperback)

with highly critical reviews such as; The World is Flat?: A Critical Analysis of the New York Times Best Seller, by Ronald Aronica and Mtetwa Ramdoo, (paperback)

or a critical review by by Edward Leamer, as well as other texts, chosen by members, will be used as references for this S/DG

1st & 3rd Wednesday, p.m. - Room 8

 

 

 

7.     (ESS)      BEST  AMERICAN  ESSAYS  2007

Each year all American magazines are invited to submit essays to a committee. A team of editors selects about two hundred.  The editors for that year, chosen because they are well known authors, narrow the list down to about fifty. Topics range from sports to science, from culture to hobbies, from reflections on life to musings on national pastimes.  The essays always provoke animated discussion and have been a  perennial Omnilore favorite, often having two groups.

Common Reading:     Best American Essays 2007, Edited by David Foster Wallace

2nd & 4th Tuesday, p.m. – Room 7

 

 

 

8.     (FYN)     FEYNMAN  CONTINUED:  THE  STRANGE  THEORY  OF  LIGHT

                        AND  MATTER

Nobel laureate Richard Feynman possessed an extraordinary talent for explaining difficult concepts to the general public.  In the Alix G. Mautner Memorial Lectures at UCLA Feynman provides a classic and definitive introduction to QED (namely quantum electrodynamics), that part of quantum field theory describing the interactions of light with charged particles.  Using everyday language, spatial concepts, visualizations, and his renowned "Feynman diagrams" instead of advanced mathematics, Feynman clearly and humorously communicates both the substance and spirit of QED to the layperson.  This S/DG is independent of the one given on Cornell's Messenger Lectures.  Topics for presentation can come from Feynman's extremely colorful life, his original research, his popular books (e.g., Six Easy Pieces, Six Not So Easy Pieces, Physics Lectures, Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman, . . . )

Common Reading:      QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, by Richard Feynman (Paperback, Princeton University Press)

1st & 3rd Friday, p.m. - Room 7

 

 

9.    (IDE)      MANUFACTURING  IDEOLOGY:  THINK  TANKS,  POLITICAL

                           ADVOCACY  GROUPS  AND  POLITICAL  PUNDITS

Every society has an ideology that forms the basis of the “public opinion” within that society.  It is inevitable that groups of people (organizations, institutes, corporations and other interest groups) will eventually strive for power to influence that society.  Twenty-first century policy makers have been so inundated by the advocacy goals of Think Tanks and Political Advocacy Groups that critics question their ability to legislate in a fair and impartial manner.

This will analyze and discuss these ideological political processes and, in doing so, address some provocative questions:

How much influence do “Think Tanks” have on National Policy Issues?

How much of an impact do “Political Advocacy Groups” have on “Decision Makers?”

How much of an influence do political analysts and so called” talking heads” have on public opinion?

Possible Topics

1.   Overview will include philosophical backgrounds, On Line Advocacy groups and Internet Activities

2.   Conservative Think Tanks - American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institute for War, Revolution and Peace, Claremont Institute, etc.

3.   Liberal Think Tanks - Brookings Institution, Political Economy Research Institute, Progressive Policy Institute, Center for American Progress, etc.

4.   Nonpartisan Think Tanks – Atlantic Council of the United States, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Center for Strategic and National Studies, etc.

5.   Government Think Tanks – Institute for Homeland Security Studies, Center for Technology and National Security Policy, Center for Naval Warfare Studies etc.

Possible Common Reading:

The Transformation of American Politics, The New Washington and the Rise of Think Tanks, by David M. Ricci (Yale University Press, 1994)

1st & 3rd Tuesday, p.m. - Room 7

 

 

10.    (IRQ)     IRAQ:   PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE

The 2008 political campaign will focus on how or when to get out of Iraq.  To understand the various proposals it is necessary to understand the history of the country and the occupation after our invasion.  An Iraqi’s views of this occupation are given in the common reading by Ali A. Allawi, a scion of a distinguished Shiite family from Baghdad, a cousin of former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, and nephew of Ahmed Chalabi, returned after years of exile to assume senior positions in post invasion Iraq.  Presentations will address the history of this fascinating country between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which was responsible for the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops, and the development of cursive script.  Specific presentations could cover  topics such as: the Islam conquest, the Shia/Sunni split, Kurdish history, The Ottoman conquest in the 16th century, the British mandate after World War I, Kurd and Shia uprisings against the British in 1920, the 1933 Anglo-Iraqi  Treaty giving Britain control over Iraq’s oil, the British invasion in 1942 to put down a pro-Nazi military coup, and the Ba’athist party takeover in 1968 followed by Sadam Hussein’s takeover in 1979.

Common Reading:      The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace,        by Ali A. Allawi (Yale University Press, 2007, 544 pp)

1st & 3rd Tuesday, p.m. - Room 8

 

 

11.    (LDY)     FIRST  LADIES

We have all heard the saying, “Behind every great man there stands a great woman.”  Harry S. Truman said, “I hope some day someone will take time to evaluate the true role of the wife of a President, and to assess the many burdens she has to bear and the contributions she makes.”   This Study Discussion group will do just that.  Using the book, Presidential Wives, An Anecdotal History by Paul F. Boller, Jr. as a starting point, each participant will select a First Lady and present research findings to flesh out the character, and her contributions for the rest of the class.  Learning about these woman will provide SDG members with not only a history of our country but our changing views on women, slavery, education and government.

Common Reading:     Presidential Wives, An Anecdotal History, by Paul F. Boller, Jr.  (ISBN: 0195121422; available at various bookstores)

2 & 4 Wednesday, p.m. - Room 7

 

 

12.    (MAH)   MAHLER:  HIS  LIFE  &  MUSIC

Mahler(1860-1911) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and conductor. He is acknowledged as being among the most important late-romantic composers.  Beside the nine completed numbered symphonies, his principal works are the song symphony Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth) and the two song cycles Songs of a Wayfarer and Songs on the Death of Children.  He was also a leading conductor of his age and was hired to lead the Metropolitan Opera.

Common Reading:      Mahler: A Biography, by Jonathan Carr (1997)    

 2nd & 4th Tuesday, p.m. – Room 8

 

 

13.    (MND)   ARE  WE  HARDWIRED:  A  STUDY  OF  THE  MIND 

The nineteenth-century satirist Ambrose Bierce defined the brain as “an apparatus with which we think we think.”  More has been learned about the workings of the mind and nervous system in the last twenty five years than in all recorded history.  Astonishing new research findings offer the possibility of new insights into our mental life. 

As we proceed into the next decades, the explosive growth of the field of neuroscience is being brought about, in large part, through the development of powerful new imaging technologies (MRI, Pet scans, etc.).  This makes it realistic to expect that during the first half of this century we will find the answers to many of the fascinating questions that have intrigued science and bedeviled philosophers throughout the centuries.

This course will explore the area where neuroscience, genetics, evolutionary psychology and cognitive sciences meet.  It will strive towards a more complete understanding of the brain and our behavior.

Possible Common Reading:

How the Mind Works, by Steven Pinker (W. W. Norton, 1997)

MN1:  2 & 4 Monday, a.m. - Room 7

MN2:  2 & 4 Thursday, p.m. - Room 8

           

 

 

14.    (MOV)   MOVIE  CLASSICS

This course study-discussions will involve members choosing eight movie classics by great film directors, at a pre-meeting (each member submitting three choices).  After voting, from the suggestions, eight movies will be studied, one movie to be discussed per session....including the film director of that movie.  Why is the film a classic, award winner or of social significance or film with a message?  Is the film dated or timely?  Study of techniques, expertise, genius of directors, and movie special effects, descriptions.  What part of the movie did you especially like/dislike?  Movies will not be viewed in class, but privately by each individual.  Movies must be those easily available from Netflix, local video store, library collection, etc.

No Common Reading.

1st & 3rd Thursday, p.m. - Room 8

 

 

15.    (NYC)    NEW YORK - IT’S  A  WONDERFUL  TOWN  

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of The New Yorker Magazine, Random House brought out this anthology that reprints the work of prominent New Yorker contributors. Selected by the magazine's current editor, the pieces provide a retrospective of the magazine's journalistic history. Wonderful Town collects superb short fiction by many of the magazine's and this country's most accomplished writers, true masters of the short story genre. Among them are John Updike, Dorothy Parker, Vladimir Nabokov, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Like all good fiction, these stories take particular places, particular people, and particular events and turn them into dramas of universal enlightenment and emotional impact.

This Study/Discussion will select and read various short-stories and discuss them as a group.  Individual members will research and present material related to the story of their choice.

Common Reading:      Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker,      edited by David Remick (ISBN: 0-375-75752-x)

NY1:   1 & 3 Monday, p.m. - Room 7

NY2:   2 & 4 Wednesday, a.m. - Room 7

 

 

 

16.    (REL)     EASTERN  RELIGIONS 

Pick up a newspaper, turn on the television, listen to conversations in the street, what is the topic that eventually will be discussed?  China has taken our manufacturing jobs, India is taking all of our white collar jobs and Japan is now taking over the auto industry, as well as dominating television, cameras etc.

The above countries are driven by more than smart business people; they are driven by their culture, and it in turn is driven by their five religions:  Hinduism, Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, some of which we may discover to be more philosophy than religion.

We, as citizens of western culture, have neglected the study of East Asia and the Pacific Rim and now that they seem to be challenging us, it’s time we get to know these countries.  As Sun-Tzu writes in The Art of War, If you know yourself and know your enemy, you will win a hundred wars, if you know yourself and do not know your enemy, you will win fifty wars, if you do not know yourself or your enemy, you will not win any wars.  Join us, we will explore and exchange ideas as we learn what drives about 40% of the worlds population.

Common Reading:     Eastern Religions, edited by Michael D. Coogan  (Oxford Un. Press, 2005, ISBN-13: 978-0-19-522190-9 or ISBN-10: 0-19-522190-7)

1st & 3rd Friday, p.m. - Room 8

 

 

17.    (SCI)      TEN  GREAT  IDEAS  OF  SCIENCE

The foundations of modern science are built on a number of very fundamental ideas and concepts.  Understanding today’s scientific advances requires some appreciation of these foundational concepts.  This study group will be seeking to achieve that understanding.

Peter Atkins has written a book, Galileo’s Finger: The 10 Great Ideas of Science, which will serve as the source for this group’s exploration of the foundations of modern science.  Where does Galileo’s finger figure into this?  It actually has been preserved in Florence, Italy, since 1737 and symbolizes to Atkins the scientific method, the way of “unpacking” the appearances of nature to reveal its essence.

The 10 ideas explored in Atkins’ book are:

·     Evolution: The Emergence of Complexity;

·     DNA: The Rationalization of Biology;

·     Energy: Universalization of Accounting;

·     Entropy: The Spring of Change;

·     Atoms: The Reduction of Matter;

·     Symmetry: The Quantification of Beauty;

·     Quanta: The Simplification of Understanding;

·     Cosmology: The Globalization of Reality;

·     Spacetime: The Arena of Action;

·     Arithmetic: The Limits of Reason.

One reviewer has said, “This is a book that presents the modern thinking at a level that most of it is understandable to most of us.  Combine that with an elegant writing style, and reading it makes for a great deal of enjoyment.”

Common Reading:     Galileo’s Finger: The 10 Great Ideas of Science, by Peter Atkins (Oxford Un. Press, USA; New Ed edition, 2004, 392 pages)

1st & 3rd Monday, p.m. – Room 8

 

 

 

18.    (SSP)      SHAKESPEARE:   ALL  THE  WORLD’S  A S TAGE …

“Soft, what light from yonder window breaks.”   We’ll use Romeo’s opening line from the celebrated balcony scene to introduce this trimester of the Omnilore New Globe Players.

But in our brave new world, the stage and that window are at the Franklin Center.  Again this winter we will form a repertory troupe of Omnilorean New Globe Players to read, study, and discuss three of the Bard’s great plays.  With players standing and with a few props, we’ll do reading walk-throughs of Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and a third play: another comedy to be selected by the class at one fell swoop in the pre-meeting.  (Merchant of Venice?  Comedy of Errors?) 

Class members can either serve as part of one team’s Board of Directors, or give a presentation, or both.  The Board of Directors of each play is responsible for researching sources and themes of the play, casting roles for the repertory, and leading discussions on the research, symbols, images, motifs, and all manner of rhyme and reason.  ‘Tis fair play to enhance classes with videos, music and costumes, and to bring your own questions and even beyond-the-plays topics from the Shakespearean era for discussion. 

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 Shakespeare the title of greatest writer in the English language.  He may have penned “It was Greek to me” (Julius Caesar, Act 1), but for you this notion will vanish into thin air and you will see why his language and stories are too much of a good thing.

Common Reading:   Selected Plays

2nd & 4th Thursday, p.m. – Room 7

 

 

19.        (WRI)   THE  WRITING  MIND

This S/DG concentrates on fostering creativity and improving techniques of the writer through the production of original pieces of writing, literary critique and presentations by each group member.  Presentations are on literary topics or on the philosophy, subtleties or techniques of writing.  Each member will be responsible for; a presentation, at least two submissions of original fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or other form of writing, and for reading and critiquing submissions from other group members.

Common Reading:  None Suggested

2nd & 4th Wednesday, p.m. – Room 8

 

 

 

 

 

            (CSU)     LECTURE  SERIES  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  CSUDH 

Lecture Course at Redondo Beach Library – 1st & 3rd Wednesdays – 10:30 a.m.

The CSUDH lecture series for the Spring 08 trimester is entitled Energy, the Environment and the Economy.  If you are interested in this course, please contact Johan so you can be placed on the list to be informed of relevant information. 

 

 

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