SDG  TOPICS  OFFERED  FOR  SUMMER  2016

 

 

Please note that the books listed for each course are only possible candidates. 
Do not buy any book until the pre-meeting and a decision on the common reading is made.

Classes start May 2nd and end August 31st.  

Holiday periods are adapted to by individual class voting.

 

 

 

1.    (AFH)        NEAR  A  THOUSAND  TABLES: A  FOOD  HISTORY  

In Near a Thousand Tables, acclaimed food historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto tells the fascinating story of food as cultural as well as culinary history -- a window on the history of mankind.

In this “appetizingly provocative” (Los Angeles Times) book, he guides readers through the eight great revolutions in the world history of food: the origins of cooking, which set humankind on a course apart from other species; the ritualization of eating, which brought magic and meaning into people's relationship with what they ate; the inception of herding and the invention of agriculture, perhaps the two greatest revolutions of all; the rise of inequality, which led to the development of haute cuisine; the long-range trade in food which, practically alone, broke down cultural barriers; the ecological exchanges, which revolutionized the global distribution of plants and livestock; and, finally, the industrialization and globalization of mass-produced food.

From prehistoric snail “herding” to Roman banquets to Big Macs to genetically modified tomatoes, Near a Thousand Tables is a full-course meal of extraordinary narrative, brilliant insight, and fascinating explorations that will satisfy the hungriest of readers.

Common Reading:     Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food by Felipe Fernandez-Armes   (September 2003)

 

 

2.    (AML)       AMERICA’S  LANGUAGES 

Which languages have survived in the United States, why and how? The author describes travels to the parts of the U. S. where Crow, Navajo, French Creoles, Gullah, Basque, Norwegian, variations of Spanish, English and other languages are or were spoken. She describes the historical and social conditions that affect language survival. She sketches the structural features of various languages and gives some samples of expressions and stories, along with descriptions of places and people. Amusing and easy to read, the book comments on important aspects of our country.

The book suggests many presentation topics. Examples are languages, settlement in and adaptation to the United States by various groups, language and ethnic makeup of a particular area, travels, folk stories, or language and education.

Common Reading:     Trip of the Tongue, Cross-country Travels in Search of America’s Languages, by Elizabeth Little  (March 2012)

 

 

3.    (ART)        WHEN  ART  WAS  GOLDEN - DUTCH  PAINTERS  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY

Italian art may have dominated the 16th century, but it was the Dutch “golden age of art” that marked the 17th century.  In an era of global exploration and trade expansion, the Dutch led the world in commerce.  With a growing bourgeois society, the combination of political enlightenment and national prosperity converged to foster a flowering of artistic creation.  From Rembrandt to Breughel, from Franz Hals to Bosch, a variety of distinct national styles of painting emerged.  Artists focused on innovative urban scenes, pastoral landscapes, domestic daily life (sometimes ribald), and -- unique to Dutch culture -- group portraits of business, political and military leaders.  Course presentations may focus on individual artists, painting styles and subjects, daily life in 17th century Netherlands, and the changing Dutch social structure underlying this golden age.

Possible Common Reading:       A Worldly Art: the Dutch Republic, 1585-1718, by Mariët Westermann (March 2005)

 

 

4.    (BFA)        THE  BEST  OF  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  2015  

Every year Foreign Affairs provides thoughtful analysis of world issues. A few pieces that really stand out from the year are compiled into this anthology for handy reference.
Our diverse offerings include Kenan Malik’s “The Failure of Multiculturalism,” which argues that Europe’s integration policies have entrenched divisions rather than erased them, and Ira Trivedi’s “When a Bride-to-Be Is a Bride to Buy,” an eye-opening piece on India’s bride shortage and how it has fueled the trafficking of young women. From Greece’s financial problems to the Islamic State’s statecraft, the decline of international studies in the American academy to the stagnation of reforms in China, we’ve covered it all.

The class can have interesting and intellectually challenging presentations and discussions of these major ongoing issues

Common Reading:     The Best of Foreign Affairs 2015, by Gideon Rose (Dec. 2015)

 

 

5.    (BWC)      BREAD,  WINE,  CHOCOLATE:  THE  SLOW  LOSS  OF  FOODS  WE LOVE  

A course for Omnilore foodies. In Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love, Sethi describes how, in recent years, environmental and economic forces have decreased biodiversity and threatened the existence of some of our favorite foods and beverages.

Award-winning journalist Simran Sethi explores the history and cultural importance of our most beloved tastes, paying homage to the ingredients that give us daily pleasure, while providing a thoughtful wake-up call to the homogenization that is threatening the diversity of our food supply.

Food is one of the greatest pleasures of human life. Our response to sweet, salty, bitter, or sour is deeply personal, combining our individual biological characteristics, personal preferences, and emotional connections. Bread, Wine, Chocolate illuminates not only what it means to recognize the importance of the foods we love, but also what it means to lose them. It reveals how the foods we enjoy are endangered by genetic erosion—a slow and steady loss of diversity in what we grow and eat. In America today, food often looks and tastes the same, whether at a San Francisco farmers market or at a Midwestern potluck. Shockingly, 95% of the world’s calories now come from only thirty species.

This book is more than just statistics on our diets, facts on the species that we are losing everyday (though those are truly eye opening), but a deeply personal quest to find answers at the source.

Common Reading:     Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love, by Simran Sethi (November 2015)

 

 

6.    (CAL)        CALIFORNIA 

The Economist stated: “A California classic. . . California, it should be remembered, was very much the wild west, having to wait until 1850 before it could force its way into statehood.  So what tamed it?  Mr. Starr’s answer is a combination of great men, great ideas and great projects.”

From the age of exploration to the age of Arnold, the Golden State’s premier historian distills the entire sweep of California’s history into one splendid volume.

Maria Shriver stated, “Kevin Starr is one of California’s greatest historians, and California is an invaluable contribution to our state’s record and lore.”

Presentations may focus on a plethora of places, people and events of historic significance.

Common Reading:     California, by Kevin Starr   (March 2007)

 

 

7.    (CCW)        CLIMATE  CHANGE  WINDFALL

Follow the money.   Climate change was a major discussion item in Paris in December 2015.  It is no longer a question of “Is it happening?” but “What can be done?”   The costs, the disruption to lives, the economic fall-out are all going to happen.  But who is going to find the silver lining in this creeping disaster?  Someone will make money from the problems of climate change.  The author of the proposed discussion book, WINDFALL: The Booming Business of Climate Change has focused exclusively on the economics and opportunism developing around this on-going topic.  From eco hedge funds to dam building to desalination plants, climate change is creating new opportunities and a potential boon for entrepreneurs.  Presentation topics can focus on locations impacted by climate change; discussions at the Paris 2015 talks; projects underway in countries worldwide; California’s leadership role; and aspects of Global warming’s physical impacts: melt, drought, and deluge.

Common Reading:     Windfall: The Booming Business of Climate Change by MacKenzie Funk (January 2014)

 

 

8.    (CON)       HOW  TO  BECOME  A  CON  ARTIST

“Think you can spot a con artist? You probably just got duped,” says the Washington Post in its review of our recommended reading.  This fun class will show you how we all get “duped” sometimes, and why. We’ll walk step-by-step through different kinds of cons from many centuries – everything from three card monte to Bernie Madoff schemes – and examine the psychology that makes them successful.  We’ll learn fancy con artist vocabulary like “the put-up”, “the touch”, and “the rope.” And we’ll read fabulous tales of scam artists extraordinaire, like these:

·      Ferdinand Demara Jr., who made a career masquerading as a monk, a professor, and even a military surgeon on the high seas, and

·      Musician Mamoru Samuragochi, acclaimed for composing great works after losing his hearing at age 35. Eventually the world learned that he relied on a ghostwriter. And he wasn’t deaf.

Says author Erik Larson when talking about being conned, “The smarter you think you are, the more readily you’ll fall, (which is why New Yorkers are some of the easiest marks).”  Come find out why!

Common Reading:     The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for it...Every Time by Maria Konnikova   (January 2016)

 

 

9.    (EOC)       THE  EMPIRE  OF  COTTON:  A  GLOBAL  HISTORY 

Cotton is so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible, yet understanding its history is key to understanding the origins of modern capitalism. Sven Beckert’s rich, fascinating book tells the story of how, in a remarkably brief period, European entrepreneurs and powerful statesmen recast the world’s most significant manufacturing industry, combining imperial expansion and slave labor with new machines and wage workers to change the world.

This is the story of how, beginning well before the advent of machine production in the 1780s, these men captured ancient trades and skills in Asia, and combined them with the expropriation of lands in the Americas and the enslavement of African workers to crucially reshape the disparate realms of cotton that had existed for millennia, and how industrial capitalism gave birth to an empire, and how this force transformed the world.

Beckert makes clear how these forces ushered in the world of modern capitalism, including the vast wealth and disturbing inequalities that are with us today. The result is a book as unsettling as it is enlightening: a book that brilliantly weaves together the story of cotton with how the present global world came to exist.

Common Reading:     The Empire of Cotton: A Global History, by Sven Beckert (November 2015)

 

 

10.  (FIF)          THE  50'S:  THE  STORIES  OF  A  DECADE  BY  NEW  YORKER MAGAZINE

The 1950s are enshrined in the popular imagination as the decade of poodle skirts and “I Like Ike.” But this was also a complex time, in which the afterglow of Total Victory firmly gave way to Cold War paranoia. A sense of trepidation grew with the Suez Crisis and the H-bomb tests. At the same time, the fifties marked the cultural emergence of extraordinary new energies, like those of Thelonious Monk, Sylvia Plath, and Tennessee Williams.

The New Yorker was there in real time, chronicling the tensions and innovations that lay beneath the era’s placid surface. In this thrilling volume, classic works of reportage, criticism, and fiction are complemented by new contributions from the magazine’s present all-star lineup of writers, including Jonathan Franzen, Malcolm Gladwell, and Jill Lepore.

Here are indelible accounts of the decade’s most exciting players: Truman Capote on Marlon Brando as a pampered young star; Emily Hahn on Chiang Kai-shek in his long Taiwanese exile; and Berton Roueché on Jackson Pollock in his first flush of fame. Ernest Hemingway, Emily Post, Bobby Fischer, and Leonard Bernstein are also brought to vivid life in these pages.

The magazine’s commitment to overseas reporting flourished in the 1950s, leading to important dispatches from East Berlin, the Gaza Strip, and Cuba during the rise of Castro. Closer to home, the fight to break barriers and establish a new American identity led to both illuminating coverage, as in a portrait of Thurgood Marshall at an NAACP meeting in Atlanta, and trenchant commentary, as in E. B. White’s blistering critique of Senator Joe McCarthy.

Using this book as a basis for a short story class gives the S/DG opportunities to focus not only on author and story but also on the element of time and the extraordinary events and people of this decade.

Common Reading:     The 50s: The Stories of a Decade from the New Yorker Magazine, by The New Yorker Magazine and Henry Finder (October 2015)

 

 

11.  (GAP)       GREAT  AMERICAN  PRESIDENTS 

Will Americans ever again have a great president? To this intriguing question, we offer a S/DG that will spark a thoughtful debate about what we can realistically expect from our presidents as we go through the 2016 electoral season.  We will explore what sitting Presidents can do and can't do as Leaders. Greatness is best judged by the degree to which a President permanently transformed the country while attempting to respond to a Major Crisis.  Why has America gone some 70 years--the longest time ever--without a president in the league of Washington, Lincoln and FDR? The S/DG will review our political history to come up with penetrating answers. Could we be better off not to have another “great president?” Presentations can be done on why a particular U. S. President can be judged to be great, why certain presidents did not achieve greatness, and what the future portends.

Common Reading:     The End of Greatness, Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't  Want) Another Great President, by Aaron David Miller (October 2014)

 

 

12.  (HAM)        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON:  THE  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  AN AMERICAN  FOUNDING  FATHER 

None of the American Founding Fathers had a more dramatic life or death than Hamilton and none did more to lay the foundation of America’s future wealth and power. We will examine his life from his impoverished birth on the remote British West Indies island of Nevis to his untimely death at age 49 in a dual with the Vice President of the US.  The magnitude of Hamilton's feats as Treasury Secretary overshadowed many other facets of his life: clerk, college student, youthful poet, essayist, artillery captain, wartime adjutant to George Washington, battlefield hero, congressman, abolitionist, Bank of New York founder, orator, lawyer, polemicist, foreign policy theorist, and major general in the army.  In all probability Alexander Hamilton is the foremost figure in American history who never attained the presidency, yet he probably had a much deeper and more lasting impact than many who did.

Common Reading:     Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow, (Penguin Press, April 2004)

 

 

13.  (HSW)      HEADSTRONG:  WOMEN  WHO  CHANGED  SCIENCE - AND  THE WORLD

Come and meet 52 of history’s brightest, most dynamic female scientists. We’ll learn about their discoveries and marvel over their brilliance. Our common reading highlights female surgeons, chemists, inventors, environmentalists, geneticists, astronomers and more.  Movie star Hedy Lamarr is here, and Rachel Carson, and Ada Lovelace, who some consider the very first computer programmer.

Do you know of Mary Putnam Jacobi? While attending medical school in Paris, she had to enter lecture halls through a separate door, and maintain a buffer of empty seats around her (so as not to contaminate the men?).  Hers is just one of the fascinating stories you’ll hear.  When considering the remarkable accomplishments of the scientists in our text, Booklist said, “There is no good reason why every single woman here is not a household name!”  Let’s find out why.

Common Reading:     Headstrong: Women Who Changed Science - and the World, by Rachel Swaby (April 2015)

 

 

14.  (HUM)       A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND

This S/DG focuses on the three great revolutions of human history: Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific. It asks how “An Animal of No Significance” managed to become the dominant life form.  How did humans come to believe in gods, notions, and human rights?  What will our world be like in the millennia to come? The book's author also asks his readers to consider not only what did happen, but what might have occurred had things turned out slightly differently (the roles of chance and accident are given a lot of attention.)

Common Reading:     Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harai (February 2015)

 

 

15.  (MOV)      POLITICAL MOVIES 

To take a break from the 2016 Presidential campaigns, why not watch a great old movie about U.S. politics and discuss its relevance today.  Possible choices are:  Air Force One, All the President’s Men, Amistad, Fail Safe, Frost/Nixon, Ides of March, JFK, Lincoln, Medium Cool, Primary, Primary Colors, The American President, The Contender, W, Wag the Dog...or your choice.

No Common Reading:      No text is necessary because there is so much information on the Internet.

 

 

16.  (MUS)       MUSEUMS:  21st  CENTURY  DESTINATIONS  OF  PLEASURE  

Once the staid, formal and often boring setting for the well-educated upper class, museums have recently become fun-outings for the middle classes. Partly this is due to the increasing use of technology in the form of computer displays and audio accompaniment. But also in the last half of the 20th century, museums began to change from an “elegant receptacle” for art works to a spectacle in and of itself. Some museum buildings are an attraction equal to or beyond the displayed collections. Throughout the world more than 50 new-age museums have been completed and dozens more are in various stages of design and construction. Some critics deplore the ascendancy and emphasis on the housing, while others praise the personal and psychological effect of “becoming part of it.”

In this S/DG we will become more familiar with the newer museums and their architects such as Frank Gehry’s Bilbao and the new Minneapolis Museum, Kohn Peterson Fox’s Rodin Gallery in South Korea, Arata Isozaki’s Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio, the dazzling Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, the Museum Het Valkhof in the Netherlands with its exterior of shimmering aquamarine glass panels, and I.M. Pei’s Miho Museum of Japanese Art outside of Kyoto, as well as the famous museum designs of Renzo Piano, Rem Koolhaas and others.

As we look at these fascinating museum edifices, we’ll evaluate both the outward appearance and the interior designs that maximize the viewing of the art works. We’ll marvel at the stylistic ingenuity, boldness of form, breathtaking feats of design and craftsmanship . . . and perhaps here and there, even some of the “art stuff” scattered around inside. This S/DG will seek to provide insight into this new phenomenon by examining the reasons that have given rise to this explosion of new structures and we’ll research and make presentations on individual examples emphasizing the aesthetics, the functionality, the technology, the economics and more.

Possible Common Reading:       

·      Designing the New Museum, by James Trulove (2000)

·      Making Museums Matter, by Stephen Weil (2002)  [This book covers a lot more than just the design of museums. It has 29 essays on things like: the special qualities of art museums; the relationship of copyright law to the visual arts; a consideration of how the museums and legal systems cope with the problem of Nazi-era art.]

 
 

17.  (NAT)        THE  WILD  MAN:  SAVING  NATURE

This class will explore the early awareness of the relationship between man and his environment and what we can do today to save our natural environment. It will be based on a book by best-selling author Andrea Wulf (author of Founding Gardners and The Brother Gardeners) THE INVENTION OF NATURE. It was listed as one of the 10 best books of 2015 by the New York Times.

We will explore the world with Alexander Von Humbolt, naturalist, scientist, explorer and much respected writer (1769-1859). From 1799-1804 he travels across the Americas, Venezuela in 1800, and Russia in 1829. His ideas changed the way we see the natural world, and in the process created modern environmentalism. One of his revolutionary ideas was that nature is a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for humankind alone. He also discovered similarities between climate zones in different continents. He predicted human-induced climate change.

His writing is poetic with excellent scientific observation. There will be many opportunities to delve deeper into his relationships with Simon Boliver and Thomas Jefferson, and how he influenced Darwin, Wordsworth, Goethe, John Muir, and Thoreau. We can also explore how our environmental history can help us solve some of today’s problems.

Considered one of the best books of the year by The Economist, Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Review.

Common Reading:     The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf (September 2015)

 

 

18.  (OTT)        RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE

The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and most influential empires in world history.  It ultimately extended to three continents and survived for over six centuries.  Yet we in the West know surprisingly little about it.

The Ottoman Empire originated in 1300 in northwestern Anatolia under Osman I.  The biggest single event in its expansion was the conquest of Constantinople, capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, in 1453.  The Ottoman Empire reached its greatest extent in the next century under Sulieman the Magnificient as it continued to expand into Europe, Africa and Asia.  Twice (in 1529 and 1683) the Empire was at the Gates of Vienna.  A long period of decline in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries led to its dissolution following World War I.  Modern Turkey and many other countries, including Syria and Iraq, are its direct successors.  Our S/DG will explore how and why these major events came about.

The history of the Ottoman Empire is rich with military, historical, political, religious, and cultural events. It also takes on renewed interest today as ISIS attempts to establish a new Caliphate.

Common Reading:     Lords of the Horizon: a History of the Ottoman Empire, by Jason Goodwin   (Henry Holt & Co.; January 2003, paperback)

 

 

19.  (QUE)       RIVAL  QUEENS 

The time period is the magnificent Renaissance in France.  The history centers on two remarkable women, a mother and daughter, who are driven into opposition by a terrible betrayal that threatened to destroy the realm.  Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for thirty years. Her youngest daughter Marguerite, the glamorous “Queen Margot,” was a free spirit and the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control.  The suggested reading, The Rival Queens, covers espionage, assassination, and intrigue in the court politics of the 16th century.  It also shows the vulnerable position of women – even those of royal status.

Possible presentations include: events in other countries; other prominent personalities alive; how religion and religious wars impacted events.

Common Reading:     Rival Queens:  Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom, by Nancy Gladstone  (June 2015)

 

 

20.  (RAZ)        RAZZLE  DAZZLE:  THE  BATTLE  FOR  BROADWAY  

If you've ever wondered how Times Square got its name, or how the great New York theatres were built and who they were named after, this is the class for you.  Come learn how a Broadway play progresses from idea to stage to reviews to Tony Award, and meet the people who make it happen. Meet also the scalpers, producers, and bookies whose fortunes rise or fall with that of each production. 

Our book, described as “an acerbic, juicy, well-researched history of the Great White Way,” focuses heavily on the Shubert organization during the 1970s-80s.  It shows us how colorful characters, big money and political power re-invented this iconic quarter of New York City, turning its gritty back alleys and sex-shops into the glitzy, dazzling Great White Way of today, while also bringing the city back from the brink of bankruptcy. Some of the plays to come out of this era: A Chorus Line, Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Mamma Mia!

This is class that promises to be a rollicking ride.

Common Reading:     Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway, by Michael Riedel (October 2015)

 

 

21.  (ROM)      SPQR:  A  HISTORY  OF  ANCIENT  ROME 

Ancient Rome was an imposing city even by modern standards, a sprawling imperial metropolis of more than a million inhabitants, a mixture of luxury and filth, liberty and exploitation, civic pride and murderous civil war that served as the seat of power for an empire that spanned from Spain to Syria. Yet how did all this emerge from what was once an insignificant village in central Italy? In S.P.Q.R.(The Senate and the People of Rome) world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even two thousand years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury and beauty.

Like the best detectives, Beard sifts fact from fiction, myth and propaganda from historical record, refusing either simple admiration or blanket condemnation. Far from being frozen in marble, Roman history, she shows, is constantly being revised and rewritten as our knowledge expands. Indeed, our perceptions of ancient Rome have changed dramatically over the last fifty years, and S.P.Q.R., with its nuanced attention to class inequality, democratic struggles, and the lives of entire groups of people omitted from the historical narrative for centuries, promises to shape our view of Roman history for decades to come.

Common Reading:     SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard  (November 2015)

 

 

22.  (STM)       STUFF  MATTERS

Are you curious about how concrete is made? Why chocolate gets white spots when it heats up then cools down again? What makes diamond and graphite, two forms of carbon, behave so differently?  Then this S/DG is for you – even (or perhaps especially) if you’re not a scientist.   The common reading has received rave reviews from everyone from the Wall Street Journal (“[Ordinary objects] have found their poet in Mark Miodownik...A thrilling account of the modern material world”) to Entertainment Weekly (“Midownik dives into every detail...[with] joyous curiosity.”) for the author’s ability to entertain while he educates us about the science of everyday materials.  In his review, Bill Gates says that “You’ll never look at a pencil, teacup, or razor blade the same way.” 

Yet, the common reading only scratches the surface of materials science.  Members should have no problem coming up with ideas for presentations, ranging from discussions of the plethora of materials not included in the common reading to visions of the future.

Common Reading:     Stuff Matters:  Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape Our Man-Made World, by Mark Miodownik  (March 2015)

 

 

23.  (TAN)        THE  ARABIAN  NIGHTS:  TALES  FROM  LONG  AGO  AND  FAR AWAY

Also called The 1001 Nights, this fascinating fourteenth-century Arabic collection of stories is about magic and mystery, love and lust, great piety and horrific crimes, where cleverness is often the ultimate weapon against daunting odds. We will read the frame story and selected others, and discuss how they reflect medieval Islamic culture and provide insight into their views of such topics as sex, death, and gender roles. We will also see portions of two very different film versions. While the stories are familiar to many in versions suitable for children, our text is definitely R-rated; it’s a recent, unexpurgated translation, much acclaimed for its readability.

Common Reading:     The Arabian Nights, translated by Muhsin Mahdi and Husain Haddawy   (ISBN: 978-0393331660; May 2008)

 

 

24.  (TEC)        HOW  EIGHT  TECHNOLOGIES  MADE  US  HUMAN,  TRANSFORMED SOCIETY,  AND  BROUGHT  OUR  WORLD  TO  THE  BRINK

Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.

The fabrication of weapons, the mastery of fire, and the technologies of clothing and shelter radically restructured the human body, enabling us to walk upright, shed our body hair, and migrate out of tropical Africa. Symbolic communication transformed human evolution from a slow biological process into a fast cultural process. The invention of agriculture revolutionized the relationship between humanity and the environment, and the technologies of interaction led to the birth of civilization. Precision machinery spawned the industrial revolution and the rise of nation-states; and in the next metamorphosis, digital technologies may well unite all of humanity for the benefit of future generations.

The same forces that allowed us to integrate technology into every aspect of our daily lives have also brought us to the brink of planetary catastrophe. Unbound explains both how we got here and how human society must be transformed again to achieve a sustainable future. The eight technologies easily lend themselves to presentations. If you liked Germs, Guns and Steel you will like this class.

Common Reading:     Unbound: How Eight Technologies Made Us Human, Transformed Society, and Brought Our World to the Brink, by Richard L Currier (August 2015)

 

 

25.  (THR)        FIRST  THRILLS

The brainchild of the (relatively new) International Thrillers Writers organization, the book features never-before-published stories by such notables as Jeffery Deaver, Michael Palmer, Gregg Hurwitz, Stephen Coonts, John Lescroart, Karin Slaughter, and Lee Child (who also serves as the book's editor). Alongside them, you'll find top-notch short fiction from names that might be less familiar—J. T. Ellison, CJ Lyons, Sean Michael Bailey—but they are writers who certainly won't remain unfamiliar for long. The stories fit under the most inclusive of thriller umbrellas, but many contain elements of mysteries, science fiction, and horror as well. They feature an equally diverse cast of characters, too, ranging from con men and killers to aliens, ghosts, and zombies. In many short story collections, there are a few standouts. Here, nearly the entire lineup stands out. Lescroart's “The Gato Conundrum,” for example, is a fine spy thriller that moves through Italy, England, Russia, France, and the U.S., all in 20 pages. Heather Graham's “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” combines grisly horror with a historical setting. Theo Gangi’s “Eddy May” is a seemingly straightforward story about a pair of con artists that turns out to be not straightforward at all; in an anthology full of plot twists, Gangi’s definitely out twists them all. A masterful collection.

Common Reading:     First Thrills, by Lee Child and Michael Palmer (June 2011)

 

 

26.  (TOM)       THE  NEGLECTED  STORY  OF  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  MODERNITY

Modernity developed only in the West—in Europe and North America. Nowhere else did science and democracy arise; nowhere else was slavery outlawed. Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap.

The question is, Why?

How the West Won demonstrates the primacy of uniquely Western ideas—among them the belief in free will, the commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, the notion that the universe functions according to rational rules that can be dis­covered, and the emphasis on human freedom and secure property rights.

Taking readers on a thrilling journey from ancient Greece to the present How the West Won shows, for example:

·      Why the fall of Rome was the single most beneficial event in the rise of Western civilization

·      Why the “Dark Ages” never happened

·      Why the Crusades had nothing to do with grabbing loot or attacking the Muslim world unprovoked

·      Why there was no “Scientific Revolution” in the seventeenth century

·      Why scholars’ recent efforts to dismiss the importance of battles are ridiculous: had the Greeks lost at the Battle of Marathon, we probably would never have heard of Plato or Aristotle

Stark also debunks absurd fabrications that have flourished in the past few decades: that the Greeks stole their culture from Africa; that the West’s “discoveries” were copied from the Chinese and Muslims; that Europe became rich by plundering the non-Western world. At the same time, he reveals the woeful inadequacy of recent attempts to attribute the rise of the West to purely material causes—favorable climates, abundant natural resources, guns and steel.

How the West Won displays Rodney Stark’s gifts for lively narrative history and making the latest scholarship accessible to all readers. The book will provide the basis for many interesting presentations and discussions.

Common Reading:     How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity, by Rodney Stark (October 2015)

 

 

27.  (TPT)        PRIMO  LEVI’S  THE  PERIODIC  TABLE – A MEMOIR  IN  STORIES

The Jewish Italian writer Primo Levi (1919-1987) was a chemist, novelist, storyteller, essayist, and survivor of the Auschwitz death camp. In his memoir The Periodic Table, Levi names each of the twenty-one stories for an element in the periodic table and links the element to his personal life. Having already written about his experiences in Auschwitz in If This Is a Man and The Truce, Levi focuses in The Periodic Table on his life before and after his imprisonment at Auschwitz. Beginning with his family history in the Piedmont region, Levi continues to tell about his coming of age during the Fascists’ rule in Italy with its oppressive anti-Semitism, and then to tell of his later life. These are riveting stories of his developing maturity and of the unforgettable people who influenced his life, and we see how the study of science and the love of humanity are strongly intertwined. The Periodic Table offers treasures for people with diverse interests, including psychology, mid-20th century Italian life, and science. Above all, reading this book is to experience the joy of original storytelling. Please join us in reading this beautiful and humane memoir.

Common Reading:     The Periodic Table, by Primo Levi   (Reissue edition 1996)

 

 

28.  (TVL)        THE  BEST  AMERICAN  TRAVEL  WRITING  2015 

Andrew McCarthy says that the best travel writing is “the anonymous and solitary traveler capturing a moment in time and place, giving meaning to his or her travels.” This year's collection of “The Best American Travel Writing,” brings together twenty-four travel essays that will take the reader from Alabama to Timbuktu, and carry them there by train, ship, skis (in North Korea) and on foot. The stories in The Best American Travel Writing 2015 demonstrate just that spirit, whether it is the story of a marine returning to Iraq a decade after his deployment, a writer retracing the footsteps of humanity as it spread from Africa throughout the world, or looking for love on a physics-themed cruise down the Rhone River. No matter what the subject, the writers featured in this volume boldly call out, “Yes, this matters. Follow me!” This book provides an excellent source of short vignettes for class discussions and insights from travelers’ own experiences.

Common Reading:     The Best American Travel Writing 2015, by Andrew McCarthy and Jason Wilson   (October 2015)

 

 

29.  (WOW)    WELLBEING  OF  THE  WORLD

The 2015 Nobel Prize winner in Economics has written an excellent book on how so many people in the world have escaped poverty. There are, of course, a great many still in poverty.

This S/DG will examine the condition of human wellbeing and the history of how so many people in the world have escaped poverty and whose health has markedly improved. The contributions of economic advancement resulting from investment and improved knowledge, better sanitation and public health activities, better nutrition, advanced health care, globalization, and other factors will be explored. The relationship between inequality, of various types, and general progress will be explored. In the end, we’ll consider what ought to be done to further the progress that has been accomplished.

Common Reading:     The Great Escape – Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, by Angus Deaton (October 2013)