TOPICS  OFFERED  FOR  SPRING  2019

 

 

Please note that the books listed for each course are only possible candidates. 

Classes start January 2nd and end April 30th.

Holiday periods are adapted to by individual class voting.

 

1.         (ASA)     EASTERNIZATION:  ASIA’S  RISE  AND  AMERICA’S  DECLINE

 

Easternization is the defining trend of our age — the growing wealth of Asian nations is transforming the international balance of power. This shift to the East is shaping the lives of people all over the world, the fate of nations, and the great questions of war and peace.

 

A troubled but rising China is now challenging America’s supremacy, and the ambitions of other Asian powers — including Japan, North Korea, India, and Pakistan — have the potential to shake the whole world. Meanwhile the West is struggling with economic malaise and political populism, the Arab world is in turmoil, and Russia longs to reclaim its status as a great power.

 

As it becomes clear that the West’s historic power and influence is receding, our text offers a road map to the turbulent process that will define the international politics of the twenty-first century.

 

Reviews of the suggested text:

 

**       “This new survey of a transformed Asia, admirably does what so little writing on foreign affairs attempts. It treats with equal facility economics, geopolitics, security, enough history for needed background, official thinking, and public attitudes. Rachman, chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times, has an eye for the telling statistic and for the memorable detail that makes it stick. He packs an enormous amount of information into a short book and opens windows of understanding for nonexperts onto this immensely important three fifths of humanity.”

 

**  An NPR Best Book of 2017

**  “A superb survey of global affairs,”  Fareed Zakaria, CNN

 

Possible presentation topics:

·      Developments in the South China Sea

·      Success/failure of a specific “One Belt, One Road” project

·      Chinese spy activity

·      US companies in China

 

Common Reading:    Easternization: Asia’s Rise and America’s Decline From Obama to Trump and Beyond, by Gideon Rachman   (April 2017)

2.         (BAD)     BAD  GIRLS  THROUGHOUT  HISTORY:  100  REMARKABLE WOMEN  WHO  CHANGED  THE  WORLD      

 

Aphra Behn, first female professional writer. Sojourner Truth, activist and abolitionist. Ada Lovelace, first computer programmer. Marie Curie, first woman to win the Nobel Prize. Joan Jett, godmother of punk. This S/DG will discuss 100 revolutionary women who were bad in the best sense of the word: they challenged the status quo and changed the rules for all who followed. From pirates to artists, warriors, daredevils, scientists, activists, and spies, the accomplishments of these incredible women vary as much as the eras and places in which they effected change.

 

Common Reading:    Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World, by Ann Shen  (September 2016)

3.         (BIG)       BIG  ONES          

 

From Amazon overview:

 

“By the world-renowned seismologist, a riveting history of natural disasters, their impact on our culture, and new ways of thinking about the ones to come.”

 

Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes--they stem from the same forces that give our planet life. Earthquakes give us natural springs; volcanoes produce fertile soil. It is only when these forces exceed our ability to withstand them that they become disasters. Together they have shaped our cities and their architecture; elevated leaders and toppled governments; influenced the way we think, feel, fight, unite, and pray. The history of natural disasters is a history of ourselves.

 

In The Big Ones, leading seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones offers a bracing look at some of the world's greatest natural disasters, whose reverberations we continue to feel today. At Pompeii, Jones explores how a volcanic eruption in the first century AD challenged prevailing views of religion. She examines the California floods of 1862 and the limits of human memory. And she probes more recent events--such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the American hurricanes of 2017--to illustrate the potential for globalization to humanize and heal.

With population in hazardous regions growing and temperatures around the world rising, the impacts of natural disasters are greater than ever before. The Big Ones is more than just a work of history or science; it is a call to action. Natural hazards are inevitable; human catastrophes are not. With this energizing and exhaustively researched book, Dr. Jones offers a look at our past, readying us to face down the Big Ones in our future.

 

Presentations could be on someone's personal experiences with natural disasters, or web searches on natural disasters. Also, the impact of climate change on natural disasters.

 

Common Reading:    The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them), by Dr. Lucy Jones   (April 2018)

4.         (BRX)     BRONX  NOIR  SHORT  STORIES 

 

Once again Omnilore offers a collection of mystery short stories--this time based on the Bronx. Akashic's latest city-themed crime anthology successfully captures the immense diversity of the Bronx, from the mean streets of the South Bronx to affluent Riverdale, in 19 tales by authors both well-known and obscure. The most imaginative entry, Joseph Wallace's The Big Five, about a hunter who targets his prey in the Bronx Zoo as part of a national contest, concludes with a satisfying noir twist. Lawrence Block's Riverdale story, Rude Awakening, also surprises the reader with its clever resolution of a one-night stand. Particularly inventive is Kevin Baker's grim The Cheers Like Waves, set in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. Rozan, herself a contributor, has put together one of the series' better entries, with memorable tales of betrayal and despair that reflect the borough's varied ethnic populations and geography.

 

Common Reading:    Bronx Noir (Akashic Noir), Edited by S. J. Rozan (August 2007)

5.         (CHK)     STORIES  OF  ANTON  CHEKHOV 

 

Anton Chekhov was a Russian short story writer and playwright who practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career. At first, he wrote stories only for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story. He said, "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress.”  Considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction, Chekhov changed the genre itself with his spare, impressionistic depictions of Russian life and the human condition.  He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.

 

Stories of Anton Chekhov is a collection of thirty of Chekhov’s best tales from the major periods of his creative life. (He wrote over 200 short stories and numerous plays in his forty-four years of life.) This volume is expertly translated, and is especially faithful to the meaning of Chekhov’s prose and unique rhythms of his writing, giving readers a true sense of his style and greatness.

 

In this S/DG, we will bring these stories to life through discussion which might include research into the life and times that inspired Chekhov’s prose.

 

Common Reading:    Stories of Anton Chekhov, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (paperback, October 31, 2000)

6.         (EVC)      EVICTED—HOMELESSNESS  IS  THE  BEGINNING

 

“Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare.  They used to draw crowds . . . These days, there are sheriff squads whose full-time job is to carry out eviction and foreclosure orders . . . Families have watched their incomes stagnate, or even fall, while their housing costs have soared.  Millions of Americans are evicted every year because they can’t pay rent.”

 

Being evicted and then perhaps homeless dovetails into all sorts of other issues up to and including homelessness.

 

The author says that the fact that fewer and fewer families can afford a roof over their heads is among the most urgent and pressing issues facing America today, and that we have failed to full appreciate how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty.

 

From book jacket: “As we see families forced into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods, we bear witness to the human cost of America’s vast inequality—and to people’s determination and intelligence in the face of hardship.”

 

His book is based on years of embedded fieldwork and collection of data; it transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation and reminds us how important the centrality of home is.

 

The author also provides ideas for solving the problem.

 

Presentations could be about income inequality, or other contributing factors, LA’s particular homeless problem, ideas to solve the problem, success stories in other cities/countries, the future, the idea of a basic income…

 

Common Reading:    Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond  (February 28, 2017)

7.         (FAC)      FACTFULNESS:  HANS  ROSLING  BRINGS  US  THE  FACTS  OF  LIFE 

 

Hans Rosling, medical doctor, professor of international health, and renowned public educator with over 35 million views of his TED talks, explains how media bias, ideological preconceptions and statistical illiteracy make most people (in rich countries) believe in a gloomy and spectacularly wrong worldview. The famed TED talker and statistician uses evidence-based reasoning and global statistics for myth busting.  Rosling categorizes the 10 most important sources of bias and misconceptions as well as explaining strategies on how to avoid them. He describes his methods of evaluating data and the truths he has found about our world in the 21st century. 

 

This S/DG will use Rosling’s new book as a jumping off point for discussion and presentations on topics ranging from population control, poverty, and education to violence, wars and crime, as well as other topics familiar to the presenter.

 

Common Reading:    Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, by Hans Rosling (April 2018)

8.         (GOO)     TALKS  AT  GOOGLE:  WHERE  GREAT  MINDS  MEET  

 

A click on talksat.withgoogle.com will take you to an unusual and fascinating website – Talks at Google.  At this website you will find the world's most influential thinkers, creators, makers, and doers all in one place.  This is a regular speaker series, one of the company's most beloved perks and a staple of our unique culture. They invited anyone at Google to attend, recorded the talks and put them on YouTube so that—following Google's mission—the talks would be universally accessible and useful.  Many categories of talks are offered.  Example categories are Art & Culture, Authors, Chefs & Food, Entertainment, Fitness & Sports, Health & Well-being, History, Leaders, Science, and Technology.  This extremely popular website is being offered as an Omnilore S/DG for the first time.

 

*Please note that all Omnilore participants will do a presentation, by selecting a talk and researching the subject and the speaker.  The selected Google talk serves as a nucleus for the presentation.  The Omnilore member provides the group with the talk chosen and questions or ideas for consideration leading to discussion.  Group members watch the talk on their computers at home and come prepared for informed discussion.

 

No Common Reading.

9.         (HCD)     HOW  CIVILIZATIONS  DIE:  (AND  WHY  ISLAM  IS  DYING  TOO)      

 

This course will look at the demographics facing the entire world. What is the impact on various civilizations. You’ve heard about the Death of the West.  But the Muslim world is on the brink of an even greater collapse.

 

WILL WE GO DOWN IN THE IMPLOSION?

 

Thanks to collapsing birthrates, much of Europe is on a path of willed self-extinction. The untold story is that birthrates in Muslim nations are declining faster than anywhere else—at a rate never before documented. Europe, even in its decline, may have the resources to support an aging population, if at a terrible economic and cultural cost. But in the impoverished Islamic world, an aging population means a civilization on the brink of total collapse— something Islamic terrorists know and fear.

 

Muslim decline poses new threats to America, challenges we cannot even understand, much less face effectively, without a wholly new kind of political analysis that explains how desperate peoples and nations behave.

 

In How Civilizations Die, David P. Goldman—author of the celebrated “Spengler” column read by intelligence organizations worldwide—reveals how, almost unnoticed, massive shifts in global power are remaking our future.

 

Goldman reveals:

 

·      How extinctions of peoples, cultures, and civilizations are not unthinkable—but certain

·      How for the first time in world history, the birthrate in the West has fallen below replacement level

·      Why birthrates in the Muslim world are falling even faster

·      Why the “Arab Spring” is the precursor of much more violent change in the Islamic world

·      Why looming demographic collapse may encourage Islamic terrorists to “go for broke”

·      How the United States can survive the coming world turmoil  - an essential book for understanding what lies in the future for America and the world.

 

Common Reading:    How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too), by David Goldman  (September 2011)

10.      (ILA)        THE  INVENTION  OF  LOS  ANGELES

 

From the Prologue:  “It was no sensible place to build a great city.  This corner of southern California—often bone dry, lacking a natural harbor, and isolated from the rest of the country by expansive deserts and rugged mountain ranges—offered few of the inducements to settlement and growth found near major cities in other places…

 

Only after the Mexican War of 1846-48, when southern California became American, did anyone really start to postulate a grand metropolis in this desert, centered on a narrow, unreliable waterway known optimistically as the Los Angeles River…

 

But eventually the implausible became actual.  by the end of the 1920s, the world city of Los Angeles, California, was a reality—an urban giant grown up in a place where no city should rightly be.”

 

This book is the story of that extraordinary transformation.  It spans the years from 1900 to 1930 and features the lives of three key people (William Mulholland, D.W. Griffin, and Aimee Semple McPherson) who willed this improbable city into existence, by pushing the limits of human engineering and imagination.

 

The New York Times says, “You’ll finish {the book} entertained, informed and satisfied, as well as ready for more.”

 

Common Reading:    The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles, by Gary Krist, (May 2018)

11.      (IMP)       IMPRESSIONISM:  50  PAINTINGS  YOU  SHOULD  KNOW

 

No artistic education is complete without a healthy dose of the Impressionists. In this book, fifty of the most important works from the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries are gorgeously reproduced, including the best of Monet, Degas, van Gogh, Renoir, Cézanne, Cassatt, Manet, Seurat, and Pissarro. Introductory text explains the Impressionistic style, tracing the movement's development, and each piece is given a brief overview establishing its place in the Impressionist pantheon.

 

If you always wanted to learn about art but don’t know where to start, Impressionism is good beginning. The paintings, many of which are airy, cheerful and flooded with sunlight, appeal to most viewers. The book has lots of pictures and is easy to read. It is suitable for those with no prior exposure to Impressionism, as well as those who want to further their knowledge.

 

Presentations may include biographies of Impressionist artists as well as particular works of art. Since the book is brief--unlike most coffee-table art books--there is plenty of opportunity for further research and discovery. 

 

Common Reading:    Impressionism: 50 Paintings You Should Know, by Ines Janet Engelmann  (July 10, 2007)

12.      (LES)      21  LESSONS  FOR  THE  21ST  CENTURY

 

I suggest a course using Yuval Harari’s new book; 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. The book title can be the Course Title. His last book really caused me to think about the future. This book will focus on the remainder of this century and thus will be more real and less speculative; it should engender serious discussion (based on the current Homo Deus book). The book title implies that there will be 21 topics for presentation & discussion.

 

Amazon says:

 

In Sapiens, he explored our past. In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today’s most pressing issues.

 

How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?

 

Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.

 

In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?

Harari’s unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is essential reading.

 

Common Reading:    21 Lessons for the 21st Century, by Yuval Noah Harari (September 4, 2018)

13.      (OCN)     WHAT  ARE  WE  DOING  TO/FOR  OUR  OCEAN?

 

The foundation for this course is The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea, a 2012 book by Callum Roberts. In each of its 22 chapters, this book offers what was the latest information, in 2012, on various threats to the sea and its creatures as well as the impacts these threats pose to humans. The issues discussed in the 22 chapters are the potential subjects for research and presentation: 1) a brief history of the ocean, 2) a brief history of fishing, 3) declining fish populations, 4) changes in ocean currents, 5) increased ocean  temperature impacts on sea life, 6) sea level rise, 7) ocean acidification, 8) dead zones, 9) oil spills and chemical pollution, 10) plastic waste, 11) noise impacts on ocean life, 12) invasive species, 13) rising ocean diseases, 14) shifting baselines of the number and size of ocean creatures, 15) seafood decline impact on humans, 16) fish farming, 17) cleaning the ocean, 18) reducing carbon emissions, 19) conservation projects, 20) behavioral changes, 21) resource management, and 22) preparing for the worst. 

 

Every participant will read this entire book by the end of the course. Before the first class, each participant will also pick the subject of at least one chapter to research and present to the class for discussion. For example, someone who chose to present the topic of ocean acidification could review how this field of research has progressed since 2012, how decreased pH will accelerate the demise of coral reefs, the impact of rising acidity on oysters, mussels, lobsters, clams and inedible shellfish, or all of the above.

 

Goal: Participants would gain a better understanding of how we are both damaging and repairing the ocean that lies right beside us and covers more than 70 percent of our planet.

 

Common Reading:    The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea, by Callum Roberts (2012)

14.      (PRF)      THE  PERFECTIONISTS:  HOW  PRECISION  ENGINEERS  CREATED THE  MODERN  WORLD

 

This class traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to our advancement: precision.

 

The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider.

 

We’ll learn about England’s early scientific minds and the role Thomas Jefferson played in importing their ideas into the fledgling US, setting the nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan.  We meet locksmiths, gunsmiths, and clockmakers along the way. Extra bonus: you’ll learn what a LIGO machine is!

 

Our author, who repeatedly finds himself on the NYT Bestsellers List, also addresses some philosophical questions about the intersection of science and nature.  Other Omnilore courses, including “The Pacific,” have used texts by this author and found his information-packed books a pleasure to read.

 

Possible presentation topics:

 

·      Any of the engineers mentioned in the text

·      Precision and space travel

·      How world’s fairs exposed new inventions to the public

·      The use of AI to attain precision

·      Machines that didn’t succeed

·      The value of precision-machined goods vs. hand-crafted goods

·      Can “art” and “precision” coexist?

·      Political & economic events that influenced the use of particular machines

 

Common Reading:    The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World, by Simon Winchester (May 2018)

15.      (QUR)     WHAT  THE  QUR’AN  SAYS  AND  WHAT  IT  MEANS

 

We blundered into the longest war in history without knowing basic facts about the Islamic civilization we were dealing with. Pulitzer prize winning historian and New York Times bestselling author Garry Wills engages in a timely and necessary consideration of the Qur’an. He reads the Qur’an with sympathy and rigor, trying to understand why non-Muslims like Pope Francis find it to be an inspiring book.

 

Common Reading:    What the Qur’an Meant and Why it Matters, by Garry Wills (October 2017)

16.      (RAH)     THE  BROADWAY  MUSICALS  OF  RODGERS  &  HAMMERSTEIN  

 

Originators of such classic American musicals as Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein pioneered the serious musical play. In his new book, Todd Purdum looks back at this songwriting team in a revelatory portrait of the creative partnership that transformed musical theatre.

 

Join us as we learn and discuss this profitable and powerful entertainment business duo, as viewed 75 years after the success of their first musical. What impact did they have then, and what impact remains today? Presentations will discuss the chapters in the book as well as classmate favorites from the Rodgers and Hammerstein collection of musicals and songs.

 

Common Reading:    Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution, by Todd S. Purdum (April 2018)

17.      (REF)      RESCUE:  REFUGEES  AND  THE  POLITICAL  CRISIS  OF  OUR TIME

 

We are in the midst of a global refugee crisis. Sixty-five million people are fleeing for their lives. The choices are urgent, not just for them but for all of us. What can we possibly do to help?

 

“With compassion and clarity, David Miliband shows why we should care and how we can make a difference. He takes us from war zones in the Middle East to peaceful suburbs in America to explain the crisis and show what can be done, not just by governments with the power to change policy but by citizens with the urge to change lives. His innovative and practical call to action shows that the crisis need not overwhelm us…Describing his family story and drawing revealing lessons from his life in politics, David Miliband shows that if we fail refugees, then we betray our own history, values, and interests. The message is simple: rescue refugees and we rescue ourselves.” (Amazon)

 

The facts: 65 million were displaced from their homes by violence and persecution last year; refugees stay for a long time; the causes are deep and are generational.

Miliband says the refugee crisis is “manageable and not insoluble.”

 

Presentations can be on any group of refugees, where they come from, the countries they impact, the lack of education for many of the children and what that can mean for the future; they can be about democracy as a refuge from dictatorship or about history.  Miliband provides any number of options for further exploration.

 

David Miliband is President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), where he oversees the agency’s humanitarian relief operations in more than 40 war-affected countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs in 28 United States cities.

 

His book, published in November 2017, is an extension of his TED talk, which is online.

 

Common Reading:    Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time, by David Miliband  (November 2017)

 

Supplemental Reading:    The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives, ed. by Viet Thahn Nguyen (April 2018)

18.      (RWD)    REEL  WOMEN   DIRECTORS:   PIONEERS   OF   THE   CINEMA

 

You say that there have only been a few women directors in the history of film making?  Not true!  This class will discover that there have been a plethora of women directors over the years.  In the recommended text, Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema, Volume II, the class will begin its "exploration" with the year 1960.  The main focus will be watching the movies directed by such filmmakers as: Elaine May, Lee Grant, Barbra Streisand, Penny Marshall, Jodie Foster, Nora Ephron, Sophia Coppola, Katherine Bigelow, Jane Campion, Patty Jenkins, as well as many others.  The movies will be viewed at home, and the presenters will generate discussion questions for class participation.  Presentation topics will include the discussion of the films and bios of the directors themselves.  Here's a chance to see Hollywood's accomplishments with films by female directors.  Don't miss the opportunity.

 

The class will decide on the book at the pre-meeting.

 

Common Reading:    Reel Women; Pioneers of the Cinema, The First Hundred Years, Vol. II  1960's - 2010, by Ally Acker   (Copyright 2016)

19.      (SAF)    POST-APARTHEID  SOUTH  AFRICA

 

It’s been nearly twenty-five years since South Africa held its first democratic elections, which saw the previously outlawed African National Congress (ANC) forming a government and its leader Nelson Mandela becoming South Africa’s first black head of state after his decades of incarceration as a political prisoner. It was a powerful moment for a country that had struggled for generations under an intense racial segregation – segregation that had risen to an institutional level and affected all facets of South African life during the period of apartheid from 1948 to 1991.

 

Apartheid was essentially a brutal system of racial oppression, one that allowed a minority of white South Africans to maintain their control over the levers of government and a position of power. While figures like Nelson Mandela counseled reconciliation and healing in post-apartheid South Africa, the pervasive violence, the struggle to overthrow apartheid, and the deep economic and societal divides that so long defined the nation left deep scars. While South Africa may be one of Africa’s most developed economies, and in broadest strokes one of its most prosperous nations, it remains a country haunted by a decades-long struggle for equality. These issues are often intertwined with issues plaguing South Africa in the post-Apartheid era – identity, the AIDS epidemic, and continuing poverty.

 

This S/DG will take a look at the then and now of South Africa.  Members will focus their research and presentations on various topics that will give an understanding of the history and current issues that plague this country such as: The South African Act of 1909, Geography, Ethnic Groups, State-Owned Enterprises, Land Reform, Corruption, Tourism, Education, Immigration & Refugees, Government, Nelson Mandela. 

 

In addition, the group will read the best-selling book by Trevor Noah, Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood which will provide a realistic look at life in South Africa.  

 

Common Reading:    Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah  (November 2016)

20.      (SCH)     HOW  SCHOOLS  WORK

 

Arne Duncan was secretary of education under Barak Obama from 2009 to 2015 and attempted various reforms. The theme of his book, the common reading for this S/DG, is that our education system is built on lies. He offers extensive arguments for how the system might be improved, but concedes that the politics involved will be very difficult to overcome. This S/DG will take a fresh look at the American education system and how it is serving our children and grandchildren.

 

Possible research topics include: a review of the various programs that have been implemented in the last 50 years; how school systems in other countries work; the importance of vocational as well as academic lines of study; possible ways of implementing life-long-learning that will be needed in the accelerating world of tomorrow.

 

Common Reading:    How Schools Work : An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation’s Longest-Serving Secretaries of Education, by Arne Duncan (August 7, 2018)

21.      (SHK)     SHAKESPEARE:   ALL  THE  WORLD’S  A  STAGE … 

 

The Omnilorean New Globe Players plan a fun January-April 2019 season — reading and studying three of Shakespeare’s more popular plays.  Did you know that of the 38 plays generally credited to the Bard, almost half (18) of them are Comedies?  Maybe we’ll read three comedies again, or maybe a great Tragedy play will be one of the three?  With players standing and with a few props, we will do reading walk-throughs of the three plays to be chosen at the pre-meeting in December.

 

In this S/DG 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 of the day, and all manner of rhyme and reason.  Class members each serve on one play’s Board of Directors, responsible for casting roles for the repertory and leading discussions based on the research  — optionally adding videos, music, and costumes.  For a glimpse of how we live the Bard in this S/DG, check out

·      http://omnilore.org/members/Curriculum/SDGs/18c-SHK

to view the Fall Shakespeare class’s website of links to references relevant to our plays and downloadable organizing artifacts.

 

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.

 

SHK will be limited to the first 24 enrollees and will not split.

 

Common Reading:    Selected Plays

22.      (SIS)        SCIENCE  AND  ISLAM

 

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.

 

Possible Common Reading:   The House of Wisdom, by Jim Al-Khalili (March 27, 2012)

23.      (THK)      THINK  

 

Here is an introduction to the challenging and fascinating landscape of Western philosophy. Written expressly for anyone who believes there are big questions out there, but does not know how to approach them, Think provides a sound framework for exploring the most basic themes of philosophy, and for understanding how major philosophers have tackled the questions that have pressed themselves most forcefully on human consciousness.

 

We'll examine all the Big Questions, one at a time, and fearlessly.

 

When trying to understand more about ourselves and the world, the study of philosophy presents itself as a reasonable approach. This can be tackled in a couple of ways. The great works of philosophical inquiry can be digested chronologically, like an ongoing discussion of ideas progressing through the ages, or one can look at specific topics such as free will, the problem of how we really know anything, or what is ultimately real in the world, and see what other thinkers have to say about them. The core text will take this latter approach leaving presenters to choose any philosopher or time period to expand on in class.

 

Common Reading:    Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy, by Simon Blackburn (March 2001)