Distance learning has exploded which means you really can stay in school forever. And you can make new school friends by joining us for our live, in-person, Sunday afternoon discussions.
The final counts in our "what MOOC do you want" poll were very close. No statistically significant differences. (BTW, MOOC means "massive open online course." List of some current MOOCs.)
Our winner was the philosophy/history/art class Ideas of the 20th Century, although the two edX science courses under consideration scored almost as high, so we may do one of them next spring or fall. They are The Science of Cooking and Introduction to Human Evolution.
And literature was right up there. We plan to add a second class this fall, Coursera's Science Fiction and Fantasy, for which you get to read the Brothers Grimm and Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley and H.G. Wells. And more. (Including Cory Doctorow, stalwart supporter of public libraries.)
We will consider Comic and Graphic Novels for a subsequent semester.
We also want to group-study edX Shakespeare: On the Page and in Performance but that doesn't start until October 2014
The Ideas of the 20th Century chat, coffee, and mutual commiseration society will meet Sundays at 12:30 beginning September 22nd. The course itself begins September 15th and lasts for 13 weeks. You can
Sign up for the class here (If you have previously registered previously for edX you are already in the files, just sign in and register for the class itself.)
Sign up for our Sunday sessions here, not required but it gives us a way to contact you with additional information about the get-togethers.
Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World will meet Sundays, possibly at 4, beginning some time in October. The class itself begins October 7th and lasts for 11 weeks.
Sign up for the class here (Again, if you have registered previously at Coursera, don't repeat unnecessary steps.)
Sign up for our Sunday sessions here to get additional details.
Everything is free, and we make the coffee.
Below the fold: reading lists
Grimm — Children's and Household Tales
Carroll — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Stoker — Dracula
Shelley — Frankenstein
Hawthorne & Poe — Stories and Poems
Wells — The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, "The Country of the Blind," "The Star"
Burroughs & Gilman — A Princess of Mars & Herland
Bradbury — The Martian Chronicles
LeGuin — The Left Hand of Darkness
Doctorow — Little Brother
We have almost all of these books and stories here at the library, even Herland.
Churchill, Winston S. The Gathering Storm. Mariner Books, 1986. On the shelf here at 940.53 CHURCHI v.1