Short Talk, Film, & Exam Schedule for Fall 2007: Advanced Composition in the Natural Sciences and Technology

• English 302N14 (Thurs, 4:30-7:10 pm, Enterprize 175)

Week 1: Thurs, Aug 30th

• The class watches Ralph Leighton's The Last Journey of a Genius.

Week 3: Thurs, Sept 13th

• Short Talk 1: RFeynman, boy and young man: The Qualities that Make up the Good Scientist (SYJ, Parts 1 & 2, WDYC, Chapter 1): Joe Chang
  
  
• Short talk 2: RFeynman's criticisms of counterproductive uses and abuses of authority, particularly at Los Alamos (i.e., his stories about counterproductive uses of secrecy), but you may include stories exemplifying this theme from elsewhere in the book thus far (so from SYJ, Parts 2 & 3, especially "Los Alamos from Below" and "Safecracker Meets Safecracker"): Myhoa Phan
  
  
• Short Talk 3: RFeynman's ideas on what is real scientific learning: what ought to go on in a classroom, be in a book &c (e.g.,"O Americano Outre Vez" and "Judging Books by Their Covers" in SYJ and relevant Letters in WDYC): Brian Morris
  
  

Week 4: Thurs, Sept 20th

• Short Talk 4: RFeynman's Adventures in Areas Outside Physics: Biology, Art, Music and Anthropology ("A Map of the Cat", Always Trying to Escape", "But Is It Art?"; "O Americano Outra Vez!," "Bringing Culture to the Physicists", "Found Out in Paris", "Altered States" in SYJ, and "It's as Simple as One, Two, Three " and relevant "Letters" in WDYC): Ayaan Moussa
  
  
• Short Talk 5: RFeynman's Investigations into the Conscious and Unconscious Mind and Antagonisms towards Modern Psychiatrists and Psychology ("Mee", "Always Trying to Escape", "Uncle Sam Doesn't Need You!", "Altered States" from SYJ and "It's as Simple as One Two Three" from WDYC): Duyen Nguyen
  
  
• Short Talk 6: Mr Feynman Goes to Washington: Why some NASA Shuttle officials are driven to delude themselves and mislead the public ("Mr Feynman Goes to Washington" and "Appendix F" in WDYC, pp. 113-227): Matt L'Etoile
  
  

Week 5: Thurs, Sept 27th

• Short Talk 7: A World of Pseudo- and Corrupt Science and the Value of Science (Feynman's "Cargo Cult Learning" and "The Value of Science," SYJ, pp. 338-46, WDYC, pp. 239-48): Jay Delanoy
  
  
• 9/25: Short Talk 8: 17th & 18th Century Needs and Troubles at sea (Chapters 1-4 of Sobel's Longitude): Mike Clagett
  
  
• Short Talk 9: Harrison's and others solution to the problem; the prize and Harrison's first encounters in London & sea voyage (Chs 5-8 of Sobel's Longitude): _________________________________
  
  
• The class watches altogether 60 minutes of Roberts, Sturridge, & Sobel's film, Longitude.
  
  

Week 6: Thurs, Oct 4th

• Short Talk 10: John Harrison's many inventions and the struggle with Nevil Maskelyne (Chs 9-11 of Sobel's Longitude): _________________________________
  
  
• Short Talk 11: The abuse of John Harrison, Cook & mass production, and the story of Rupert Gould (Chs 12-15 of Sobel's Longitude): Rachel Harrison
  
  
• The class may watch more of Roberts, Sturridge, & Sobel's film, Longitude.
  
  

Week 7: Thurs, Oct 11th

• In class open-book midterm
  
  

Week 8: Thurs, Oct 18th

• Short talk 12: The Sun, Myth and Mercury ("Model Worlds," "Genesis," and "Mythology" from Sobel's Planets): Rena Safdar
  
  
• Short Talk 13: Neighbors? Venus, Earth and the Moon ("Beauty," "Geography," and "Lunacy" from Sobel's Planets): Dyana Ortega
  
  
• Short Talk 14: The first known farther off (from the earth) planets: Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn ("Sci Fi," "Astrology," and "Music of the Spheres"): Michael Rooks
  
  

Week 9: Thurs, Oct 25th

• Short Talk 15: The vast edges of the solar system, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Beyond ("Night Air," "UFO," and "Coda" from Sobel's Planets): ______________________________
  
  
• The class watches the film, The Constant Gardener, plus a couple of the features (e.g., deleted scenes).
  
  

Week 10: Thurs, Nov 1st

• If we didn't manage it last week, among other events, we finish watching The Constant Gardener, plus features.
  
  
• Short Talk 16: Drug Companies, Health, and American Culture (online course materials, Marcia Angell, "The Body Hunters" and "Your Dangerous Drugstore"): Christina Rivera
  
  

Week 11: Thurs, Nov 8th

• Short Talk 17: LeCarre's The Constant Gardener: Describe the characters of the different narrators of the story and try to say how their telling of their part of the story shapes our experience of the novel (Sandy Woodrow, Justin Quayle, Ghita Pearson, Tom Donahue, Gloria Woodrow): Esther Min
  
  
• Short Talk 18: LeCarre's The Constant Gardener: The quest and landscapes: how is Africa a central character and how it is made to appear? with comparisons of how London, Italy, Germany, and Canada are made to appear and what they stand for (you can take material from both the book and film): Amanda Craig
  
  

Week 12: Thurs, Nov 15th

• Short Talk 19: LeCarre's The Constant Gardener: The themes of betrayal, regret and loss, and people's experience of the business world in the novel: Justin Sirisingha
  
  
• Short Talk 20: The Problem of Having to Practice and Lack of Unbiased Review Boards (Complications, Part I, "Education of the Knife," "When Doctors Makes Mistakes," "When Good Doctors Go Bad" from Gawande's Complications): Abdul Yassin
  
  

Week 13: Thurs, Nov 29th

• Short Talk 21: What makes for a good doctor (Complications, Part I, "The Computer and the Hernia Factory" and (online materials), The Bell Curve: What happens when patients find out how good their doctors really are?" and "The Score: How childbirth went industrial"): Nelya Ebadirad
  
  
• Short Talk 22: The money obstacle ("Piecework: Medicine's Money Problem", "Sick and Twisted", "The Way We Age Now"): Shaghayegh Hassanzadeh
  
  
• The class watches Mike Nichols, Bosanquet and Thompson's film, Wit.
  
  

Week 14: Thurs, Dec 6th

• Short Talk 23: The real uncertainties of medicine (Gawande's Complications, from Part II, "The Pain Perplex","The Man Who Couldn't Stop Eating", and from Part 3, "The Final Cut"): Ngoc Tran
  
  
• Short Talk 24: The Neglect of Vivian Bearing and who should decide what is done (from the film, Wit, and Gawande's chapter from Complications, Part 3, "Whose Body Is It, Anyway?"): Omar Omulee
  
  

Week 15: Thurs, Dec 13th

• Section 302.N14: The final: Thurs. Dec 13th, 4:30 p.m. - 7:15 p.m, Enterprise 175