Univ Virtual Book Club roundup
Since last November, we have held thirteen virtual book club events, generating enthusiastic participation and discussion among听 Univites of all ages 鈥� students, OMs, staff and Fellows. Topics have ranged from machine learning to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
At each virtual book club, one of the College鈥檚 Fellows or students proposes an insightful read designed to encourage an exciting discussion. Members then have time to delve into the book before convening virtually for a roundtable discussion.
The first Virtual Book Club explored by Heather Cox Richardson, facilitated by , Edward Orsborn Professor of US Politics and Political History, Professorial Fellow and Director, Rothermere American Institute. In How the South Won the Civil War, Professor Heather Cox Richardson argues that although the South lost the Civil War on the battlefield, the oligarchical assumptions which underpinned slavery have continued to dominate American politics ever since.
In December, , Lecturer in Old and Middle English Literature, discussed Daphne du Maurier’s , one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. Although her main academic speciality is medieval religious writing, Laura is also a leading authority on Daphne du Maurier鈥檚 work.
January’s book club, the third meeting, was helmed by , Professorial Fellow and Chair and Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford, who suggested by Michael J Sandel for discussion.
In February, Professor Peter Jezzard, Vice Master and Professorial Fellow, and Herbert Dunhill Professor of Neuroimaging, led a conversation about by Oliver Sacks. Sacks’ book several Univites to apply for experimental psychology and biomedical sciences courses at Univ.
March’s book club was a Young Univ special facilitated by (2012, DPhil Earth Sciences) who chose by Barry Lopez. Arctic Dreams serves the dual purpose of being vivid escapism and a handbook to perceiving people and place differently and reconnecting the two.
In April, (2019, DPhil Biology), then WCR President discussed in which world-famous scientist Jennifer Doudna, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating the revolutionary gene-editing technique CRISPR, explains her discovery, describes its power to reshape the future of all life and warns of its use.
The seventh meeting of the book club examined by Brian Christian, facilitated by Clare Lyle (2018, DPhil Computer Science), Rhodes Scholar, looking at machine learning systems.
In June, Professor Peter A Norreys, Supernumerary Fellow in Physics; Professor of Inertial Fusion Science, chose听 by Merlin Sheldrake, which explores how Fungi make our worlds, change our minds, and shape our futures.
When we were confined in our 182t福利s by COVID-19 restrictions, the ninth book club took us to distant shores. A conversation on by Frances Larson, was facilitated by Elizabeth Adams, College Librarian.
Dr Michael Nicholson, Emeritus Fellow, helped us delve into the Russian short story by Nikolai Gogol in August at the tenth book club, discussing questions of meaning, interpretation, intentionality and ambiguity prompted by the story about the oppression and revenge of a lowly civil service clerk in a dank and inhospitable St Petersburg.
The eleventh book club was aptly facilitated by the author of the book himself, by Kim Wilkie. , Landscape Architect for Univ North, gave his insights into our species鈥� place in the environment, the way past masters have fashioned it and the hopes for our future fruitful connections.
Professor Helen Cooper, Honorary Fellow and Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, took the helm for the twelfth meeting of the book club, which analysed,听written around the same time as Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.
The thirteenth meeting of the book club was facilitated by Dr William Prescott focusing on by David Edgerton. David Edgerton’s major new history breaks out of the confines of traditional British national history to redefine what it was to British, and to reveal an unfamiliar place, subject to huge disruptions.
This year’s final book club will be held on 21 December, discussing听听by Mark Lynas, facilitated by Corinna Hartinger (2019, DPhil Interdisciplinary Bioscience). Places are still available, if you would like to attend please register .
Published: 10 December 2021