Advanced Composition on the Natural Sciences and Technology

Those registering for Summer 2005 for B Session English 302BN3 and 302BN2, and for Fall 2004, English 302N08 and 302N09 might want to have an idea of what we will read and see. For both sessions and pairs of sections, the books are listed in the order we will read them. For the fall I am still deciding between alternative selections.

I also provide a list of possible films: we may not see all of these; I also keep an eye out for new good films for replacements.

Summer 2005

• English 302BN3 (Tues/Thurs, 4:30-7:10, Robinson A107).
• English 302BN2 (Tues/Thurs, 7:20-10:00, Robinson A109).

Required Books

• Trimble, John. Writing with Style: Conversations on the art of writing. NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999. Second edition. ISBN 0-13-025713-3.
• Feynman, Richard and Ralph Leighton. Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! NY: Norton, 1997. ISBN 0-393-31604-1.
• Feynman, Richard and Ralph Leighton. "What Do YOU Care What Other People Think?" NY: Norton, 2001. ISBN 0-393-32092-8.
• Olson, Steve. Mapping Human History: Genes, Race and Our Common Origins. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. ISBN: 0-618-35210-4
• Edson, Margaret. Wit: A Play. New York: Faber and Faber, 1999. ISBN 0- 571-19877-5.
• Ofri, Danielle. Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue. New York: Penguin, 1987. ISBN 0-14-2004383
• Gawande, Atul. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. Picador USA, April 2003. ISBN: 0312421702.

Possible Films

• Ralph Leighton's The Last Journey of a Genius. A BBC/NOVA film, 54 minutes, January 1989. This is a film portrait biography of Richard Feynman.
• Peter Jones and David R. Axelrod's Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude. A 1998 NOVA film, 60 minutes. Narrated by Richard Dreyfuss, with Patrick Malahide as John Harrison.
• Christopher Hale's In Search of the First Language. A 1997 Horizon, WGBH, BBC-TV film. Narrated Peter Thomas. Editors include Adam de Van, Jana Bennet. 60 minutes.
• Wit, HBO film, made for TV, from a screenplay by Emma Thompson and Mike Nichols, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Margaret Edson. Produced by Simon Bosanquet. Directed by Mike Nichols, starring Emma Thompson as Vivan Bearing, Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Kelekian, Eileen Atkins as E.M. Ashford, Audra McDonald as Susie Monahan, Jonathan M. Woodward as Jason Posner, Harold Pinter as Vivian's Father, and Rebecca Laurie as Vivian aged 5. A professor is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. 98 minutes.

Fall 2005

• English 302N08 (Tues/Thurs, 1:30-2:45 pm, Robinson A249).
• English 302N09 (Tues/Thurs, 3:00-4:15 pm, Robinson A243).

Required Books

• Trimble, John. Writing with Style: Conversations on the art of writing. NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999. Second edition. ISBN 0-13-025713-3.
• Feynman, Richard and Ralph Leighton. Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! NY: Norton, 1997. ISBN 0-393-31604-1.
• Feynman, Richard and Ralph Leighton. "What Do YOU Care What Other People Think?" NY: Norton, 2001. ISBN 0-393-32092-8.
• Sacks, Oliver, ed. Best American Science Writing 2003. Dimensions: Ecco, 2003. ISBN 0060936517.
• Wallace, Jennifer. Digging the Dirt: The Archaeological Imagination. London: Duckworth, 2004. ISBN 0715632787
• Edson, Margaret. Wit: A Play. New York: Faber and Faber, 1999. ISBN 0- 571-19877-5.
• Ofri, Danielle. Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue. New York: Penguin, 1987. ISBN 0-14-2004383; [or

  Stoller, Paul. Stranger in the Village: A Memoir of Cancer, Sorcery and Healing. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004. ISBN: 0-80707260-5]

• Primo, Levi. The Periodic Table, translated by Raymond Rosenthal. New York: Schocken, 1995. ISBN: 0805210415.

Possible Films

• Ralph Leighton's The Last Journey of a Genius. A BBC/NOVA film, 54 minutes, January 1989. This is a film portrait biography of Richard Feynman.
• Peter Jones and David R. Axelrod's Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude. A 1998 NOVA film, 60 minutes. Narrated by Richard Dreyfuss, with Patrick Malahide as John Harrison.
• Christopher Hale's In Search of the First Language. A 1997 Horizon, WGBH, BBC-TV film. Narrated Peter Thomas. Editors include Adam de Van, Jana Bennet. 60 minutes.
• Wit, HBO film, made for TV, from a screenplay by Emma Thompson and Mike Nichols, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Margaret Edson. Produced by Simon Bosanquet. Directed by Mike Nichols, starring Emma Thompson as Vivan Bearing, Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Kelekian, Eileen Atkins as E.M. Ashford, Audra McDonald as Susie Monahan, Jonathan M. Woodward as Jason Posner, Harold Pinter as Vivian's Father, and Rebecca Laurie as Vivian aged 5. A professor is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. 98 minutes.