What
is the Common Reading Experience?
Welcome
to the Common Reading Experience (CRE) of the University of Virginia School of
Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). Our students and faculty join happily
every spring in reviewing books on engineering life experiences and interactions
of technology and society.
Our Criteria:
· Direct
experience of engineering practice/profession
· Lively/engaging reading
(highly readable, not too long)
· Literary and/or well-written
·
Multiple themes for discussion (technologies, ethics, teamwork,
workplace, unusual
career paths)
· Recent publication and/or recent interest
·
A bridge between students and faculty
· Available in paperback edition
·
Energizing and upbeat
· Amenability to a follow-on program (author visit,
etc.)
The 2008 Common Reading Experience selection is America, 1908: The Dawn of Flight, the Race to the Pole, the Invention of the Model T and the Making of a Modern Nation” by Jim Rasenberger. This book looks a hundred years into the past at a relatively short timespan where remarkable technological inventions emerged and began to shape our lives. It tells about the incredible inventions, which were made a mere century ago, and offers a view into how rapidly some aspects of our world and life can change. The pace of technological change has accelerated since then, and we find ourselves in a position where it becomes critical to understand the impact of technological advance on our life. In that sense "1908" opens the discussion about our future by taking a close look at our past.
Incoming students should come prepared to discuss the book with other incoming students and a SEAS faculty member on Monday, August 25-the day before fall classes start-from 12:00-1:30pm. You will be provided with details regarding the meeting location when you arrive in August. Your participation in the CRE is required and fall courses may have assignments based on the book. The book can be purchased online, at a local bookstore, or from the University Bookstore or you can borrow the book from the library.
The CRE assignment list is available here.
We selected the following books for the CRE in recent
years:
2007 Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
2006 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
2005 The Rocket Boys by Homer Hickham, Jr.
2004 The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People
Live With Technology by Kim Vicente
2003 Hacker Cracker: A Journey from the Mean Streets
of Brooklyn to the Frontiers of Cyberspace by Ejovi Nuwere
2002 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
2001 Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin
2000 Managing Martians by Donna Shirley
1999 Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by
Gary Kinder
1998 Airframe by Michael Crichton
1997 A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
1996 Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
1995 A Scientist in the City by James Trefil
1994 The Control of Nature by John McPhee
1993 The Final Forrest by William Dietrich
and The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett
Hardin
Prior to the SEAS CRE, the University selected the following
books for faculty-student discussions:
1990 Siddhartha by
Herman Hesse
1989 All the Kings Men by Robert Penn
Warren
1988 Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
Please send us your suggestions for future CRE
selections to pr6e@virginia.edu.
The 2008 CRE Committee Members:
Prof. Stephanie Guerlain, Systems and Information Engineering
Prof. Archie L. Holmes Jr., Electrical Engineering
Prof. John O'Connell, Chemical Engineering
Prof. Jason Papin, Biomedical Engineering
Prof. Petra Reinke, Materials Science and Engineering
Fred O’Bryant, SEAS Librarian
