Almost every day I find myself listening to the radio, reading an article, or watching TV and thinking, "Huh, that's interesting. I wish I knew more about that." I'm not in college anymore, and continuing education classes can be expensive, so I don't have the opportunity to dive deeply into each new topic for a semester, with an expert to guide me. But I am constantly surrounded by smart people and good books, and if I find the time to write at least a little about what I'm reading, learning, and thinking about a topic, I figure I can fashion myself a mini-course on almost any subject.
So, the plan: For each topic, I'll pick three or four books (hopefully with suggestions from you) that come at the topic from different angles. I'll post here about each book, what I'm learning, how it's making me think differently about the topic, and what directions it's prompting me to go in next. Some of my initial ideas are very broad, but as I read more and get more suggestions, I'm sure I'll find myself in deeper and deeper subcategories.
As a sort of prerequisite, I'm going to start with On Writing by Stephen King. I've always enjoyed writing, but it's a muscle I haven't flexed seriously since my last year of grad school, so it seems like an appropriate place to start. That will also give me time to sort through and prioritize my many topic ideas (everything from cognitive science to zombies).
Note: On the "Syllabus" page I'll keep a running list of themes and genres I'd like to explore, and I'll update with links to posts by topic as I go.
