This could be fun to think about:

If you got to assign a 15-week themed 'syllabus' on any topic based on books in your library, what would you include? Let us know what topic your theme would be about, and give the syllabus a fun name, if you like. Choose as many books as you think reasonable to get through in 15 weeks, and let us know what order you would have folks read them in. Why would you include each book? What would you hope 'students' of your course would get out of each? Would you have a progression along one theme? Would it be a survey course covering the topic boradly? Or would organize 'units' to give depth to a few topics?

Message edited by its author, Oct 19, 2009, 7:03pm.

I'll start!

My 'course' is entitled, "Surf and Turf: Hunting, Gathering, and Farming sustenance from the sea and land".

'Students' taking this course from my library will get a look at some seafood and farmed food, and will include books on how our food gets to us, and how we interact with our food supply.

Starting off with the "Surf"
Weeks 1-2: Unnatural History of the Sea - takes us through the history of different fisheries we've eaten from over the years

Weeks 2-6: Cod: a biography of the fish that changed the world, The secret life of lobsters, and The big oyster - to get a closer look at three examples of "Surf"

Starting in with "Turf"
Weeks 7-8:Omnivore's Dilemma - Looking at different types of food available: fast food, high volume organic, local organic, and self-reliant hunting/gathering

Weeks 9-12: Fast Food Nation and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Looking at two different ways we produce food - industrialized for fast food, and organic/local for a more hands-on approach. Discussion sections on pros/cons of various approaches and brainstorming new ideas.

Weeks 13-15: Beverages - A history of the world in 6 glasses, Still Life with bottle - no full meal should go without the perfect beverage! Beer, Wine, Whiskey, Spirits, Coffee, Tea, and Soda, all discussed in these!

What a cool idea! Since no one's posted yet, I'm assuming they're busy thinking about what they would do. Or, they've already jumped into into the "Surf & Turf" course, which was very nicely done. I might just have to alter my reading choices for the next 15 weeks!

Don't forget Pollack's new book, In Defense of Food!