But they are deliberately kept at a minimum and intended to represent the best starting points for a student in search of ideas. This home page reflects the input of ideas from a team of eight instructors and over 100 students enrolled in our program. We are a vibrant community with common interest in the important ideas contained in the books that we read. Our community has been in place here at Malaspina for six years. Specialized disciplinary training should not be a prerequisite for anyone wishing to enter into conversation with any of the books that we read.
Literature however is only one section in a cultural symphony.
A program similar to this was launched at the University of California at Berkeley in the mid 1960's. Recent measurements of long-term student learning outcomes showed that the Berkeley experiment has had a positive and life long influence on the intellectual lives of all who participated. We listen to the music, study the art, and attempt to reproduce some of the original science. On occasion we may even try on some original theatre. We have come some distance since predynastic Egypt.