What if everyone in the UW community read the same book? The UW Common Book project aimed at just that outcome. Last fall, freshman and other members of the UW community read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The program was a tremendous success and returns for the 2007-2008 school year with a new book - Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert.
The UW Alumni Association invites all alumni and friends of the university to participate: pick up a copy of the book, read it, and engage in conversations and interactions around the subject of the book. Details about events related to the Common Book including book clubs will be available soon.
Elizabeth Kolbert at UW
Elizabeth Kolbert will be speaking about her book this Fall at University of Washington.
When: Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 7 p.m.
Where: Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, UW Seattle campus
More information and online registration...
About Field Notes from a Catastrophe
Known for her insightful and thought-provoking journalism, New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert now tackles the controversial subject of global warming. Americans have been warned since the late nineteen-seventies that the buildup of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere threatens to melt the polar ice sheets and irreversibly change our climate. With little done since then to alter this dangerous course, now is the moment to salvage our future. By the end of the century, the world will likely be hotter than it's been in the last two million years, and the sweeping consequences of this change will determine the future of life on earth for generations to come.
In writing that is both clear and unbiased, Kolbert approaches this monumental problem from every angle. She travels to the Arctic, interviews researchers and environmentalists, explains the science and the studies, draws frightening parallels to lost ancient civilizations, unpacks the politics, and presents the personal tales of those who are being affected most—the people who make their homes near the poles and, in an eerie foreshadowing, are watching their worlds disappear. Growing out of a groundbreaking three-part series for the New Yorker, Field Notes from a Catastrophe brings the environment into the consciousness of the American people and asks what, if anything, can be done, and how we can save our planet. — from the Bloomsbury USA site
About Elizabeth Kolbert
Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1999. She has written dozens of pieces for the magazine, including profiles of Senator Hillary Clinton, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Her series on global warming, "The Climate of Man," appeared in The New Yorker in the spring of 2005, and has won the American Association for the Advancement of Science's magazine award, as well as the 2006 National Academy of Sciences Communication Award in the newspaper/magazine category. She has also been awarded a Lannan Writing Fellowship (2006). Her stories have also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and Mother Jones, and have been anthologized in "The Best American Science and Nature Writing" and "The Best American Political Writing." A collection of her work, The Prophet of Love and Other Tales of Power and Deceit, was published in 2004. Prior to joining the staff of The New Yorker, Ms. Kolbert was a political reporter for The New York Times. She is a graduate of Yale University. Ms. Kolbert lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts with her husband and three sons.
University Book Store
The University Book Store is selling Field Notes from a Catastrophe at a 30 percent discount. You can buy the discounted book online or at any of their locations. UWAA members also receive additional discounts, see our membership benefits section for details.
Resources
Last Year - The 2006-2007 Common Book
Members of the UW community including alumni and staff joined incoming freshman and transfer students in reading Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The book told the story of Dr. Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life's calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Both Farmer and Kidder visited campus during the year. Read more about the 2006-2007 Common Book and events...