Thomas Levenson
TR-3:30-5 1-136
This is a class on reading and writing about science as a form of creative non-fiction. The science essay is a capacious genre. Its goal is not to break the news (though it can engage bleeding edge results and ideas). Instead the aim of this course is to study how writers can use stories of science, nature, mathematics, engineering and technology to interpret experience—both in society at large and within ourselves. We will read great essays and narrative non-fiction centered on science and produce such work ourselves. The outcomes to be sought are both improved writing skills and insight into what MIT and its community do in the world. Readings will range widely across time and non-fiction approaches; they will include works from J. B. S. Haldane, Annie Dillard, Stephen Jay Gould, Caroline Finney, Barry Lopez and many more.
