How it begins...(1)

Author: Auknife

Dear all,

As sun0 proposed, a reading group will be started in the coming semester. My proposed aims and rules are as follow:

1. It is nothing like MRC (if you don't know what MRC stands for, just forget it), as there are no phase 1, phase 2 or phase 3, and no free drifting in talking material.
2. Each session has a WELL DEFINED topic. It is everyone's responsibility to avoid side tracking.
3. Each session is held by one person (group presentation also possible). The speaker has to hold the session till the end, without interruption from other participants.
4. Throughout the semester, each member should hold at least one, and not more than two sessions.
5. Point 3 and 4 aim to force everyone to say something, while at the same time avoid anyone dominating the speaking time (including the lecture and discussion).
6. We always find speakers boring. But boring is not the only criteria to judge whether something is meaningful. Therefore the audiance should not be too impatient to boring talks. However comments on presentation skills of the speakers are always welcomed. It may be even more important than comment on the content of the talk.
7. The topic is set by the speaker. It is not a free show. Reference material should be provided in advance. Participants are therefore expected to have some knowledge on the topic before coming to the reading session. Otherwise the session will be nothing more than a normal lecture.
8. The speaking part needs not to be long. Just say as much as you find necessary is good enough. But it is better to have it more than 20 minutes in order to gurantee some depth of analysis.
9. Similarly, the reference material needs not be long. To me, I will try my best to find something we can finish reading within 2 hours (quite reasonable for preparation right?), and give a handout in 1 page of A4 paper.
10. The group meeting is held bi-weekly. Hopefully the first one will be at the first week of September.

I do not reagard reading the reference material before coming over-demanding, as it is too much better than unprepared reception and discussion. But it is STILL not enough. There is nothing more dangerous than reading on a topic you have never considered carefully, as Schopenhauer taught us. Therefore the best way to learn is to have some brainstorm on the topic first, then try to put things into a organized way. After that we are qualified to see what other people think on that topic. I understand such process is difficult and time consuming. We need not find ourselves under pressure. But we must make reasonable effort to achieve it, in order to learn a way of learning in higher quality.

Anyone who will join please reply and suggest the topic you are going to discuss (subject to change of course), in the following format:

Speaker	Topic	Primary reading material	Secondary reading material
Auknife	Enlightenment	"What is enlightenment" by Kant (just 2600 words)	"The Painter of Modern Life" by Baudelaire
Auknife	三島由紀夫短篇傑作集	孔雀 –選自三島由紀夫短篇傑作集	施食餓鬼舟 – 選自三島由紀夫短篇傑作集

We will then discuss the order of presentation. Those who proposed more than one topic will have their topic of first presentation decided by others, according to their interest.

Thank you for your participation.

AU, LAP HANG