The U.Va. Engineering School
Common Reading Experience 2011
A message from Mary Roach, author of ‘Packing for Mars’
Hello, U.Va. first-year engineering students! I am honored that you will be using my book, ‘Packing for Mars,’ as your Fall 2011 common reading experience. I want to congratulate you all on making the very smart decision to become engineers. I secretly wish I'd been an engineer because they have all the fun. You guys get to design space suits, crawl around under bridges, run crash sled tests, demolish giant buildings, invent new technologies, save lives. What could be cooler than that? You will never be out of work, and you will always be challenged. Have a fabulous time at U.Va. Wahoowa!
Each year the faculty at the Engineering School invited incoming first year students to participate in a common reading experience which culminates in discussion groups in the beginning of the fall semester.
Criteria for Selection of Books:
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• Direct experience of engineering practice/profession
• Lively/engaging reading (highly readable, not too long)
• Literary and/or well-written
• Multiple themes for discussion (technologies, ethics, teamwork, workplace, unusual career paths)
• Recent publication and/or recent interest
• A bridge between students and faculty
• Available in paperback edition
• Energizing and upbeat
• Amenability to a follow-on program (author visit, etc.)
The 2011 Common Reading Experience selection is “Packing for Mars,” by Mary Roach. Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can't walk for a year? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 4,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations -- making it possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA's new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Packing for Mars takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.
Incoming students should come prepared to discuss the book with other incoming students and a SEAS faculty member. You will be provided with details regarding the meeting location when you arrived in August. Participation in the CRE is required and fall courses may have assignments based on the book. The book is available for purchase online, at a local bookstore, from the University Bookstore or many libraries.
We selected the following books for the CRE in recent years:
2010 The Viking in the Wheat Field: a Scientist's Struggle to Preserve the World's Harvest by Susan Dworkin
2009 The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
2008 America 1908 by Jim Rasenbergerto
2007 Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
2006 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
2005 The Rocket Boys by Homer Hickham, Jr.
2004 The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live With Technology by Kim Vicente
2003 Hacker Cracker: A Journey from the Mean Streets of Brooklyn to the Frontiers of Cyberspace by Ejovi Nuwere
2002 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
2001 Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin
2000 Managing Martians by Donna Shirley
1999 Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder
1998 Airframe by Michael Crichton
1997 A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
1996 Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
1995 A Scientist in the City by James Trefil
1994 The Control of Nature by John McPhee
1993 The Final Forrest by William Dietrich and The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin
Prior to the Engineering School CRE, the University selected the following books for faculty-student discussions:
1990 Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
1989 All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren
1988 Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
Please send us your suggestions for future CRE selections to: ah7sj@virginia.edu
The 2012 CRE Committee Members:
Rosalyn Berne (Science, Technology, and Society)
Joanne Cohoon (Science, Technology, and Society)
Michael Demetsky (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Archie Holmes, CRE Co-Chair (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
James Lambert (Systems and Information Engineering)
Richard Price (Biomedical Engineering)
Petra Reinke, CRE Co-Chair (Materials Science and Engineering)
Kamin Whitehouse (Computer Science)