Reading Groups

Spring 2011: A Random Walk Down Wall Street
By Burton C. Malkiel

Sponsored by the Berry Center and Cornell Financial Group.

This group will be facilitated by three professors from the Department of Economics and Business: Professor Chris Conrad, Professor Todd Knoop, and Professor A'amer Farooqi.

Whether you are considering your first 401(k) contribution, contemplating retirement, or anywhere in between, A Random Walk Down Wall Street should be the first book on your reading list. In this newest edition of the perennial bestseller, Burton G. Malkiel shows how to navigate the turbulence on Wall Street and beat the pros at their own game, giving individual investors the information they need to manage their money with confidence.

Spring 2011: The Death and Life of the Great American School System
By Diane Ravitch

This group will be facilitated by Professor Steven Hemelt from the Department of Politics and Professor Kate Kauper from the Department of Education.

In her latest book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, education historian and former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch reflects on her career in educational reform. Once a fierce defender of standardized testing and accountability efforts in public education, Ravitch now believes that these very initiatives are at the heart of what is destroying public education. Turning her back on a career’s worth of her own research, Dr. Ravitch has sparked intense debate among educators, policy analysts, economists, teachers, and others involved in education reform about how to best move forward.

This book poses questions such as: “How do we define a ‘quality education’?” and “How can we get our public school system to deliver that type of education to all kids?”

Fall 2010: Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World
By Tracy Kidder 

The Berry Center and Dimensions collaborated on a reading group for interested students across campus. The group was facilitated by Professor Barbara Christie-Pope from the Department of Biology and Professor Erin Davis from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life's calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Kidder's magnificent account takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that the only real nation is humanity. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too."

Spring 2010: The Economic Naturalist
by Robert H. Frank

During the spring of 2010, facilitators Professor A'amer Farooqi and Professor Jerry Savitsky met with students during February and March to discuss The Economic Naturalist before author and Cornell University professor Robert H. Frank visited campus on March 16, 2010. 

Fall 2009: The Road to Serfdom
by F. A. Hayek

During the fall of 2008, facilitator and President of the College Les Garner met with 18 selected students to discuss Thaler and Sunstein's assertion that "thoughtful choice architecture can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice."

During the fall of 2008, facilitators Professor Todd Knoop and Professor David Yamanishi met with 18 students to discuss Rodrik's argument that "neither globalizers nor antiglobalizers have got it right."

During the spring of 2008, Professor Todd Knoop met with students to discuss Easterly's look at "why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good."

During the spring of 2007, facilitator and President of the College Les Garner met with 18 selected students to discuss Freakonomics and topics such as "why do drug dealers still live at home with their moms and how the Ku Klux Klan is like a group of real estate agents." Following their conversations, the group traveled to Chicago to meet coauthor Steven D. Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and director of The Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory.