UC Berkeley Summer Reading

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77 Dream Songs

John Berryman
New York: Farrar, Straus, 1964

I know claiming that a book by a suicidal alcoholic poet has anything to do with survival is dubious, but 77 Dream Songs is all about surviving the voices in one’s head—voices every poet knows all too well. This is an angry, bewildered, funny, tragic book, by a man who managed to survive his own demons long enough to write some of the most fascinating and compelling poetry of the 20th century.

Kaya Oakes
Lecturer, College Writing Programs

Find in your library

May 30, 2007 | Categories: 2007: Survival | Kathleen Gallagher

Share Your Own Survival Favorite

This year we're experimenting with a blog to encourage new and returning students, faculty and staff to chime in on the unofficial summer reading list.

Do you have a favorite book related to this year's theme of survival that didn't make it to the list? Use the "leave a comment" link in this section (immediately below) to let the Cal community know about it.

And--in case you haven't noticed--you can also share your thoughts about any book in this year's selection by using the "leave a comment" link in the relevant section of the list.

Note: Comments are moderated by the blog "administrator," who'd like you to know that she's not an eager censor, an arbitrary adjudicator, or your copy editor--just UC Berkeley's Undergraduate Collections and Services Librarian. She’ll exercise gatekeeper’s prerogative only in response to pranksters, spammers, and wildly irrelevant, uncivil, or patently offensive comments.

May 30, 2007 | Categories: Readers Respond | Kathleen Gallagher

1985-2006 Summer Reading Lists

Berkeley's "unofficial" summer reading list is a tradition that's been around now for more than a decade. If you're interested in exploring the themes from previous years' lists, check out reading.berkeley.edu.

May 30, 2007 | Categories: Past Years' Lists | Kathleen Gallagher

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Welcome to Berkeley! Every summer, we send new freshmen a list of books suggested by faculty and staff from across campus. This is not an “official” list, or even a list of required reading. It’s just for you to enjoy as you wish.

This year, we asked the Cal community to recommend books—of any genre—about survival: the threats to survival, the paths to survival, tales of survival from the past, and thoughts on what it means to survive—or not. The books they recommended variously explore how humans, plants, and animals struggle to cope, and sometimes thrive, in certain environments. Collectively the list offers scientific, humanistic, social, historical, and futuristic perspectives on how this theme relates to us as individuals, cultures, species, and as a planet.

These books are all available in the UC Berkeley libraries. Since many of you will be far from campus this summer, you may want to check out a copy from your local library or buy one from a bookstore near you. We hope you’ll choose to read at least one, as a reminder that UC Berkeley is a vital intellectual community that generates and debates fascinating and important ideas.

Elizabeth Dupuis
The Library

Steve Tollefson
College Writing Programs
Office of Educational Development

77 Dream Songs

Share Your Own Survival Favorite

1985-2006 Summer Reading Lists

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