Einstein's Dreams has been selected for the
Freshman Reading Program for the 2006-2007 academic year

Updated 4-25-06: Visit the Memphis Reads website at http://memphisreads.memphis.edu

The Provost's Committee on the Freshman Reading Program has selected Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams as the book for the 2006/07 academic year.

Dr. Lightman, who was raised in Memphis and has visited our campus recently, is both a scientist and a novelist, and Einstein's Dreams effectively combines these two interests. The book is a collection of vignettes set in the spring of 1905 just as Einstein was formulating his theory of relativity. Each vignette presents a vision of time that might have passed through Einstein's mind during this period—dreams of a world where time stands still, or where it repeats itself, or where people are randomly sent back into the past, or where they may glimpse the future, or where memory of the past is lost with each new day, or where many other disruptions occur. The book challenges us to stretch our imagination about time, to question our ordinary assumptions, and to consider how conceptions of time shape our understandings of ourselves and our world and influence our most basic values. As Lightman represents these dreams about time, he raises issues that apply to every discipline in the University, and the book should provide an excellent basis for stimulating conversations within and across our Departments and among our students.

All entering freshman are being asked to get a copy of the book and to read it before the beginning of the fall term. The book will be required for all sections of ACAD, and we hope that some of you might be able to use it as a required or recommended text for courses that you teach. Also, even if it is not possible or appropriate to adopt the book, you might want to refer to it or to the theme of “time” in lectures or class discussions. We hope the book will serve as a useful point of common reference.

By the end of May, we intend to have a web site in place that will offer information about the book, study guides for students, teaching-aids for faculty, and a select bibliography. Also we are planning a varied set of activities for the fall connected with the reading program. These include a film series, public lectures, informal discussion groups, and the like. We will keep you posted as these plans mature and hope that many of you will want to participate in these activities.

Copies of Einstein's Dreams are available at the University Bookstore, at most local bookstores, and of course, on-line through any of the major book sellers. And we have a special opportunity to learn about Lightman's work. Gloria Baxter of our Theatre Department has written a play based on the book that will be performed on campus at the end of this month and in early April. On the afternoon of April 1, Alan Lightman will visit the University and participate in a symposium concerning the book and its adaptation to theatrical performance. Check with the Theatre Department for additional details.

The Committee also selected a book for the 2007/08 academic year—a collection of works by Martin Luther King entitled I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches that Changed the World , edited by James M. Washington. We thought that this was an especially appropriate choice to help commemorate the fortieth anniversary of Dr. King's death.