Spring 2017 OLLI Catalog (Interactive)

PEER-LED CLASSES (Omnilore)
Common Reading:
The History of the
Mongol Conquests,
by J. J. Saunders (March 2001)
(MON) The Mongols
The Mongols established the most extensive land empire in the
history of the world. The Mongol conquests, culminating in the
invasion of Europe in the middle of the 13th Century, were of a
scope and range never equaled. These nomadic peoples from
central Asia briefly held sway over a territory that stretched from
the Pacific Ocean to Germany, from the rivers of the Baltic to the
shores of the Adriatic. No European army was their equal;
no European country was able to resist their assaults. Who were
these people? What drove them on their quest? Why were they
so invincible? How were they finally stopped? Our goal will be
to learn of the Mongols and their place in history, and how they
nearly changed the face of the civilization.
Common Reading:
Arrival of the Fittest:
Solving Evolution’s Greatest Puzzle
by Andreas Wagner (October 2014)
(NAT) Arrival of the Fittest:
How Nature Innovates
This class will explore the continuing developments in Evolutionary
theory. The question “how does nature innovate?” often elicits a
succinct but unsatisfying response—random mutations. Darwin’s
theory of natural selection explains how useful adaptations are
preserved over time. But the biggest mystery about evolution
eluded him. As genetics pioneer Hugo de Vries put it, “natural
selection may explain the survival of the fittest, but it cannot
explain the arrival of the fittest.”
In Arrival of the Fittest, renowned evolutionary biologist Andreas
Wagner draws on over fifteen years of research to present the
missing piece in Darwin’s theory. Using experimental and
computational technologies that were heretofore unimagined,
he has found that adaptations are not just driven by chance,
but by a set of laws that allow nature to discover new molecules
and mechanisms in a fraction of the time that random variation
would take. He shows how nature innovates but also how these
two complementary forces of nature—innovation and natural
selection interact and balance to create, sustain, and evolve life
with all its rich complexity.
42 OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE @ CSU DOMINGUEZ HILLS