The length of life cannot be changed, but life has become wider because of reading. To enable the readers of the campus to feel the power of words in reading and understand the e meaning of science in classical literature, we held a "marathon" reading trip on September 17. The activity was divided into two activities, in which we deeply discussed ancient topics as the universe life with A Brief History of Time, and groups psychology in The Crowd.
Activity one: Independent thinking and critical consciousness, a book club of The Crowd
The birth of The Crowd has epoch-making significance, which has profoundly affected the historical process of the 20th century. On the morning of September 17, the library cooperated with the student Reading Society to hold a book club of discussing on human social psychology.
Figure 1 The Site of the Book Club
The Crowd of Utopia is the most famous work created by Gustav Le Pen, a French social psychologist. Le Pen is known as "Machiavelli of the group society". The Crowd is a work created by Le Pen after he witnessed the French people's exploration and thinking of group psychology and social psychology in the face of the difficulties of the collapse of traditional belief and authority in the era of continuous change.
Figure 2 Gustave Le Bon
During the activity, nearly 20 readers discussed heatedly focused on the wonderful clips of The Crowd. What is the crowd? Is it inevitable that people will become a rabble? How to think independently and have a critical consciousness, etc.
Figure 3 Readers Discussed Heatedly
Figure 4 Readers Discussed Heatedly
After the discussion, we take a group photo of the participants who are in the unfinished business. They said that the Reading Club gave an opportunity to discuss the original profound social psychology problems. Although it is still a difficult proposition whether people will inevitably become a rabble, it is a process for individuals to strive for independent thinking and critical consciousness to comprehensively verify and gradually revise their own views in the process of critical thinking.
Figure 5 A Group Photo
Activity Two: One Book Project for Freshmen, let’s unlocked the mystery of science and reading with A Brief History of Time.
A Brief History of Time is a scientific work written by Stephen Hawking, the greatest modern physicist and known as the "King of the Universe". As the best-selling popular science book in history, A Brief History of Time makes the most concise summary of the universe and time and space for thousands of readers in lively words. It is full of childlike innocence and thought-provoking.
Figure 6 Stephen Hawking
On the afternoon of September 17, Caitriana from the English Language Center of the International Campus brought a feast on the "universe" to the freshmen. The activity was divided into two parts: a lecture on efficient reading and “Book & Coffee": A book club of A Brief History of Time.
Figure 7 Living Library: The Lecture of Effective Reading
Figure 8 Giving the Customized Live Book to Teacher Caitriana as A Souvenir
Figure 9 Book & Coffee: On the Site of the Book Club of A Brief History Of Time
Figure 10 A free Discussion of Caitriana and Participants
Figure 11 A Group Photo
In the lecture freshmen can acquire more efficient English reading skills and in the book club, they can understand the origin and fate of the universe and other physical problems. Caitriana told the freshmen how to know the purpose of why the author wrote this book, what questions does the author raise in the book, and other questions, rather than blindly immersing yourself in reading every word.
This "marathon" reading trip was successfully completed. In this seemingly long but meaningful "journey", every reader, whether a teacher or a student, participated in the discussion of each book with enthusiasm. Readers said that if such reading activities can be maintained for a long time, it will undoubtedly play an extremely positive role in promoting a reading atmosphere of the campus and the cultivation of students' reading habits. Library is expected to hold more reading activities in the future.