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Put some excitement into your reading life with books that everyone is (or should be!) reading. Beyond the Book connects you with outstanding authors, U of M faculty, and community experts for live and online conversations about nonfiction books that grab our attention and stay with us.

Discussion. Each Beyond the Book program begins with a four-, five-, or six-week online discussion in which the author/expert will post weekly discussion questions, conversation starters, and personal thoughts. You can read the book before or during the discussion period.

Evening Gathering. Shortly after the online discussion ends, you can choose to attend a special live dinner and discussion hosted by the author/expert. Here, you'll go beyond the book's pages with light, healthy fare, great company, and new insights.

Online discussions are free. To view and participate in them, visit LearningLife anytime during the discussion period. Beyond the Book dinner discussions carry a modest fee, and you must reserve your place in order to participate.

Sign up to receive weekly e-mails when author/experts post new discussion content to all Beyond the Book discussions »

The Omnivore's Dilemma
by Michael Pollan

Program Leaders: Kate VandenBosch and Rob King

Our answers to the question, "What should we have for dinner?" can have far-reaching impacts on our health, our environment, and our economy. Renowned journalist Michael Pollan explores the consequences of food system choices in The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Using this eye-opening book as a starting point, you will explore alternative paths for the U.S. food system, including "conventional" agriculture and food distribution systems, organic agriculture, and local foods. You'll discuss the domestication of the corn plant, the reasons and rationale for current farm policies, the sustainability of "big organic" production and distribution systems, the challenges in developing local food systems, and the joys of foraging for wild foods. At the optional live dinner gathering ($45 per person), you'll meet Kate and Rob and your fellow readers for a real-time dialogue about the opinions and insights the book has provoked. The meal itself will be part of the discussion! The Omnivore's Dilemma is widely available at bookstores and online booksellers.

Free online discussion with Kate and Rob opens Thursday, June 19, 2008, and continues through July 17, 2008.

View/join the discussion »

Sign up to receive a weekly e-mail when Kate and Rob post new discussion content »

Live dinner and discussion at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 24, 2008. Enjoy a chef-prepared meal of organic and local foods at the U of M's beautiful Campus Club.

Reserve your place at the dinner table on July 24 »

Robert King is Professor and Head of the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on management issues facing food retailers, farmers' cooperatives, and the impact of new information technologies on the food system. Rob serves on the board of directors of the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA), and has worked on several recent projects concerning sustainable agriculture and local food systems. He is currently participating in a USDA-funded study on the value of ecolabels in conveying information on food production practices to consumers.

Kathryn VandenBosch is Professor and Head of Plant Biology at the University of Minnesota. Her current research addresses the ways that plants interact with both beneficial and deleterious microbes. In addition, she has been studying how plant cell wall development contributes to biomass quality for biofuel production. Kate serves on the editorial board of the journal Plant Physiology, and has been active nationally promoting research on the genomics of plants. Locally, she has been a leader in helping to define the vision for the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus in light of 21st century challenges in agriculture, the environment, and education.

Last fall, Kate and Rob co-taught The Omnivore's Dilemma: Alternative Paths for the U.S. Food System, an interdisciplinary undergraduate seminar addressing some of the same topics as their Beyond the Book discussion.

Kate and Rob are also participating in The Omnivore's Dilemma: Are We What We Eat? a special one-day Curiosity Camp to be held on August 11, 2008. Explore organic and sustainable agriculture and visit a local organic farm. Learn more/register »

Something to Live For: Finding Your Way in the Second Half of Life
by Richard Leider and David Shapiro

Program Leader: Richard Leider

In Something to Live For: Finding Your Way in the Second Half of Life Richard Leider and co-author David Shapiro draw on ancient and contemporary wisdom, as well as modern research, to provide insights into ways of thinking and being that can help us find meaning and purpose in the second half of life. Using a 2006 African safari as a metaphor for a journey of discovery, they offer moving and sometimes surprising examples of lives that exude authenticity and wholeheartedness, qualities that they believe are essential to genuine meaning and purpose in the second half of life. In this discussion and optional live gathering, you'll explore, with Richard, the diverse pathways to putting our whole selves into the second half of life, and move toward those that are right for you. Each week, Richard will pose questions, offer exercises, and encourage dialogue around these deeply personal yet broadly shared issues. At the optional live dinner gathering ($40 per person), you'll meet Richard and your fellow readers for lively dialogue, new insights, and even some personal trailblazing. Something to Live For is available beginning June 18, 2008, at local bookstores, online booksellers, and through the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Healing by calling 612-624-9459.

Free online discussion with Richard opens on July 31, 2008, and continues through August 21, 2008.

View/join the discussion »

Sign up to receive a weekly e-mail when Richard posts new discussion content »

Live dinner and discussion at 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 4, 2008. Enjoy a delicious light meal at the U of M's beautiful Campus Club.

Reserve your place at the dinner table on
September 4 »

Richard Leider is an internationally renewed life coach, author, and executive educator. A senior fellow at the U of M's Center for Spirituality and Healing, he heads the Purpose Project, an initiative designed to help people find meaning and purpose during the second half of life. He is the author of seven acclaimed books, including the bestseller, Claiming Your Place at the Fire (2004). His new book, Something to Live For: Finding Your Way in the Second Half of Life, drew this praise from Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute: "I cannot think of a more important subject, or a more important book, than this one." Richard is founder and chairman of the Inventure Group, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm, and teaches in the executive education programs of several notable business schools. He passionately believes that each of us is born with a purpose, and he is dedicated to helping people to "discover the power of purpose" as they age.

Celebrate the publication of Something to Live For! Join Richard Leider on June 18 for a special evening where he'll share some of the stories, ideas, and personal experiences that led to this timely book. Hosted by the U of M's Center for Spirituality and Healing in concert with LearningLife.
Full information.

• living and working in accordance with your values?
• looking forward to phased or full retirement?
• in or emerging from midlife and ready to rethink your work life?
• in need of ways to revive your sense of purpose?

How can you live well today and even better tomorrow? Our path through life includes the directions we take, the process of finding our way, and acquiring the wisdom that helps us choose well. It also includes reinventing ourselves along the way while gaining insight into the parts of us that remain constant.

No matter where we are in our journey, life skills workshops help us live well today and prepare for the next stage of life through self-assessment and discovery, planning for transitions, and helping us gain purpose in living.

Led by LearningLife's outstanding educators, workshops range from two hours to a full day, and are offered at a variety of locations. Choose from Financial Planning for Life, Blueprint for a Successful Retirement, My Life Journey: On the Right Path, Personal and Professional Legacies: The Footprints We Leave Behind, Creating Your Future, and more.

Meet LearningLife's faculty of educators »

Sign up to receive LearningLife's e-mail newsletter and learn about upcoming life skills workshops »

Coming Soon!

From eco-travel to the future of Social Security, learn what seasoned experts have to say about topics that are on our minds, affecting our lives, and stirring our imaginations. LearningLife's expert blogs combine information, knowledge, and opinion with opportunities to ask questions and converse with U of M and community-based experts.

All bloggers are respected experts in their fields who have generously agreed to share both their personal and professional points of view. Each values his or her readers (us!) as conversation partners, questioners, and audience members.

Each expert posts biweekly on a different day of the week. That means there will always be something new to chew on, and there will also be plenty of time to comment and ask questions.

Be the first to know about these exciting blogs by authors you know and respect!
Sign up for LearningLife's e-mail newsletter »

In the meantime, take a look at these popular U of M Blogs:

By the People
A blog about civic engagement produced by the Center for Democracy and Citizenship in the U of M's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Features "real-life stories of civic engagement that works, reflections on democracy, and suggestions and examples of how policy makers, elected officials, and citizens can work together to solve public problems and build the common good."

Schwitzer Health News Blog
Gary Schwitzer, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is an expert, and expert watch dog, in the field of health journalism. His blog offers information about, and brief commentary on, health news and information from various print, electronic, and online sources.

Smart Politics
Authored and monitored by Eric Ostermeir, a post doctorate in the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the U of M's Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs, Smart Politics features timely, pointed, nonpartisan discussion and analysis of Upper Midwest and national politics.

Curiosity Camp
Treat yourself to a day of productive play at these unique summer day camps for adults. University and community experts will help you see an intriguing topic or favorite place in a whole new light by taking you out and about, behind the scenes, or away from it all.

Split Rock Arts Program Summer Workshops
Three-day and weeklong summer workshops in creative writing, visual arts, and design, all taught by renowned practicing artists. Workshops take place on the University's beautiful Twin Cities campus and at the Cloquet Forestry Center in northern Minnesota.

Split Rock Soirées
Five evenings of readings and artists' talks that celebrate the energy, accomplishment, and always-entertaining personalities of Split Rock's renowned faculty of artists and writers. Each lively Soirée is followed by a meet-the-artists reception.

Compleat Scholar
Indulge your passion for learning through an ever-changing array of short courses in arts and humanities, literature, science and the environment, and history taught by outstanding U of M faculty and community experts.

Headliners
Make a monthly date with University experts. Get firsthand knowledge of the day's most intriguing stories – the medical breakthroughs, culture clashes, social trends, and foreign affairs that are making news – followed by an open discussion on the issue at hand.

Great Conversations
Preeminent University faculty engage international thought leaders in riveting conversations about the most vital ideas and issues of our time.

Split Rock Arts Program Online Mentoring
for Writers
Strengthen and sustain your writing! This unique online program offers writers individually tailored, one-on-one, constructive assistance with poetry, fiction, and nonfiction projects.

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
A membership-based community of older adults in the Twin Cities metropolitan area who love learning and enjoy spending time with like-minded individuals.

LearningLife and Greater Twin Cities United Way are proud to provide opportunities for you to direct your knowledge, experience, professional skills, and some of your energy toward making a positive impact on our community.

United Way's Next Phase program was created for people who want to transition some of their time from primary livelihoods, parenting, or other midlife obligations to volunteer activities that allow them to grow, learn, and gain purpose through giving back.

United Way is your link to volunteer opportunities that address our community’s most critical problems. By reaching out, you can make a lasting contribution toward reaching these immediate goals:

Meeting Basic Needs

• Reduce hunger in the metro area 20 percent by 2009.
• In partnership with the Governor's initiative, end long-term homelessness in the Twin Cities by 2010.
• Improve the financial stability of 40,000 individuals by 2009.

Supporting Health and Independence

• Increase access to healthcare for an additional 25,000 people by 2010.
• Increase healthy preventive behaviors among an additional 15,000 children by 2010.
• Help an additional 15,000 seniors and people with disabilities maximize their independence by 2010.

Nurturing Children and Families

• Reduce family violence by increasing access to services 20 percent by 2012.
• Increase the number of third-graders from low-income families reading at grade level to 80 percent by 2012.
• Reach 15,000 additional youth through quality out-of-school time programming by 2012.

Choose from an array of opportunities directed at meeting these goals, from technology assistance and tax preparation to gardening, tutoring, and much more. Take an assessment to help you find your ideal volunteer situation. And once you’re underway, keep the energy going by inspiring us with your story.

Next Phase with Greater Twin Cities United Way.

The minute you enter, you can feel the excitement in the air! LearningLife's fall and spring Fests are special daylong gatherings where we take a break from our routine to recharge, refresh, and discover what's new. Engage with outstanding experts, connect with interesting people, participate in diverse learning experiences, and renew your sense of purpose.

Learn more about the 2008 Spring Fest »

Richard Leider: Facing the Midlife Challenge (MP3)

Almost everyone in midlife ponders the question, "What's next?" And for good reason. Experts are now saying that as long as we stay vital and engaged, midlife can last well into our 70s. Listen to internationally renowned life coach, author, and executive educator Richard Leider as he shows us how to renew our gifts, passions, and values in the second half of life.

What do you do after being inspired by Richard? First, read his much-anticipated new book, Something to Live For: Finding Your Way in the Second Half of Life. Then, join his LearningLife Beyond the Book online discussion and culminating dinner conversation! More information.

(Want the podcast? Subscribe either through iTunes or through other podcast reading software.)

  

Catherine Watson: Living a Renewable Life (MP3)

Catherine Watson was the first travel editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and its chief travel writer and photographer for 26 years. Four years ago, she retired from "the best job in the world" so she could write a book. Within three days, she was stuck. It wasn't writer's block, it was writer's dismay. And it came as a surprise to her, the first of many. Life, it turns out, really IS a journey. Listen to, and laugh with, Catherine Watson as she shares some of the bumps, detours, sharp turns and, ultimately, joyful discoveries along her path.

Do you miss Catherine's unique travel writing in the Star Tribune? Do you want to hear more of her wisdom and wit? Then check out her expert blog, coming soon to LearningLife!

Sign up to receive biweekly e-mails when Catherine Watson posts to her LearningLife blog.

(Want the podcast? Subscribe either through iTunes or through other podcast reading software.)

  

Five Great Ideas
Given the current state of human and planetary affairs, how can we create a sustainable future? Join educator, architect, and creativity expert Jerry Allan as he helps us imagine a better world and focus our visions to create it.

Great Conversations
Listen to audio from this signature interview series, including American Democracy in Dissent with Daniel Ellsberg and Larry Jacobs, What Happened to Your Parachute? The New Face of the Working World with Richard Boles and Richard Leider, What's Making America Fat? The Obesity Epidemic with David Kessler and Allan Levine, and many more.

Headliners
Listen to audio from this monthly date with the experts, including On the Road in Search of Latino America with Louis Mendoza, Bridges Fall Down with John S. Adams, The Next Generation of Biofuels with David Tilman, and many more.

Strategic Leadership Insights
View presentations on transforming the workforce by key leaders, including succession management expert Elaine Sloan on Keys to Successful Succession Management: Building a Leadership Pipeline for Tomorrow and Minnesota state demographer Tom Gillaspy on Radical Demographic Changes.

Developing Relationships, Encouraging Dreams
View an inspiring video of renowned nature photographer Craig Blacklock as he nurtures a special student at the Split Rock Arts Program.

Part of the Academic Health Center, the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Healing is an internationally-recognized as a resource and leader in complementary therapies and healing practices. The Center's goal is to transform the delivery of healthcare in the United States. By educating health professionals and students, conducting rigorous scientific research, providing meaningful outreach programs, and working with partners, the Center aims to enrich the health and well-being of consumers everywhere.
Get acquainted with the Center »

LearningLife is proud to promote the Center's unique programs and resources. Here are some of special interest:

Taking Charge of Your Health
The Center's consumer health care Web site invites visitors to expand their options with complementary and alternative therapies, become more informed and involved health care consumers, and care for body, mind, and spirit.

Working on Purpose Workshops
Part of the Center's Purpose Project, which was founded by renowned life coach and Center senior fellow Richard Leider, these popular daylong workshops are for people who want to explore alternatives to the conventional notion of retiring from work. They are held several times a year; be sure to visit the Center's Web site for upcoming dates.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
The Center offers eight-week courses in several convenient metro-area locations. Learn to consciously and methodically deal with stress, pain, illness, and demands of everyday life. MBSR can help you cope and live more fully with challenges like chronic pain, family and job pressures, sleep disorders, and other stress-producers.

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