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Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 15:17:40 GMT |
Cutting Costs for College Textbooks -- NPR
(+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25). (28 December 2018) Mexico 7th Ed. is currently available online from about $18.46 new, $17.00 used |
| UMD Bookstore | | | Amazon.com | | | Barnes and Noble |
| CampusBooks.com | | | Chegg [rental] | | | ecampus.com | | | half.com |
| booksprice.com | | | CheapestTextbooks.com | | | CourseSmart.com | | | TextbookMedia.com |
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Welcome to Ancient Cultures of Middle America This will be a great course, and a great experience. You will see. . . . I am looking forward to meeting you in person on the17th. . . . In the meantime, you might want to have a look at the information in your Right off the bat you might also be interested in the textbooks for the course. Information on the textbook can be found at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3618/matext.html#title>. 
The Maya (9th Ed.) The Maya 9th Ed. is currently available online from about $18.32 new, $12.68 used, $12.99 Kindle
Mexico (7th Ed.) Mexico (7th Ed.) is currently available online from about $20.22 new, $12.40 used
More information on the text is available on the course text WebPage at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3618/matext.html#title>. Thousands of other books are available free online, full text versions <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/reference/books.html#title>, and might occasionally be useful in one or more of your other courses. And more information on textbooks in general can be found at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/tr/trtextbooks.html#title>. One of the four main characteristics of American Anthropology is fieldwork, "a primary research technique, involving “participant observation," which usually means living among the people one is interested in learning from and about. It would be wonderful if for anthropology classes we could just rent a bus or charter a plane and fly off for a year or more to learn first-hand from the people themselves. Money, time, and practicality prohibit that, so the next best things—when it comes to studying anthropology—is going to places and viewing subjects by film. More information on Visual Anthropology is available on-line at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1604/visual_anthropology.html#title>. Be sure to have a look at that. You will find the names of some of the places confusing at first—don't let that bother you. After about six weeks they will start sounding familiar to you. Many of the names are in Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) or in a Maya or other Mesoamerican dialect so they will sound a bit exotic at first. You will not have to memorize the names, just be able to recognize the major locations and peoples. Exams will be open-book essays constructed from a list of study questions that you help create, so it would be a good idea for you to have your own copy of each text you plan to use in the exams (see above), and it is a good idea that you take your reading notes right in your copy of the text itself. One thing that you should keep in mind when approaching the readings, which I will talk more about as the class progresses, is that as mentioned above the exams are open-book. And for that you should normally just need to read the books carefully and be able to discuss them intelligently. That is, you should read these as if you had picked them up at an airport or neighborhood bookshop because you were interested in the subject and wanted to know more about it, just like millions of people have been doing with Michael Coe’s many books for decades. And they are still reading them in everyday life today. Your textbooks are two of the most read books on Ancient Middle America—which is in part why you can purchase them at such a bargain price. In short, this class aims to give you practice in critical thinking, and even creativity.
Critical thinking, involving evaluation and synthesis, has long been regarded as essential for success in the modern-day world. In recent years, actually for two decades, creativity has also become central to success, and "process skills" have become vital to creativity. Process skills involve "strategies to reframe challenges and extrapolate and transform information, and to accept and deal with ambiguity" (Pappano, "Learning to Think Outside the Box," The New York Times EducationLife, 9 February 2014, 8). Laura Pappano, writer in residence at Wellesley Center for Women at Wellesley College, points out that "In 2010 'creativity' was the factor mos crucial for success found in an I.B.M. survey of 1,500 chief executives in 33 industries. These days 'creative' is the most used buzzword in LinkedIn profiles two years running" (2014, 8). Here's a recent interesting article from Minnesota Public Radio . . . How to choose college classes: 6 tips With all of the materials you will be expected to share your ideas and comments with others in the Class Forums and wikis. I'm looking forward to that. Finally, laptops are welcome, in fact encouraged, in the classroom. Many find a laptop quite useful in following the class materials. You can, for example, download all of the slide materials used in class. So once again, welcome to Ancient Middle America. This will be a great course, and a great experience. You will see. . . . Have a great Labor Day . . . . If you have any questions right now, please do not hesitate to post them on the Moodle "Messenger" or e-mail troufs@d.umn.edu, or stop in before class at Cina 215 [ map <http://www.d.umn.edu/~giscalab/images/campus_map.gif>].
Best Wishes, Tim Roufs P.S. If you are new to the world of "technology" don't worry too much about that. Things may not "work" for you at first, but hang in there and we'll help you along. |
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The Maya (9th Ed.)
Michael D. Coe and Stephen D. Houston (NY: Thames and Hudson, 2015) The Maya 9th Ed. is currently available online from about $18.32 new, $12.68 used, $12.99 Kindle
"The Maya has long been established as the best, most readable introduction to the New World's greatest ancient civilization. In these pages Professor Coe distills a life-time's scholarship for the general reader and student." "Since the publication of the sixth edition of The Maya, new sites have been uncovered and further excavations in old sites have proceeded at an unprecedented pace. Among the many new discoveries is the chance find of extraordinary murals dating to ca. AD 100 at San Bartolo in the Petén. New epigraphic, archaeological, and osteological research has thrown light on the identity of the "founding fathers" of such great sites as Tikal and Copan, and their close affiliation with Teotihuacan in central Mexico. The previously little known center of Ek' Balam in northeastern Yucatan has turned out to be a regional kingdom of major importance, with extraordinary stucco reliefs and a plethora of painted inscriptions." "It has now become apparent that the birth of Maya civilization lies not in the Classic but during the Preclassic period, above all in the Mirador Basin of Northern Guatemala, where the builders of gigantic ancient cities (interconnected by causeways) erected by the world's largest pyramid as early as 200 BC. All of these finds suggest that we must rethink what we mean by 'Classic.'" "The seventh edition also presents new evidence for the use of wetlands by the Classic Maya, and fresh perspectives on the close of the ninth century." "Michael D. Coe is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University. His many other books include Mexico, The True History of Chocolate, Breaking the Maya Code, Reading the Maya Glyphs, and Angkor and the Khmer Civilization." "As a general introduction, this seems all that is
needed." "The rise, development, and fall of this amazing culture is explained factually and succinctly." — Library Journal
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Mexico (7th Ed.)
Michael
D. Coe a (NY: Thames and
Hudson, 2013) Mexico (7th Ed.) is currently available online from about $19.33 new, $13.08 used
"Michael D. Coe's Mexico has long been recognized as the most readable and authoritative introduction to the region's ancient civilizations. This companion to his best-selling The Maya has now been completely revised and expanded for the fifth edition by Professor Coe and Rex Koontz." "The sixth edition includes new developments in the birth of agriculture and writing, both of which were independently invented here. Fresh insights into the metropolis of Teotihuacán reveal a world of palaces and warrior cults brought down by social revolts. A spectacular new find in the center of the Aztec capital, just unearthed, gives us a privileged glimpse into the funerary rites of the most powerful monarch in North America at the time." "Michael D. Coe is Professor Emeritus of anthropology at Yale University. His many books include The Maya, Breaking the Maya Code, Reading the Maya Glyphs, and, with his late wife, Sophie D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (all published by Thames & Hudson). Rex Koontz teaches art history at the University of Houston. He is senior editor of Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica and the author of articles on Ancient Mexican art, architecture, and aesthetics." "Compendious . . . the first history that puts the subject in its full geographical and climatic context. . . . Coe has done admirably."—The Times Literary Supplement
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