Most Interesting Class You've Taken?

System-AX · 05-01-2007, 07:39 PM

What's the most interesting class you've taken at Cal and why?

sweetdreams87 · 05-02-2007, 04:18 AM

THANK GOD it's not another "easiest" class. It's nice to know that some students still value the quality of the class and not just how it will affect their GPA.

I guess I'm speaking from a social sciences perspective, but I really love my History 124B class (US History 1940-1973) with Katherine Frydl. She is such a good professor, and I've found that it's rare for young professors to be much good so this was a pleasant surprise. She offers interesting insights/perspectives and is extremely funny. She's teaching a class on how the US became a liberal superpower for the fall semester.

IAS45 with Karras is another good course; again, all due to the prof.

andrewtdx · 05-02-2007, 11:06 AM

The most interesting class I've ever taken is a tie between American Studies 110 and German 160B for me... the first, at least for that unit, was about consumerism and the profound effect it has had on American Culture. Professor Moran is brilliant and taught the course very well. I was captivated by it and it had a great number of insights into what is wrong with American society today (I could write another 50 page dissertation on this) and what is wonderful about it, and offered potential and oftentimes practical solutions.

German 160B was a course on Nazism and Propaganda, and it revealed how an entire nation can be so easily duped into believing everything their leaders tell them or at least be bullied into doing so. It is a course that is both horrifying and timely.

punkdudeus · 05-02-2007, 11:22 AM

history 7b with pulitzer prize winner litwack (although he's retiring now) has been AWESOME, he's a great lecturer and shows you US history from a bottom up perspective, some really intense stuff.

GoBears2010 · 05-02-2007, 03:51 PM

L&S 180C: Politics of Music w/ Prof Zook

Awesome professor, awesome class!!! I took it my first semester here and it will probably be my fave class ever. Zook is really cool and he always ends the last lecture of the week with the "Song of the Week."

Golden Bear · 05-02-2007, 05:39 PM

Astro C12/EPS C12 w/ Prof. Geoff Marcy and Prof. Michael Manga

Both of the professors are awesome. The material covered is pretty interesting and the grading is very lenient. 50% of grade is based on homework. Marcy is very interested in teaching students about our planetary system and especially so on his specialty, extra-solar planets. He is one of the world's foremost experts on discovering planets around other stars and is credited with the most discoveries of extra-solar planets and Time even wrote an article about him!

This is a must take class as you won't have many chances of taking an undergraduate class with a world class researcher who actually loves teaching to normal students!

blondeonblonde · 05-02-2007, 08:40 PM

Anything with Professor Zook is the best. It's unfortunate that one of the best teachers at Cal is getting railroaded by the Poli Sci department.

DRab · 05-07-2007, 06:34 AM

Physics for future Presidents with Muller, Rhetoric 10 with Coffeen, or intro to Western Music with Moroney.

crumja · 05-09-2007, 02:36 AM

UGBA 100 with Arturo Perez-Reyes was the absolute best class I've taken. I highly recommend it regardless of your major. It taught me how to write, talk, think logically and critically, and to present myself. The man also has an inexhaustible store of knowledge and is well read on everything from history to Linux to Rolex and male/female relations.

One caveat: he's the hardest prof I've had. I don't know anyone who got a straight up A in the class when I took it.