University Connections

2012 Common Literature Experience

The Beast in the Garden, By David Baron

The Beast in the Garden

"When residents of Boulder, Colorado, suddenly began to see mountain lions in their backyards, it became clear that the cats had returned after decades of bounty hunting had driven them far from human settlement. In a riveting environmental tale that has received huge national attention, journalist David Baron traces the history of the mountain lion and chronicles one town's tragic effort to coexist with its new neighbors. As thought-provoking as it is harrowing, The Beast in the Garden is a tale of nature corrupted, the clash between civilization and wildness, and the artificiality of the modern American landscape. It is, ultimately, a book about the future of our nation, where suburban sprawl and wildlife-protection laws are pushing people and wild animals into uncomfortable, sometimes deadly proximity." -www.goodreads.com

 

More Information

David Baron

Convocation Speaker

David Baron, Author of The Beast in the Garden
Saturday, August 25- 9:30 a.m.
Kent Concert Hall in the Chase Fine Arts Center - Utah State Campus

David Baron has spent more than 25 years as a science journalist for public radio. A former environment correspondent for NPR, he currently serves as health and science editor for The World, a daily international news program co-produced by the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston. Baron’s reporting has taken him from India to Africa, Iceland to the South Pole, and has earned him the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club of America, the Alfred I. duPont Award from Columbia University, and, on three occasions, the annual journalism prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Baron has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Reader’s Digest, and Outside Magazine. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, where The Beast in the Garden is set.

The public is welcome to join first-year students in attending the Common Literature Convocation and listening to author David Baron speak. This year's convocation will also be broadcast live at http://aggiecast.usu.edu.

Literature Assignment

If you are a student in the 2012 University Connections class, please go here for a copy of the literature assignment.