Back to school - College de France

It's been another 2 months since my last post.  I know that I'm writing these posts for me, to have a record of what goes on in my life, but if they are of interest to others, so much the better. So 2 months seems to be the rhythm, and I guess that's fine.

I've discovered (oh, I knew about it, but I didn't realize how wonderful it was), the College de France.  Wikipedia says this:

"What makes it unique is that each professor is required to give lectures where attendance is free and open to anyone. The school's goal is to "teach science in the making" and therefore the professors are chosen from among the foremost researchers of the day, with no requirement other than that of being at the top of their fields. They are chosen from a variety of disciplines, in both science and the humanities. The motto of the Collège is "Docet Omnia," Latin for "It teaches everything", and its goal can be best summed up by Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phrase: "Not preconceived notions, but the idea of free thought".

The breadth and depth of this institution, created in 1530, is amazing.  This morning I just showed up at 9:30, and listened to an interesting talk about how children learn to talk and read, starting in the womb.  Last week I went to a class about Mozart, complete with live music and explanations.   Everything from astrophysics ( I won't be sampling that this week, especially in French), the temples of Karnak, Indo-iranian religion and languages, intellectual history of China, cognitive experimental psychology - my head spins when I look at the choices.

No homework, no papers, just a seminar, or class, with Q&A after, and some interaction with the audience.  Needless to say, I intend to take full advantage of this.

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