Books and Coffee series to take up nonfiction, poetry and sci-fi views of life

One of Purdue’s long traditions, the Books and Coffee series this year will feature two looks at current institutional and social environments, poems about a journey that grew out of a journey, and one of the most influential of all sci-fi works — all through the scholarly eyes of Purdue faculty.

Presented by the Department of English and Purdue Student Union Board, the 72nd annual Books and Coffee series will take place at 4-5 p.m. every Thursday in February in Stewart Center, Room 302/306. Coffee and other hot beverages will be served at 4-4:30 p.m., and the talks will take place from 4:30-4:55 p.m. Those attending will need to follow Protect Purdue protocols.

The series was launched in 1951 and includes talks by notable Purdue faculty on recent books that have made waves. The books listed here will be available at Von’s Bookstore in West Lafayette and Second Flight Books in Lafayette. All events are free and open to the public.

The event dates and descriptions are as follows:

* Feb. 3. “The Inequality Machine: How College Divides Us” by Paul Tough. Presented by Joel Ebarb, executive associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and professor of theatre. Through new research and stories of students’ efforts to get into college, the book examines how and for whom the higher education system works.

* Feb. 10. “Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language” by Gretchen McCulloch. Presented by Olga Dmitrieva, associate professor in the School of Languages and Cultures. This book describes how the internet is changing the English language, why that’s a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are.

* Feb. 17. “MPH and Other Road Poems” by Ed Roberson. Presented by Peter Moore, clinical assistant professor in the Honors College. Roberson writes in and from the moment in poems shaped by his rediscovery in 2015 of his own manuscript from a motorcycle cross-country round trip in 1970.

* Feb. 24. “Dune” by Frank Herbert. Presented by Richard Johnson-Sheehan, professor of English. This collection of futuristic novels from 1969 to 1985, dealing with matters such as ecology, genetic manipulation and mysticism, has been translated into 14 languages with a science fiction record of 12 million copies sold.