I will be teaching an honors seminar this summer in which we will explore extreme behaviors (for lack of a better term). The students will get an overview of major motivation theories, but the bulk of the course will be spent examining motivation from first person accounts of why people do extreme (risky) things. I'm looking for suggested readings that might be good for discussions on motivation.
Here are some topics and texts that I am currently considering 1) Into the Wild - John Krakauer (although not first person it does contain journal entries from a college graduate who "dropped out" of society and ultimately dies in the Alaskan wilderness 2) any number of mountaineering books/journals written by climbers - what I'm lacking is something describing the people who pay thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of dollars to be guided up a mountain. It seems the motives are very different. 3) We by Charles Lindberg 4) Warriors Don't Cry - Melba Patillo Beals - one of the students who first integrated Little Rock Central High in 1957 5) Still looking for something about ultra marathons or extreme running (e.g., the Leadville 100) I'm also looking at excerpts from other explorers journals (e.g., Ernest Shackleton, Lewis and Clark - but most are so focused on recording the facts that they give you very little insight into why they did what they did). One thing I have noticed is the common use of mountaineering/polar exploration as cover art for books on business motivation and in conjunction with that the number of adventurers on the motivational speaker tours. Any ideas on why? Doug Doug Peterson Associate Professor of Psychology The University of South Dakota Vermillion SD 57069 (605) 677-5295 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
