Visions: Readings for a Changing World

Visions presents readings organized by themes that stimulate readers to critically evaluate recent changes in our culture and society brought about by technological and business innovations. The readings in the book direct readers to question whether the rapid changes to our reality are all positive and whether society and culture is losing some of its basic values by so readily embracing change. The main issue running throughout most of the readings and assignments is the conflicting, often competing, roles that the lure of complex technologies and the comfort of simpler, older ones play in all our lives. Six thematic units contain readings separated into smaller units that enable students to focus on a limited topic, to read a few selections on that topic, and to write analytically in response to differing viewpoints. Extensive pedagogy includes reading headnotes with pre-reading questions, aphorisms that provide occasions for short writing assignments in each unit, and writing ssignments that consider each reading cluster together. For beginning composition writers.