The Great Good Place

The book that named the third place and gave it eight characteristics. Every other reading on this list is either evidence for it or an argument with it.

Ray Oldenburg (1989). Paragon House.

Primary reading — read it before the lecture that sets it.

Oldenburg’s claim is that a life needs three settings, not two: home, work, and somewhere else. The somewhere else is neutral ground, it levels rank, the main activity is conversation, it is open at odd hours, it has regulars, it is plain, the mood is playful, and it feels like a home away from home. Those are the eight rules, and week 1 spends the whole lecture on them.

Read it for the eight characteristics, and read it sceptically. Oldenburg was writing in 1989, about mostly American, mostly male, mostly white rooms, and he is frankly nostalgic in places. The question this course asks you to carry through all twelve weeks is which of the eight are load-bearing and which are just the 1980s. You will not be able to answer that until you have sat in a place yourself, which is what Thursdays are for.