When she discovered the idea of a personal curriculum, today’s guest couldn’t wait to apply this concept to her reading life.

Amy St. Amand, a primary care clinical pharmacist from Rhode Island, wants to know a little bit about a whole lot of things. She’s working to build a personal learning plan that encompasses a variety of her assorted interests. When she sent in her submission to join me on the show, she explained her project and asked for my help in developing and refining her selected topics.

I couldn’t wait to hear more about Amy’s approach, why this idea resonated with her so much, and her progress so far. After we hear more about Amy’s project, I recommend a whole lot of mostly nonfiction books that will help Amy delve deeper into her chosen topics.

Please share your suggestions for Amy or tell us about a topic in your personal curriculum by leaving a comment below.

Find Amy on Goodreads and Fable.

More resources for your personal curriculum

If you’re a member of our Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club, today’s topic may sound familiar in a really fun way. We touched on the idea of a personal curriculum in our recent book club class, A Close Look at Great Books. Among other topics, this class explored our community manager Ginger Horton’s ongoing grad school experience focused on a Great Books curriculum, and how you can apply some of the great books ideas to your own reading life.

If this sounds like good nerdy fun to you, head over to ⁠ModernMrsDarcy.com/club⁠ for even more of these types of conversations.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
• Mary Roach (try Packing for Mars)
❤ Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
• The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman
❤ My Friends by Fredrik Backman
❤ Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
▵ Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
• Fleetwood Mac All the Songs by Olivier Roubin and Romuald Ollivier
• Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat (Audio edition)
• Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
• Good Things by Samin Nosrat
• On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee
• Keys to Good Cooking by Harold McGee
• Science & Cooking: Physics Meets Food, from Homemade to Haute Cuisine by Michael Brenner, Pia Sörensen, and David Weitz
• National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home by Anya von Bremzen
• This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin
• I Heard There Was a Secret Chord by Daniel J. Levitin 
• This Is What It Sounds Like by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas
• How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy
• Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks
• Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard by Nora Ellen Groce
• True Biz by Sara Novic
• Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare Lezotte
• Hera by Jennifer Saint
• The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (Audio edition narrated by Claire Danes)
• This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
• Natalie Haynes (try Stone Blind)
• Claire Heywood (try Daughters of Sparta)
• Madeline Miller (try Circe)

Also mentioned:

• A Close Look at Great Books
• Developing a Personal Curriculum
• The Great Courses: Building a Better Vocabulary
• The Great Courses: Warping Reality: Inside the Psychology of Cults
• The Great Courses: American Sign Language for Everyone
• Let’s Talk About Greek Mythology for Readers
• Please support our sponsors.