I wish UCLA had more professors like Michael North.

He is truly amazing in all his intelligence and brilliance. He is the only professor I know who comes into lecture without any notes at all and memorizes all the page numbers of the passages he refers to. He is effortlessly witty and just plain amazing!
On the first day of discussion, my t.a. (Brewer) told us that North is a "demi-god", just we wait and see. And after just one more lecture, I found that it is true! North really is a demi-god!

Although he never emailed us or encouraged us to come to office hour, I never felt any communication barrier or misunderstanding, probably because 1) he communicated everything extremely clearly every lecture, and 2) he chose good teaching assistants.

In terms of difficulty, I didn't expect this class to be easy peasy, but I didn't expect it to be so difficult to do well, either. The course consists of three papers, each worth 20%, participation in section worth 10%, and a (mostly subjective in that it's short answer and long essay) final worth 30%. Although it was difficult to get an A (I would know, I never got one...), it wasn't discouraging, because my teaching assistant was always so generous with and helpful during office hour. Brewer is almost just as awesome as North himself! Although, in very different ways, of course.

There are many books to read for this class, and you really should read them all, because the short answer portion of the final asks for a few facts (objective) that you have to extrapolate (subjective). But if you don't read the works on time (do plan to catch up, though!), it's temporarily okay, because after every lecture, you'll feel like you've already read the book in its entirety. Because North is just that brilliant.

In short, whether it's English 10C or English 100something, take it if North is teaching it. You'll have a wonderful experience regardless of a demoralizing C+ on your first paper.

Professor North is a witty, organized, brilliant professor. He is an excellent lecturer, and every word he has to say is gold. Unfortunately, he has a monotone voice which makes listening to his every word a little difficult sometimes.

The only negative thing I have to say about him is that he assigns paper prompts that could easily be answered in a paragraph or two. I would literally sit in front of my computer screen for hours trying to expand without sounding repetitive or like I was trying to change the prompt.

While Professor North is extremely brilliant, engaging, funny, and insightful, he is not so warm outside of the the lecture hall. I would definitely not be discouraged to take 10C with North as his class is incredibly worthwhile, but it is something to take into account if you frequent office hours. I feel like a small part of the English department dies when professors don't seem very engaged to meet their pupils..

Professor North is brilliant and his lectures are extremely engaging. I would definitely recommend him to anyone looking for an enlightening experience!