The class was straightforward with the grading fair, reading wasn't too heavy but it could get a little dense. Professor was very dull & disengaging, you could tell everyone was dreading being in lecture. The material has potential to be interesting but the way it's presented reflects a very clear agenda of the department. Don't take unless needed!

Tests consist of material pulled directly from powerpoints, readings, & lecture intros. Reading load is heavy, but straightforward. Boring lectures and he goes off on tangents- just know what's on the slides (luckily he sends them out). He stressed reading intros before lectures, but often posted them way later (kind of annoying). Easy pop quizzes.

Gunn is pretty verbose in his explanations, both in class and in the reading. Just as others on here are saying, I think he likes to display his intelligence by pumping the lecture slides full of multi-syllabic words that are pretty unnecessary and often seem to confuse even him. Pop quizzes weren't difficult if you did the reading.

Prof Gunn is very intelligent, but when he tries to communicate his points, he comes off as long-winded and difficult to comprehend. He often can't finish his lectures on time bc they are so dense with info. Still a caring/kind dude who deserves respect. Tests are easy as long as you read lecture intros, and pop quizzes in section every 3 weeks.

Super smart guy, but I don't think he should be teaching an intro class. His readings are way too long than it needs to be and loses the main idea after too many lines. Lectures he tries to cram too much info and doesn't even post the lecture slides. The topics of the class are interesting but I think he's better suited for upper division students

Horrible prof, would not take this class again with him again. Class material isn't bad, but the readings are long and drawn out. Final and midterm are written horribly. Lecture is unnecessary and extremely boring. Just read the slides later.

He just reads off the lecture slides in class, expects you to read 100+ pages of readings for every class and his tests are punitive and redundant. Obviously a smart guy but doesn't know how to teach. Definitely the worst GLOBL professor I've had at UCSB. I would never take another class with him.

My God someone needs to introduce him to a period because his lectures and readings are way more drawn-out and lengthy than they need to be. It's easy to get bogged down and lose whatever meaning he's trying to impart. Super smart guy, he just doesn't know how to convey it to students taking an intro course. Pop quizzes in section every 3 weeks.

The class I took I believe is no longer offered, but Professor Gunn is an excellent teacher. He provides great feedback on essays and has lectures that will leave you thinking. He promotes discussion and gets a lot of people to participate.

At the beginning I did not know what to study exactly since it was very conceptual and expects you to think outside the box. However the lectures are what he bases his tests on so if you understand what he's talking about its actually pretty interesting and makes you think. The papers were broad but it was easy to write about anything. TAs grade it

The lectures are interesting but sometimes hard to understand. If you do all the readings, you will find the lectures really helpful. Many perspectives in this class will change the way of thinking. The exams are fair. One short paper, one long paper, one midterm and the final. Grading is also fair. Pro. Gunn is very inspirational. Recommended.

Professor Gunn was very confusing to understand in his lectures as he would cram too much material and move too quickly. His midterm and final were tough and contained a lot of double negative questions. There were around 8 books plus a reader required for this course which was overwhelming.

I enjoyed this class, the information and perspective given was very interesting, although sometimes my mind tended to wander due to his voice. The textbook and reader were important mostly for section, most of what was on the finals were from his lecture slides.

The man definitely knows his stuff. You will have to stay on your toes during lecture he moves fast and you don't want to fall behind. Keeping up could be challenging on the whole, I really liked his lectures. If you stay away awake and keep up with the readings you'll do alright. This is a great professor and his class is worth the effort.

Great speaker and very intelligent professor! His lectures keep your attention and he makes lots of connections to the modern world that kept me engaged in class. The midterm was pretty easy and the writing requirement was easy to fulfill.

I really liked him. He kept the lectures interesting and the midterm was super easy. It also allows you to fulfill a writing requirement without having to write a real paper, just short summaries of the arguments in all the readings.

At first I wasn't too into the lectures, but one day I decided to sit right up front and actually pay close attention, and now I love them! Professor Gunn gets really into his lectures and he's very lively. He does use college level vocabulary, but people, its college.

Great professor, great human being. Really cares about his students and wants them to succeed. Really, really, REALLY smart. As illustrated by many of the reviews, do not take his class if you are an idiot/can't understand big words/think college should be really easy. Great opportunity to learn from an incredible mind.

this is a very boring class. prof gunn is an entertaining lecturer but is impossible to follow. he talks way too fast and makes little sense. you have to do the readings, even though they are also long and unclear. best part about this class is you get writing credit w/o having to do any essays

Gunn makes many things too complicated. He often takes 30 minutes explaining things that could very well be explained in 5. His tests are also very wordy. This is not much of a problem because both the midterm and final are each 20% of the grade. The largest comes from the reading notes. Do well on those. Dude has a golden voice made for radio.

People say he is super intelligent, which he is but he unnecessarily complicates things seemingly to make them sound smarter. If you actually listen to what he says, some of it doesn't make sense. His definitions of basic topics such as capitalism were fundamentally wrong and completely contradicted most of what I learned in other classes.

Took his 3 week summer class and it was cake. did no reading got a B. jsut GO to lecture and remember what he says. very theoretical and uses big words, but intelligent guy and interesting. great 4 units for 3 weeks take this class....

This is the best professor I have ever had, Immediately after taking this class I went to administration to see about any research opportunities with him. You will not find another professor who will teach you at this level of depth. If you treat this like a GE you would be making a huge mistake.

not a bad class at all, got a C on the midterm and C on the final and still got an A in the class, do your reading notes worth 40% of your grade. The readings not that bad and he goes over some of it in lecture. his lectures go way to fast and sometimes that prevents you from actually learning the material as he teaches it. TAKE A LAPTOP!