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I am chairing my university's first-year common read book selection committee. I was on this committee last year and it ended up being the biggest time sink of any committee I've been on, because we had no guidance for a topic, so we ended up starting with a really wide net and it took us months and many meetings to narrow things down. This year, I asked for a topic or two to start with, and the Provost have given me the following: the use and misuse of social media OR evaluating the reliability of information in the digital age.
I have a few titles in mind already, and I'm sure the other committee members will have lots of ideas. But I wanted to ask the pen if you have read anything great in one of these two areas that you would like to recommend. One thing I am wary of is picking something controversial. Last year, we settled on Conditional Citizens: On Belong in America and we got a lot of push back from parents when their kids were mailed their copy about it being biased and inappropriate (it had a couple of graphic descriptions). So, that makes me wary of one book I have on my read list: Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. But it does look good and accessible to first-year students. Anyone have any recommendations?
I have a few titles in mind already, and I'm sure the other committee members will have lots of ideas. But I wanted to ask the pen if you have read anything great in one of these two areas that you would like to recommend. One thing I am wary of is picking something controversial. Last year, we settled on Conditional Citizens: On Belong in America and we got a lot of push back from parents when their kids were mailed their copy about it being biased and inappropriate (it had a couple of graphic descriptions). So, that makes me wary of one book I have on my read list: Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. But it does look good and accessible to first-year students. Anyone have any recommendations?
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