Assigning a summer reading to entering freshmen is a growing trend at hundreds of American colleges and universities. Colleges typically pick one book and ask students to read it outside their courses. Many invite the author to help kick off the year by speaking on campus at convocation. Most colleges see the key purpose of a common reading…

Many college courses have historically been associated with large amounts of reading. For example, many biology courses required students to read trade books such as Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (Carson, 1962), or James Watson's "The Double Helix" (Watson, 1980), but now most instructors elect to focus students' reading on course textbooks and…

A case is made for the assigned reading of ancient and modern literary classics, rather than modern essay collections, in college freshman composition classes. The effectiveness of a number of classics used for that purpose for 13 years in the freshman courses at Haverford College is discussed. Classwork in the Haverford program is described, and…