2024 Common Read Reveal
The 2024 Campus and Community Common Read will be revealed on Wednesday, April 24 at 4 p.m.
Faculty, staff, students and community members are invited to join the Common Read Committee at the Briggs Library for light refreshments where the book will be revealed along with a brief overview of themes and future engagement opportunities. We hope to see you there!
What is the Common Read?
Each year, honors champions a campus and community Common Read experience. This initiative is designed to bring together people from all areas of campus and the Brookings community to learn, discuss and engage a singular, impactful book and associated themes.
The Common Read started in 2009. It was originally designed to raise the level of academic challenge at SDSU, enhance our awareness of diverse perspectives, increase faculty and student interaction, encourage service and promote enriching, engaging educational experiences both inside and outside class.
The Common Read Committee is a group of students, faculty, staff and community members who plan and implement the Common Read experience each year. The group selects the book, provides training for faculty and staff who will be teaching the book and plans numerous events designed to encourage participation and employ critical thinking around the text.
Throughout the fall semester, the Common Read Committee partners with the Brookings Human Rights Commission and other campus and community groups to sponsor and support Common Read events on campus and within the Brookings community. These strong partnerships garner a large amount of campus and community support and involvement with the Common Read.
2023's Common Read Selection
"An Immense World" by Ed Yong was the selection for the 2023 Campus and Community Common Read. Rebecca Skloot, author of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," says "This book feels like a tremendous burst of oxygen, animating everything around us with life and color and texture and wonder at precisely the moment we all need it."
Ed Yong is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, and is the author of two New York Times bestsellers - our 2023 Common Read "An Immense World," about the extraordinary sensory worlds of other animals; and "Contain Multitudes," about the amazing partnerships between animals and microbes.
In 2023 we explored the central theme Sensing "Our" World, where we took the opportunity to explore our own sensory experiences while learning, understanding and appreciating the experience of animals that share the natural world with us.
2022's Common Read Selection
"Crossing the Line" by Kareem Rosser was the selection for the 2022 Campus and Community Common Read. Previous Common Read author Wes Moore says, "Crossing the Line" is truly a special book. It will leave you with not just hope but also ideas on how to make that hope transferable."
Kareem Rosser is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. in economics from Colorado State University, where he led his collegiate polo team to a national championship. Kareem is a financial analyst and serves as the executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Work to Ride.
In 2022 we explored the acronym T.E.A.M.: Truth, Empowerment, Attitude, Mentoring.
