Common Book chosen for 2007 - 08

Last week, the UW Undergraduate Academic Affairs department announced next year's Common Book for incoming freshmen will be Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert. The 189-page book focuses on global warming and was adapted from three New Yorker articles.

A selection committee of 16 was formed earlier in the academic year and has been working since fall quarter to read and select next year's Common Book. They started with a list of 20 possible books and chose Kolbert's book because it best fit the list of criteria produced by the committee.

Readability, accessibility to a wide variety of students and conductivity to teaching and learning were some attributes the committee considered.

"We wanted a book that has a connection with what's going on in the larger cultural landscape," said Kirsten Atik, a public information specialist at Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Atik referred to recent events in the media that have highlighted climate change: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report on climate change, as well as the Oscar award winning movie An Inconvenient Truth.

"[Field Notes from a Catastrophe] is certainly a way of highlighting atmospheric sciences," said atmospheric sciences professor John M. Wallace. "I find it almost humbling to find that every student would be reading about climate change."

Although the book mainly pertains to science majors, Atik believes it is also accessible to all incoming freshmen.

"I think that on a sociological and political standpoint, you could raise some questions," she said. "The business community could look at green business and the cost benefit analysis of that, as well as corporate responsibility."

She also said part of the intellectual challenge in reading the book is to approach the theme of climate change through a variety of perspectives.

"We're really looking forward to the different creative ways that we and other departments can engage with the themes and topics that this book addresses," Atik said.

There is hope that many of the incoming freshmen will read the book. However, a 30-50 percent readership is the national average for other colleges with a Common Book program. Atik admits that the reading of the book is entirely based on the inclination, of the individual student.

There are plans in the works to bring Kolbert to the campus sometime during the 2007-2008 academic year. This would follow the precedent set by Paul Farmer and Tracy Kidder when they spoke on campus.

"We'd like for that to work out," Atik said of a possible Kolbert appearance.

Kolbert's publicist was very excited to hear that Field Notes from a Catastrophe had been chosen as the Common Book.

Like last year's book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe will be distributed to freshmen for free at their orientation sessions.

Reach reporter Andrew Doughman at news@thedaily.washington.edu