Move over Oprah: the University of Washington has started their own book club (of sorts), The Common Book program. The next book on the list is Elizabeth Kolbert's Field Notes from a Catastrophe, a journalistic examination of the effects of global warming.

The UW began the Common Book program last year. They give incoming freshman a free copy of a chosen book during summer orientation. That book and its subject of focus is then incorporated into lectures and other events throughout the year.

Kolbert's title was selected from a list of 20 books considered for the next academic year. The committee making the selection thought it would provoke discussion and tie in to the university's efforts at reducing their own emissions and environmental footprint.

Campus bookstore numbers indicate that more than just freshmen are reading the Common Book as sales of this year's book, Mountains Beyond Mountains have sold more than 5,600 copies.

Professors at Montana State University, the State University of New York-Albany, and the University of California-Santa Barbara have also incorporated Field Notes of a Catastrophe into their reading lists.

I've read this title myself and am glad to see that it will infiltrate through the minds of university students in Seattle. Kolbert, a New Yorker magazine reporter, illustrates and communicates the complex subject of climate change in a very readable, enjoyable way. She effectively explains the science of global warming and its subsequent effects on people and communities throughout the world.

Via Seattle Post-Intelligencer