The Common Reading Program
The 2010 Common Reading Selection Committee is excited to announce this year's book selection: Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It written by Elizabeth Royte. Publishers Weekly describes the book with the following summary: "With journalistic zeal, Royte chronicles the questionable practices of Nestle-owned Poland Springs and documents the environmental impact of discarded plastic bottles, the carbon footprint of water shipped long distances and health concerns around the leaching of plastic compounds from bottles…This portrait of the science, commerce and politics of potable water is an entertaining and eye-opening narrative."
The Common Reading Program was started in 2002 for first-year students. For the past eight years, new undergraduate students have been given a common reading assignment during the summer. The assigned book then serves as a basis for programs and discussions beginning at orientation and continuing through the fall semester.
The Common Reading Program at Case also includes an essay contest about the assigned reading. Last year, winners received $300 gift certificates from the University Bookstore sponsored by the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities. Winners also received an invitation to have dinner with the author.
Learn more about last year's 2009 Common Reading program.
