Each year, the UCSB Reads Advisory Committee, a committee of faculty, staff, students, and community partners that advises UCSB Library on the UCSB Reads book selection for the next academic year, convenes to select an intellectually stimulating, interdisciplinary book by a living author that appeals to a wide range of readers and can be incorporated into the UCSB curriculum. Each committee member pitches two titles to the long list, which is narrowed down by vote to a shortlist of five titles. The final book was chosen by vote from these five.
The UCSB Reads selection committee is pleased to announce its short list of titles under consideration for UCSB Reads 2024.
UCSB Reads is an award-winning campus-wide and community-wide “one book” program. The selection committee consists of UCSB faculty, staff, students, and community partners who convene to select an intellectually stimulating, interdisciplinary book by a living author that appeals to a wide range of readers and can be incorporated into the UCSB curriculum. The final pick will be announced in the fall.
The selections are listed in alphabetical order:
Alta California: From San Diego to San Francisco, a Journey on Foot to Rediscover the Golden State (2019) by Nick Neely
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (2022) by Ed Yong
Poverty, by America (2023) by Matthew Desmond
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body (2020) by Rebekah Taussig
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us (2023) by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
To share your input with the committee, vote for your top pick here. One survey participant will be chosen at random to receive a free copy of the final selected book.
Going into its 18th year, the UCSB Reads program will kick off at the beginning of Winter Quarter 2024 with a book giveaway and culminate in a public lecture with the author in the spring. A variety of free events will be held along the way to engage UCSB and the community at large around the book’s themes.
If you are a UCSB faculty member who is interested in exploring teaching one of these titles in winter or spring 2024, please contact Alex Regan, Events & Exhibitions Program Manager, at aregan@ucsb.edu. Your feedback will be taken into consideration for the final selection.
If you would like to find out more about supporting the UCSB Reads program, please contact Heather Silva, Senior Director of Development, at heathersilva@ucsb.edu.