I am happy to announce the release of our newest edition of Beach Books, the nation’s only comprehensive study of college common readings. Over a decade of data has shown an overwhelming trend toward progressive, juvenile, and nonfiction books. This year we are delighted to share that college common reading programs are choosing better books. 
 
We hope this will become a trend, and that we will see greater intellectual diversity and rigor in future common reading choices. Students deserve nothing less.
 
Colleges should not continue to cheat students out of an excellent education. They should expose students to great books: books that explore the great mysteries of being human; books that pose hard questions; books that demonstrate excellent writing and excite students to think and write well. Colleges need to demonstrate value. Common readings can and should push students to excellence.
 
In this edition of Beach Books, we provide information on 518 reading selections at 475 institutions. We also offer advice for aspiring common reading authors and for those looking to improve common reading programs at their institutions.
 
We offer these recommendations because there is still much work to do. Beach Books aims to give a voice to reformers looking to transform a system dominated by activism into a program that challenges students with those great books that teach us what it means to be human.
 

Yours,
Peter Wood