Common Book
For nearly 20 years, the Common Book has brought together the WSU community of readers in the discussion of a single literary work.
Each academic year, a new Common Book is selected and incorporated into the curriculum of numerous courses, including sections of ENG 111: College Reading and Writing. It may also be adopted by any faculty interested in the issues it raises.
Public readings, lectures, discussions, and other related events scheduled concurrently with each author’s visit to WSU.
Funding for the Common Book has generously been made available by the College of Liberal Arts and the WSU Cabinet.
This year’s Common Book is “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law” by Mary Roach.
These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.
“Fuzz” takes on a journey through the complicated relationships between humans and other animals.
What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree?
Roach tags along with animal-attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and “danger tree” faller blasters.
Intrepid as ever, she travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Indian Himalaya to St. Peter’s Square in the early hours before the Pope arrives for Easter Mass, when vandal gulls swoop in to destroy the elaborate floral display.
She taste-tests rat bait, learns how to install a vulture effigy, and gets mugged by a macaque.
Combining little-known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, langur impersonators, and trespassing squirrels, Roach reveals as much about humanity as about nature’s lawbreakers.
When it comes to “problem” wildlife, she finds, humans are more often the problem—and the solution. Fascinating, witty, and humane, “Fuzz” offers hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat.
Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine, among others, and her TED talk made the TED 20 Most Watched list. She has been a guest editor for Best American Science and Nature Writing, a finalist for the Royal Society’s Winton Prize, and a winner of the American Engineering Societies’ journalism award.
Upcoming Events
Get involved in this year’s Common Book with campus events.
View Upcoming Common Book EventsWe hope you’ll read and incorporate what you take away from the book into your life while at WSU.
You can purchase this book from:
- WSU Bookstore
- Harvard University Press
- Other booksellers
Faculty Adaptors
If teaching this book, faculty should simply list the book (ISBN 9780674271111) on their book order at the WSU bookstore and can request a copy from the publisher.
A packet of teaching and contextual materials is available starting in mid-August for those teaching the book.
Contact Dr. Andrew Higl for more information.
All WSU community members, students, staff, faculty, and administrators are welcome to propose nominations for a Common Book selection.
The book should be:
- Engaging
- Challenging
- Teachable
- Interdisciplinary
The author should be:
- Available
- Affordable
- Willing to work with WSU students
Related programming may include campus visits by the author or other keynote speakers, panel discussions among faculty and community experts, and film screenings.
Nominations that address the yearly University Theme are particularly encouraged.
Contact Dr. Andrew Higl at ahigl@winona.edu to nominate a book for the 2024-25 academic year.
Do you have a question, or just want more information? Don’t be afraid to reach out!