Common Reads program

Common Reads

Welcome to the MIT Press Common Reads selection page.

The selection of books below are carefully curated for the conversations they create. These are books that simultaneously expand horizons and scratch an intellectual sweet spot, while also inviting introspection and new understandings of the issues and debates that underpin our world.

We would be delighted to partner with your institution or organization to bring these bright ideas to your students and colleagues.

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Recommended Titles

The Biology of Kindness

Immaculata De Vivo, Daniel Lumera, Fabio De Vivo

March 19, 2024

Her Space, Her Time

Shohini Ghose

October 17, 2023

Democracy in a Hotter Time

David W. Orr, Bill McKibben, Kim Stanley Robinson

September 19, 2023

Curious Minds

Perry Zurn, Dani S. Bassett

September 5, 2023

On Disinformation

Lee McIntyre

August 22, 2023

Explaining Life through Evolution

Prosanta Chakrabarty

August 8, 2023

Out of Touch

Michelle Drouin

June 6, 2023

The Transformation Myth

Gerald C. Kane, Rich Nanda, Anh Nguyen Phillips, Jonathan R. Copulsky

June 6, 2023

The Joy of Search

Daniel M. Russell

June 6, 2023

Design for a Better World

Don Norman

March 21, 2023

More than a Glitch

Meredith Broussard

March 14, 2023

Building a New Leadership Ladder

Carol J. Geffner

February 28, 2023

Invention and Innovation

Vaclav Smil

February 14, 2023

Happiness

Tim Lomas

January 3, 2023

Rethinking Gender

Louie Läuger

November 1, 2022

An Inclusive Academy

Abigail J. Stewart, Virginia Valian

October 11, 2022

Drawing Thought

Andrea Kantrowitz

October 11, 2022

Electrify

Saul Griffith

October 4, 2022

Whiteness

Martin Lund

October 4, 2022

Lockdown Drills

Jaclyn Schildkraut, Amanda B. Nickerson

September 6, 2022

Robot Ethics

Mark Coeckelbergh

September 6, 2022

The Technology Fallacy

Gerald C. Kane, Anh Nguyen Phillips, Jonathan R. Copulsky, Garth R. Andrus

August 23, 2022

Behind Their Screens

Emily Weinstein, Carrie James

August 16, 2022

How to Talk to a Science Denier

Lee McIntyre

August 2, 2022

Human Frontiers

Michael Bhaskar

August 2, 2022

There's Nothing Micro about a Billion Women

Mary Ellen Iskenderian

April 19, 2022

Power On!

Jean J. Ryoo, Jane Margolis

April 19, 2022

Beyond Coding

Marina Umaschi Bers

March 22, 2022

Inclusion on Purpose

Ruchika T. Malhotra, Ijeoma Oluo

March 1, 2022

Women and Leadership

Julia Gillard, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

February 15, 2022

Designed for Digital

Jeanne W. Ross, Cynthia M. Beath, Martin Mocker

September 21, 2021

Right/Wrong

Juan Enriquez

September 14, 2021

Gender(s)

Kathryn Bond Stockton

August 31, 2021

The Curie Society

Heather Einhorn, Adam Staffaroni, Janet Harvey, Joan Hilty

April 27, 2021

The Alchemy of Us

Ainissa Ramirez

April 6, 2021

You Are Here

Whitney Phillips, Ryan M. Milner

March 2, 2021

Viruses, Pandemics, and Immunity

Arup K. Chakraborty, Andrey S. Shaw

February 16, 2021

Handprints on Hubble

Kathryn D. Sullivan

December 1, 2020

Anti-vaxxers

Jonathan M. Berman

September 8, 2020

The Laws of Simplicity

John Maeda

September 1, 2020

Mismatch

Kat Holmes, John Maeda

September 1, 2020

Make It Clear

Patrick Henry Winston, Gill Pratt

August 25, 2020

Concentration

Stefan Van der Stigchel, Danny Guinan

May 5, 2020

Critical Thinking

Jonathan Haber

April 7, 2020

Data Feminism

Catherine D'Ignazio, Lauren F. Klein

March 10, 2020

#HashtagActivism

Sarah J. Jackson, Moya Bailey, Brooke Foucault Welles, Genie Lauren

March 10, 2020

Design Justice

Sasha Costanza-Chock

March 3, 2020

Find Your Path

Daniel Goodman

December 3, 2019

Citizenship

Dimitry Kochenov

November 12, 2019

Sexual Consent

Milena Popova

May 7, 2019

Artificial Unintelligence

Meredith Broussard

January 29, 2019

The Dialogues

Clifford V. Johnson, Frank Wilczek

October 23, 2018

What We Know about Climate Change

Kerry Emanuel, Bob Inglis

October 9, 2018

Lifelong Kindergarten

Mitchel Resnick, Ken Robinson

August 28, 2018

Extremism

J. M. Berger

August 28, 2018

Data Science

John D. Kelleher, Brendan Tierney

April 13, 2018

Post-Truth

Lee McIntyre

February 16, 2018

A Brief History of Feminism

Patu, Antje Schrupp, Sophie Lewis

August 25, 2017

How to Write a Thesis

Umberto Eco, Caterina Mongiat Farina, Geoff Farina, Francesco Erspamer

March 6, 2015