Why Read?

A scholar “argues that books are more than just vitamins for brain. They literally can change the direction of a person's life” (Cleveland Plain Dealer).

A PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Non-Fiction Title

In this important book, acclaimed author Mark Edmundson reconceives the value and promise of reading. He enjoins educators to stop offering up literature as facile entertainment and instead teach students to read in a way that can change their lives for the better.

At once controversial and inspiring, Why Read?: The Uses and Abuses of Literature for Life is a groundbreaking book written with the elegance and power to change the way we teach and read.

“Thoughtful . . . striking . . . Edmundson lobbies for demonstrating literature's importance by teaching it through asking big, risk-taking philosophical questions.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

“Edmundson's incisive mind analyzes what's gone wrong with education . . . he also goes a long way toward analyzing what's wrong with the country.” —Palm Beach Post

“A passionate, lurid defense of the life-changing potential of an education in the humanities . . . an engaging blend of social criticism, self-improvement wisdom, and appeal to fellow humanities professors. . . . Beautifully articulated.” —Willamette Weekly