Common Reading at Elon

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling is the common reading assignment for all incoming students during the 2022-23 academic year.  Be sure to purchase and read it before you come to campus in the fall, since it will be a shared intellectual experience during your first year, both in and out of class. The common reading marks the beginning of the Elon Core Curriculum, the shared courses and experiences that put knowledge into practice and enable the integration of learning across the disciplines.

See the Current Book page for resources for students and faculty.

Consistent with the Elon University mission of nurturing a rich intellectual community, the Elon Common Reading Program (ECRP) challenges students, faculty, and staff to examine themselves and the local and global worlds they inhabit through reading. The readings and related discussions aim not only to encourage critical reflection about important issues but also to invite consideration of how our individual actions affect these issues.

The ECRP will:

  • Offer diverse perspectives and commentary on key issues affecting our lives;
  • Provide forums to question and discuss these perspectives in depth;
  • Encourage integration of these ideas and perspectives in other aspects of the Elon experience;
  • Foster critical thinking by offering multiple opportunities to examine and reflect upon the reading throughout the year.