Comment from Marion McClary

The book that was most strongly recommended as essential reading for undergraduate college students was the Bible. I found this result to be both surprising and not so much so. I thought it was surprising because of the political correctness of this day and age. We live in a culture where public school kids are no longer able to pray in school, there are problems with the Ten Commandments being posted in public places, and there are problems with the word God in the Pledge of Allegiance. In such conditions it seemed to me that the Bible would not have been selected. On the other hand this result did not surprise me because institutions of higher learning are often places where opposing views can be discussed and debated.

Homer’s Odyssey was the next most popular choice but was cited only half as often as the Bible. I was not surprised by this result but I will explain why later.

Plato’s Republic was also a favorite. Considering Plato and Homer together, Greece did better than any other country among the top picks. This nor the choice of Homer’s Odyssey did not surprise me because of the influence that Greece and Greeks have on colleges and universities on many different levels. From the faculty senate to the student senate to academic honor societies to service, social/service, and social fraternities and sororities, we see the influence of Greece and the Greeks. With this influence it is no wonder to me that this influence is also seen by college and university Presidents when it comes to books that the students should read.

The Koran was also among the top most frequently cited books, ranking number 7. This also did not surprise me given the events of September 11, 2001. Never since such attacks on the United States has there been as much talk about Islam, Muslims, and the Koran. I’m quite sure that the events of 9-11 had an influence on the choice of the Koran by the college and university Presidents. I feel that the Presidents thought that such a choice may be a way to help ease the tensions about the event and help students to learn about students of another religion to prevent or lessen any prejudice that may exist due to the events of September 11, 2001.

In terms of authors, William Shakespeare and Plato gained as many mentions as the Bible. This result did not surprise me very much. I wasn’t surprised about Shakespeare because of the emphasis that was placed on reading Shakespeare in high school. I was not surprised by Plato because of the aforementioned comment about Greece and the Greeks.

The Americans had no author in the top nine books but had eight authors that tied for 10^th place including: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay who wrote The Federalist Papers, Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick, and Tom Friedman who recently wrote The Lexus and the Olive Tree. I also was not surprised by this result again because of the influence of Greece and the Greeks. The college and university Presidents probably came from a time when colleges and universities were very classic and emulated the Greeks and the Greek system and this may have influenced them. If more of the college and university Presidents come from modernized/Americanized colleges and universities in the years to come and this survey were conducted again, it may be only then that we will find more selection of American books by American authors.

Among the authors most frequently cited, half wrote philosophy and half wrote plays or fiction. As a scientist, I found this is interesting to note. Were the responding Presidents former Philosophy or English professors? Where were the former Science professors? Are there any Presidents of colleges or universities that were Science professors before they became Presidents? There may be only a few. This is because they never became Presidents because they are either still professors working on their science or they retired as faculty. If there were former Science professors in the group, why didn’t they respond to the survey? What books and authors would they have chosen? The other possibility is that they were there, did respond, and didn’t choose any books written about science by scientists. If this is the case, I guess being a college or university President tends to broaden you away from Science because it gives you a chance to appreciate the non-scientific things in life.

Marion McClary is Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences