Princeton Pre-read

The Princeton Pre-read program, initiated by President Eisgruber in 2013, introduces new students to Princeton’s vibrant intellectual life. Members of the incoming class join together to read and discuss a book that President Eisgruber selects and sends to new students prior to their arrival on campus. First year students then participate in Pre-read discussions with student leaders during Orientation Week and with President Eisgruber over the course of the academic year.

The blue bookcover of Maryanne Wolf's Reader Come Home

In “Reader, Come Home,” Maryanne Wolf has written a series of nine letters that engage the reader on the subject of our society’s increasing dependence on digital reading and what it portends for the quality of our thought, and the intellectual development of our young. Eschewing any simple, binary pitting of print versus screen reading, she urges us to understand what is nurtured or diminished by each. Drawing on literature, philosophy and neuroscience, Wolf uses down-to-earth examples and warm anecdotes to illuminate difficult ideas that culminate in her thought-provoking proposal for a biliterate reading brain capable of deep reading across mediums. “Reader, Come Home” presents an extraordinary clarion call to understand the complex impact of technology on the reading brain and what this could mean for our future.

Princeton Pre-read

2025 Pre-read

2024 Pre-read

2023 Pre-read

2022 Pre-read

2021 Pre-read

2020 Pre-read