Message from CSU, Chico President

To: Campus Community

From: Paul J. Zingg, President

Subj: 2010-11 Book in Common

The Book in Common for the next academic year (2010-11) is The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba.The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is set in Malawi, an African nation that is one of the poorest in the world.  The story recounts the author’s coming of age in rural Malawi and his struggles to attend school and survive in the difficult, but emotionally rich, life of rural Africa.  Though beset by difficulties, including having to drop out of school due to his family’s inability to pay school fees during a famine, Mr. Kamkwamba finds purpose and motivation in an unlikely small library in his town and ends up “harnessing the wind” to improve his family’s life and that of his village. His home-built windmill is a model of ingenuity and adaptability and catapults William into a new world he had never imagined.

As with past Books in Common, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind was selected by a committee of faculty, staff and students who found this book to be a compelling read that takes us to a distant land, but makes the exotic familiar through its compassionate narrative.  The book deals with issues of poverty and struggle, but also with sustainability and the power of human ingenuity and vision, found in unlikely places, that is so important for solving the pressing economic and ecological problems besetting our planet.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind follows two enormously successful Books in Common: Three Cups of Tea in 08-09 andThe Soloist this year.  As with these titles, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind will be a community read. We have partnered with Butte College in the selection of this book and will work with other community partners to promote its collective reading and discussion.  We feel that The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has enormous potential to inspire the community – especially students and other young people – to believe in our own creative potential, to pursue our own dreams and to contribute to solving social and environmental problems.

In the coming weeks, members of the Book in Common committee will be contacting deans, faculty, staff, students, and community members to share the book and search for interesting and creative ways to incorporate The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind into the fabric of campus and community life. Our goal is to inspire conversations, promote learning, and move people to action in ways that improve the quality of life on our campus and in our community.

I encourage all members of the campus community to read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and to become an active part of the intellectual community that the Book in Common program fosters. Like me, I am sure you will enjoy taking part in the conversations and activities that emerge from the Book in Common program.  Stay up to date with campus preparations for promoting debate, discussion, and reflection by checking the Book in Common web page. If you would like to work with the committee in helping to organize reading circles or other activities, or for ideas on how to incorporate The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind into the curriculum, contact Book in Common committee chair Bill Loker.

Thank you for helping to make the Book in Common an important part of our campus and our community.