My sister (and about 2.5 million other people) are headed to college in the fall.
I gave her a copy of Cal Newport's How to Win at College as a graduation gift, but given that her life is about to change more than it has in any of the past 14 years, one book probably isn't enough.
What books do you think incoming/recently arrived college students should be reading? You can assign reading with any motivation you'd like, but I'm looking especially hard for books that meet the following criteria:
- An average to somewhat-above-average college student can read them without much struggle.
- They have some practical application in college life/job seeking/being a good adult (rather than just being a personal favorite book).
- They are easy to find and budget-friendly (free online/cheap on Amazon/probably in the college library).
- They are not Oh, The Places You'll Go, just to head you pranksters off at the pass.
Unfortunately, at least for me, nothing could have prepared me to get more out of college except ... having some Real Life first, to help me understand why things are useful to study.
(The same is true for a lot of courses I slept through in high school, e.g. history courses -- now that I know the meaning of the word 'geopolitics', I wish I had paid attention in them.)