The committee on the freshman text, this year chaired by Professor Susan Locke,
has selected Canadian author Yann Martel's Life of Pi as the freshman text for fall.
The worldwide bestseller, about a young Asian man's religious contemplations and
physical struggles while stuck on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, met with
unprecedented international acclaim and won Britain's Booker Prize, perhaps the
most prestigious annual literary prize for a single book written in English.  With
magic, wonder and powerful lyricism, Life of Pi presents a range of issues about the
human condition that faculty may employ in making use of the text in their classes.

The paperback is just out, and copies can be obtained by contacting Mark Spergel,
freshman text coordinator, at [log in to unmask]

Prof. Spergel is also the contact for faculty seeking discussion about how the text will
be explored in the Convocation and Freshman Seminars, and how it can be used in
other classes.

It is a great book, and the committee hopes it excites the faculty and next year's
students as much as it did us.