The Cardinal Reads Committee is excited to announce the selection of Mónica Guzmán’s I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times in support of the 2025-27 Common Theme of Common Ground: Civility and Information.
Molstead Library has a limited number of free copies of the Common Read available for NIC faculty and staff and more are available for check-out by students.
2025-2027 Common Read Selection
I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times by Mónica Guzmán
“In this timely, personal guide, Mónica, the chief storyteller for the national cross-partisan depolarization organization Braver Angels, takes you to the real front lines of a crisis that threatens to grind America to a halt—broken conversations among confounded people.
She shows you how to overcome the fear and certainty that surround us to finally do what only seems impossible: understand and even learn from people in your life whose whole worldview is different from or even opposed to yours.
Drawing from cross-partisan conversations she's had, organized, or witnessed everywhere from the echo chambers on social media to the wheat fields in Oregon to raw, unfiltered fights with her own family on election night, Mónica shows how you can put your natural sense of wonder to work for you immediately, finding the answers you need by talking with people—rather than about them—and asking the questions you want, curiously.” – Author’s site
About Cardinal Reads
What is the common read? The common read is a popular program at two- and four-year colleges across the U.S. According to the National Association of Scholars (2013), the common reading program maintains the following three goals: “to build community engagement, to explore a theme that fits with the mission of the college, and to set academic expectations” (p.91). The common read creates a shared experience that engages faculty and students in discourse about the same topic. Presently, about 300 colleges have some form of a common reading program.
The NIC common read program, Cardinal Reads, was established in 2014 and provides an opportunity for students and the campus community to engage in a shared subject of importance. The book is complemented by interactive campus events throughout the year, fostering intellectual and community engagement.
The Common Read Committee develops a theme and solicits nominations to select a book to pair with said theme. Engagement is promoted through integration in the course curricula, group discussion (year one), and a lecture series (year two) and is measured through post-event and course assessment surveys.