This Book Is Not Required: A Success Manual for First-Year Students

The beloved guidebook for first-year students seeking a successful college experience is now available in a new edition!

"This book SHOULD be required. [The authors] have created a lively, insightful, and tangible source that students can utilize in the classroom and in life. They want to read the book because it speaks to them, and it provides me with a classroom full of hungry, alert minds."

―Melanie C. Klein, California State University, Northridge

The Fourth Edition of the classic This Book is Not Required: A Success Manual for First-Year Students breaks new ground in participatory education, offering insight and inspiration to help undergraduates make the most of their college years. This edition continues to teach about the college experience as a whole―looking at the personal, social, intellectual, and spiritual demands and opportunities―while incorporating new material highly relevant to today′s students. The material is presented in a personable and straightforward manner, maintaining Dr. Inge Bell′s illuminating writing style throughout, and inviting students to take responsibility for, and make the most of, their educational experiences.

Inge Bell (1930-1996) received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She helped organize the Berkeley/Oakland chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.), an experience that led to the publication of her first book, C.O.R.E.: The Strategy of Non-Violence. She taught sociology at Pitzer College until 1982, and wrote the first edition of This Book Is Not Required in 1985.

Bernard McGrane received his Ph.D. from New York University and taught at Vermont College, Colby College, Cuesta Community College, UCLA, Pitzer College, and the University of California, Irvine before accepting his current position at Chapman University. He is the author of Beyond Anthropology, Society and the Other, and The Un-TV and the 10 MPH Car―Experiments in Personal Freedom and Everyday Life.

John Gunderson received his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in 2003. John’s work is focused on the belief in the power of passionate teaching, awareness and learning and its ability to transform education and people’s lives. To this end, he has been actively publishing scholarly work and presenting at conferences such as AERA and AME. His published works have been about diverse topics from teaching and learning, school reform, college life and the media.