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The Common Reader is a book that all First-Year students in the College of Business will read. Students can choose one book from the three options below to read. These books were chosen by the NGCOB Student Ambassadors!

Acceptance: A Memoir – by Emi Nietfeld

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As a homeless teenager writing college essays in her rusty Toyota Corolla, Emi Nietfeld was convinced that the Ivy League was the only escape from her dysfunctional childhood. But upward mobility required crafting the perfect resilience narrative. She had to prove that she was an “overcomer,” made stronger by all that she had endured.

Both a chronicle of the American Dream and an indictment of it, this searing debut exposes the price of trading a troubled past for the promise of a bright future. Told with a ribbon of dark humor, Acceptance challenges our ideas of what it means to overcome—and find contentment on your own terms. Read more about this book: https://commonreads.com/book/?isbn=9780593489475

The End of Forgetting: Growing Up with Social Media – by Kate Eichhorn 

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Thanks to Facebook and Instagram, our childhoods have been captured and preserved online, never to go away. But what happens when we can’t leave our most embarrassing moments behind?

Until recently, the awkward moments of growing up could be forgotten. But today we may be on the verge of losing the ability to leave our pasts behind. In The End of Forgetting, Kate Eichhorn explores what happens when images of our younger selves persist, often remaining just a click away. Read more about this book: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674976696

The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person can Create Extraordinary Change – by Adam Braun

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The Promise of a Pencil chronicles Braun’s journey to find his calling, as each chapter explains one clear step that every person can take to turn their biggest ambitions into reality. If you feel restless and ready for transition, if you are seeking direction and purpose, this critically acclaimed bestseller is for you. Driven by inspiring stories and shareable insights, this is the book that will give you the tools to make your own life a story worth telling. Read more about this book: https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/The-Promise-of-a-Pencil/Adam-Braun/9781476730639