College Days and Books We Love

As part of its “College Week,” Slate asked a handful of journalists, celebrities, CEOs, professors, writers, and editors, “What’s the most influential book you read in college?” Among the respondents were James Fallow, Nicholson Baker, Mark Cuban, David Brooks, Gish Jen, Chris Matthews, Bill Simmons, and Daphne Merkin. Among the answers were The Fountainhead, The Moviegoer, Ball Four, Fear of Flying, Simulations, The Mill on the Floss, Nixon Agonistes, A Death in the Family, and The Electric Kool-Aid Test. Check out the list, see who chose what, as well as the respondents’ memories of those books, and then swing on over to our Discussion Fourm and tell us about your own most influential book.