Humans have been telling stories for thousands of years. At first, they told these stories out loud, then they started to write.

There are more than a hundred million published books on our planet now and to find out which one is best, I visited my friend Matthew Jockers. He’s a professor at Washington State University who combines his love of stories with computer science to research what makes some books bestsellers.

He uses a computer algorithm which can read a book super-fast—way faster than even the fastest reader in our world (who can read 25,000 words a minute). The algorithm is called the “bestseller-ometer,” and it pays attention to both the words and big patterns of a book.

A good read
Jockers told me that bestsellers tend to be page-turners. These books have rhythm and patterns, especially when it comes to how the writer creates and resolves conflict. These stories often have characters that get into trouble and then get out of trouble again.

We might see this kind of pattern in books like “Harry Potter” and “The Hunger Games.” These books also have a lot of cliffhangers.

Still, the answer to your question goes beyond just looking at the bestseller list. We might also think about the best book in another way. Jockers said some of the best books are those that cross cultural boundaries.

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Dr. Universe

Students in English 341 Native American Literature are taking a significant part of their lessons in a 15-person tribal canoe on the river.

Who says summer school is a drag? For some Washington State University Vancouver students, their summer English literature course is an adventure.

Students in English 341 Native American Literature, taught by Desiree Hellegers, are taking a significant part of their lessons in a 15-person tribal canoe on the Columbia River. Chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation Tony Johnson will be at the helm for the course themed “Mni Wiconi, Water is Life.”

The centerpiece of the literature course is the novel “Solar Storms” by Linda Hogan. The story is set in the boundary waters between Minnesota and Ontario, and focuses the impact of the fur trade and massive hydropower projects, and the healing power of an all-woman canoe journey.

While they paddle, Johnson will teach the students about parallel impacts of the fur trade and dams on the Chinook and other Columbia River tribal nations. They will get an intimate introduction to the Columbia River ecosystems, and related cultural traditions and oral narratives of the Chinook and other Columbia River tribes. Students will leave with some understanding of the annual Pacific Northwest canoe journeys in the cultural revitalization work among the Chinook and other lower Columbia tribal nations.

The land-based part of English 341 is taught by Desiree Hellegers, associate professor of English. She is the recipient of a 2019 fellowship endowed by Lewis E. and Stella G. Buchanan, which provided seed money for the course. Hellegers developed the course in consultation with Lakota/Cheyenne activist/researcher Roben White, who is a member of WSU Vancouver’s Native American Community Advisory Board.

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Clark County Today

Linda Russo, clinical associate professor of English, has won the 2019 College of Arts and Sciences Mid-Career Clinical and Instructional Achievement Award. Russo teaches Introduction to Creative Writing as well as Intermediate and Advanced Poetry.

Megan Kaminski, a poet at the University of Kansas who nominated Russo, writes that “Linda’s three recent books, Participant, Meaning to Go to the Origin in Some Way, and To Think of Her Writing Awash in Light have had a significant impact on the poetry world.”

Kaminski also recognized Russo for her co-edited volume Counter-Desecration: A Glossary for Writing Within the Anthropocene, stating that the book “re-visions current understandings of the ecological in literary studies… and does important work in decolonizing the often very white male world of nature writing.”

Russo’s collaborative digital mapping, ecology, and arts project has brought together students and community members, as well as forging valuable connections between the arts, humanities, and sciences, allowing her to connect with a wide range of students.

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WSU Insider