Reading

Butch Cougar in front of a pile of books

Spring 2021

A reading from shanghai.shanghai.shanghai

Washington State University emeritus professor and author Alex Kuo reads from his 2015 novel shanghai.shanghai.shanghai.

Spring 2013

Reading in the Genres

Experts from WSU share their opinions on what constitute the landmark works across literary genres.

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Summer 2010

Booked: The Long Sentence of an Apprentice Reader

What would it mean to refuse connectedness? Is it even possible? » More ...

Video: Patty Ericsson on digital communication

Patty Ericsson, director of the Digital Technology and Culture program at Washington State University, talks about the past, present, and future of chip-driven communications.

Read what other WSU professors say about reading and thinking in the digital world in “Dear reader” in the Summer 2010 issue of Washington State Magazine.

Summer 2010

A printed magazine story sits alone on a page with relatively little competition for the reader's attention. An online story sits only a few keystrokes from a torrent of other stories, tweets, videos, free classifieds and emails. And why exactly does this matter? » More ...

Fall 2004

As you read this, thank your ion channels

When Mike Varnum, assistant professor, Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology, visits the aquarium, he looks at the sea creatures a bit differently than the rest of us. What interests him most about a creature is not its bright color or odd shape, but whether it makes a toxin that blocks an ion channel. Oddly, many of the creatures do.

Many toxins, in fact, block specific ion channels, though Varnum uses different agents in his work. Ion channels are pores in the membranes of many different types of cells-highly selective, gated pores-that permit the passage of specific charged particles, or ions, into or out … » More …

Summer 2005

Washington State loves its literature

In a report released last summer, the National Endowment for the Arts warned that literary reading has declined over the last 20 years. Scary stuff, huh? So we did our own informal survey of faculty, students, and alums. Their response? Read on! » More ...

Winter 2008

Everybody reads

When Mary Roach was researching her book on human cadavers, she attended a seminar where plastic surgeons practiced techniques on severed human heads. She also visited a body farm in Tennessee to see remains in various states of decay. And she stood at an operating table to witness an organ harvest from a brain-dead patient whose heart was still beating.

While doing all these things, Roach simply followed her curiosity as it led her into some extraordinary places.

Jay Barton, a pre-med student, is one of 3,400 freshmen invited to participate in … » More …