Copy of "Enshittification" by Cory Doctorow with the UCSB Reads 2027 badge in front of UCSB Library's Paseo West entrance.The UCSB Reads 2027 book selection is Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (2025) by Cory Doctorow. The book offers a timely and provocative exploration of modern tech economics, corporate accountability, and the public interest.

UCSB Reads 2027 will launch on January 13 with a free book giveaway for UCSB students and culminate on April 29 with a free public talk by Cory Doctorow at UCSB Campbell Hall, presented in partnership with UCSB Arts & Lectures. Throughout the winter and spring quarters, the Library will sponsor a variety of free learning, experiential, and social events to explore the book's themes.

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About the Book

A New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2026 Locus Award for Best Non-Fiction, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (2025) by Cory Doctorow offers a “razor-sharp yet subtly optimistic look at the soul-sucking state of the internet” (Publishers Weekly). Doctorow originally coined the term in 2022, after which it was named Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society. The book details a three-stage lifecycle of modern digital platforms – from social media networks to search engines, e-commerce giants, and app stores. 

According to Doctorow, these platforms first lure users with convenient and delightful services; second, they exploit those users for business customers; and third, they squeeze those customers to maximize shareholder value, leaving behind a degraded, barely functional service that traps consumers and workers alike. Rather than treating this decline as inevitable, Doctorow presents an actionable roadmap of legal, regulatory, and technological solutions to reclaim our digital public spaces.

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About the Author

Portrait of Cory Doctorow in front of bookshelves with the UCSB Reads 2027 badge. Photo by Jonathan Worth, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.

Cory Doctorow is a renowned Canadian-British science fiction author, journalist, and technology activist. He has authored dozens of books, including Little Brother and The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI. 

Doctorow serves as a special consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and holds academic appointments at Cornell University, MIT, Open University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2022, he received the Sir Arthur Clarke Imagination in Service to Society Award for lifetime achievement.

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Shortlist

The shortlist of titles under consideration for UCSB Reads 2027 consists of five nonfiction titles and one fiction title. The titles explore diverse cultural, social, and scientific subjects that can ignite discourse and thoughtful discussion inside and outside of the classroom. The shortlist selections are (in alphabetical order): 

Longlist

  • ​40 Maps That Will Change How You See the World by Alastair Bonnett
  • A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan
  • Acquired.fm podcast
  • Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham
  • Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow
  • Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka
  • How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
  • I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
  • Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
  • Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
  • Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer
  • Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference by Rutger Bregman
  • One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
  • Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by Beth Macy
  • Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings by Myriam Gurba
  • Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton
  • The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
  • The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science by Kate Zernike
  • The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon
  • The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder Through Science & Poetry by Maria Popova
  • Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart
  • What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
  • When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas

Advisory Committee

The UCSB Reads 2027 Advisory Committee consists of UCSB faculty, staff, students, and community partners. The committee is charged with selecting a thought-provoking, interdisciplinary book by a living author that encourages a wide range of readers to engage with a contemporary social, political, cultural or scientific issue and can be incorporated into the UCSB curriculum. 

  • Christina Baglas: Senior Director of Development, UCSB Library
  • Christoffer Bovbjerg: Executive Director, Master of Engineering Technology and Leadership Program
  • Hailey Cadmus: Undergraduate Student, Communications
  • Christopher Dean: Faculty, Writing Program
  • Brian Donnelly: Faculty, English
  • Sara Kelly: Exhibitions & Events Manager, UCSB Library
  • Kenneth Kosik: Faculty, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
  • John Latto: Faculty, Biology, College of Creative Studies
  • Christine Le Forge: Exhibitions & Events Assistant, UCSB Library
  • Shirley Geok-lin Lim: Emeriti Faculty, English
  • Rebecca Metzger: Associate University Librarian for Learning & Engagement, UCSB Library
  • Lisa Neubert: Programming Librarian, Santa Barbara Public Library
  • Caitlin O’Hara: Associate Executive Director, Arts & Lectures
  • Miguel Penabella: Assistant Director, Carsey-Wolf Center
  • Lizzy Portillo: Undergraduate Student, Communications
  • Saakshi Porwal: Graduate Student, Physics
  • David Sherman: Faculty, Psychological & Brain Sciences
  • Johannes Steffens: Director of Communications and External Relations, UCSB Library
  • Emily Teter: Health Education Specialist, Health & Wellness

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