What Can I Get Out of This?

"Carlo Rotella has written a book about the art of teaching that doubles as a guide to being part of any community: a team, a company, a classroom. I wish I had this book when I was a student."—Reeves Wiedeman, author of Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork

"What Can I Get Out of This? is a lively story told by a superb writer and master storyteller. It's also the best guide to discussion-based teaching that I've ever encountered, a friendly and also precise primer on how to create and guide a collaborative learning community."—Leonard Cassuto, author of Academic Writing as If Readers Matter

"Rotella creates a feel for the classroom without disciplinary jargon. He shows how to teach the humanities in college today."—Michael S. Roth, author of The Student: A Short History

"This book is a gem. To my knowledge there is no book like it, even as the field of literary study—I might even say the culture at large—has been in need of such a volume for a long time."—Mark Edmundson, author of The Age of Guilt: The Super-Ego in the Online World

"Readers of Rotella know him as a strong and sensitive critic. This book makes clear that he is also a formidable teacher. A refreshing departure from the current trend of bashing students for their supposed inattention, indifference, or ideological certainty, it's the best kind of defense of the humanities: it shows—not tells—how a demanding yet generous teacher can make literature come alive for students as they embark on their adult lives."—Andrew Delbanco, author of College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be