What Can I Get Out of This? - by Carlo Rotella

About the Book

"What actually happens in a college literature course, and what does it have to do with the world beyond the classroom? Telling the story of one eventful semester, this rich group portrait shows how 33 freshmen and their professor practice essential life skills as they wrestle with challenging books, consider the purposes of higher education, and confront their own skepticism. This humane account of the humanities in action takes us deep into the minds of people engaged in the business of figuring out how meaning flows through books, lives, the world--part of the essential work of being human that we all do at all times and in all kinds of places, not just in a college classroom"--

Book Synopsis

A Forbes Best Higher Education Book Of 2025

An eloquent and moving story about the value and the pleasures of intellectual exploration--and why it matters beyond the classroom.

At a time when college students and their parents often question the "return on investment" from humanities courses, accomplished feature writer and English professor Carlo Rotella invites us into the minds of a group of skeptical first-year students who are ultimately transformed by a required literature class.

In What Can I Get Out of This? he follows thirty-three students through his class to provide an intimate look at teaching and learning from their perspectives as well as his own. The students' reluctance--"How does this get me a job?"--transforms into insight as they wrestle with challenging books, share ideas, discover how to think critically, and form a community. In all these ways, they learn how to extract meaning from the world around them, an essential life skill. Confronting skeptics of higher education, this compassionate and inspiring book reveals the truth of what students actually experience in college.

From the Back Cover

"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

Review Quotes

"I won't rehearse the many things threatening higher education right now. It's easy to despair, but [this book] gives some grounds for optimism. . . . offer[s] defense of literary studies as well as practical advice for those of us who teach it."

-- "Commonweal's "Year in Books""

"It's inspiring when good teachers write well about their craft and their students, and Rotella comes through with just that kind of contribution this year."

-- "Forbes"

"Documents the small victories when one student starts to see value in reading a book he expects to hate, or when another finds the courage to speak up in class. In the process, Rotella tells us how education actually works -- it's a long evolution, not a cinematic moment -- and how the in-person classroom is an engine for that process."-- "The Chronicle of Higher Education"

About the Author

Carlo Rotella is Professor of English at Boston College. A regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he has written books about cities, boxing, music, and literature.