In a newly published journal article, Neag School Professor and adult learning expert Robin Grenier examines, with colleagues including Neag School alumna Kristi Kaeppel ’20 Ph.D., the use of book clubs and literature as a tool for enhancing the professional learning of employees across various organizations — from the military to nonprofits to health care. Voluntary, fiction-based book clubs, the researchers say, offer employees a nonformal setting for learning while critically raising consciousness within an organization.

James C. Kaufman, professor of educational psychology in the Neag School, is an expert in creativity and practices what he preaches. He’s published more than 35 books and more than 300 papers. He’s won countless awards, including Mensa’s research award. He says researching past “3 Books” columns was “a bit intimidating, since they were generally filled with quality, intelligent nonfiction or literature. I unabashedly love genre fiction — I have grown to prefer entertainment over enlightenment.”