A book about the “razor-sharp yet subtly optimistic look at the soul-sucking state of the internet” (Publishers Weekly) — Cory Doctorow’s Enshittification — has been selected as the UCSB Reads book for 2027.
While Dictionary.com named “maxxing” as its 2026 Word of the Year this week, the notion of “enshittification” — which the British-Canadian journalist Doctorow coined in 2022 and was selected as the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year for 2023 and Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year for 2024 — has quickly made its way into the zeitgeist as a slang for “everything having been made shittier or worsened,” and the title itself is definitely an attention grabber.
The idea behind the UCSB Reads program is that the UCSB campus and Santa Barbara communities will read and engage with a common book that explores compelling issues of our time. Subtitled Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, Enshittification talks about the three-stage life cycle of today’s digital platforms and gives a road map to reclaim our digital public spaces.
With timely themes related to our relationship with technology, corporate accountability, and the public interest, the university is encouraging instructors to incorporate Enshittification into their winter and spring courses. UCSB Reads 2027 launches in January with a free book giveaway for UCSB students and the project will conclude with a free public talk by Cory Doctorow at UCSB Campbell Hall on April 29, 2027, presented in partnership with UCSB Arts & Lectures. In addition, 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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