I was pleased to get a press release last week saying that UW-Madison is looking for nominations for the next title in Go Big Read, a program that tries to get everyone on campus to read and discuss the same book.

In all modesty, I think I have an excellent selection, and will get to it momentarily.

Go Big Read was started earlier this year by Chancellor Biddy Martin, who modeled it after a similar project she initiated at Cornell.

The first book in the program proved somewhat controversial. The selection of Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food" - a call to eat more locally-generated food, especially plants - angered some food producers.

But the book, along with Pollan's campus visit in September - he spoke before 8,000 people in the Kohl Center - appeared to accomplish Martin's goal of generating a lively discussion and exchange of ideas.

Just prior to the Pollan visit, Martin said this about the selection: "I saw this as an opportunity to solicit conflicting points of view on a very important topic."

Now the time is at hand to pick the second Go Big Read title.

"The Go Big Read steering committee," the release states, "will sift and winnow through all the nominations for Chancellor Biddy Martin, who will make the final selection."

My Go Big Read nomination is a book that was released as an original paperback in fall 2008. It is titled, "Favre: His Twenty Greatest Games."

Now, I realize some cynical individuals might suggest that I am nominating this book only because I wrote it.

And I suppose there are some authors who would do just about anything to sell thousands of books, virtually overnight, on the Madison campus alone.

But the scramble for coins in the marketplace does not interest me.

I have a higher purpose.

According to last week's release, the nominated book should "promote sustained discussion of different points of view" and "lend itself to tie-ins in a variety of activities and programming on campus."

Is there any subject in Wisconsin that has generated more sustained - and heated - discussion in the past few months than Brett Favre? Was Favre a traitor for going to the Vikings, or was he poorly treated by Ted Thompson and the Packers management? Opposing sides have become polarized. Emotions have boiled over.

What's needed is forgiveness, and UW-Madison practically owns the forgiveness franchise. Robert Enright started the International Forgiveness Institute here in 1994. Professor Richard Davidson, who has done work with the Dalai Lama, recently received a large grant from Fetzer to study the neuroscience of love, compassion and forgiveness.

Imagine a panel discussion with Favre, Thompson and the Dalai Lama.

Now that I think about it, there is another book that I feel would be an equally fine selection for the second edition of Go Big Read.

Next April, it will be 50 years since a wonderful young University of Wisconsin boxer, Charlie Mohr, went into a coma after a bout at the Fieldhouse, and died eight days later on Easter.

There is a book, "Lords of the Ring: The Triumph and Tragedy of College Boxing's Greatest Team," that describes the glory days of college boxing in Madison and its sad end.

By coincidence, it's by the same author who wrote "Favre: His Twenty Greatest Games."

I am sure there are cynical people who will suggest I am nominating this book only because I wrote it, but I have no use for that kind of cynicism.

I have one final thought. Since the future of journalism is very much under discussion today, perhaps a biography of one of the greatest newspapermen of all time would make a good Go Big Read selection.

"The World of Mike Rokyo" chronicles the life of the brilliant and controversial Chicago columnist.

To the cynics out there who think I am nominating it only because I wrote it, all is forgiven.

Login to post your comment. If you don't have an account, you may register for one.