What Massey’s Most Read Books Say About students
What we read says a lot about who we are, whether it’s fantasy so we can escape our lives or pure smut so we can experience another mmhmm I see you. For Massey students across the country, I’ve analysed exactly what the books you’ve read the most say about you. Massey librarians have so kindly researched the most issued books at the three Massey campus libraries in the last five years (before 24 January 2022 when the systems changed). The top books have been used for major courses over the years, being issued hundreds of times.
Wellington students - Oooo Pretty Pictures
The most issued book in the Massey Wellington library was Art and Photography edited by David Campany. It had 456 checkouts in the last five years. The book has been consistently recommended to students studying some photography courses over the past few years.
The photography book has over 200 illustrations. Each picture with a blurb in teeny tiny font so you skip over it. The photos are aesthetic and moody – omg just like Wellingtonians.
Wellington Massey students (me included) are visual learners. They inhabit the TikTok sound: ‘This is good cause I can barely read so I like looking at pictures.’ If you ask them what was the last book they read, it will probably be Geronimo Stilton or that book their high school English teacher forced them to read and it took them a term.
Some might call us dumb that we can’t focus on something for more than two sentences. I don’t have an argument against this. Could you show me a picture explaining?
Albany students - Nightmare Dressed Like a Day Dream
The most issued book in the Massey The most issued book in the Massey Albany library was Financial accounting by Craig Michael Deegan with 414 checkouts in the last five years.
Financial accounting has 10 parts, 32 chapters each with five to 15 subsections. WOWEE. It even has four pages dedicated to just a section about ‘How to use this book’.
While the book itself is complicated AF, the cover shows colourful surfboards on a beach with a palm tree. It begins with a tribute, “To my beautiful daughter Cassie for being the best daughter a dad could ever have.” I wish my dad would dedicate a finance book to me.
Albany students are over-analysers who pretend to be chill as fuck. The exterior of them is easy breezy but internally they are a shit show. They make a to do list every day with highlighters and stickers, but if you actually read the tasks, it wouldn’t look so pretty.
✨10,000-word Accounting 101 essay due midnight ✨
Manawatū students - Love is Blind
The most issued book at the Massey Manawatū library, and the most issued book for all of Massey over the past five years, was the Textbook of veterinary anatomy by K.M. Dyce, W.O. Sack, C.J.G. Wensing. It received 691 checkouts.
I couldn’t understand a word of what was going on BUT luckily there were pictures of skulls and muscles that gave me the gist of the topic (once again Welly students need pictures). The book had chapters discussing different animals – horses, pigs, cats, dogs. But I skipped down to my favourite animal: birds (tbh it was one of the only chapters I could access online, rude). However, I was greeted on only the second page of the chapter, with a photo of a chicken screaming with all its hair sticking out. I imagined it yelling “get me the fuck out of this book”.
Manawatū students are unphased by things that repel most people. They are those friends with crusty white dogs that they think are the most adorable thing on earth. The gutsy degrees that us artsy and financey people would turn away from at the sight of blood, Manawatū students are awestruck learning about different kinds of birds’ feet.
