Book Groups
The University Writing Program is excited to host our second important book group discussion for faculty, staff, and administrators interested in exploring fresh ideas about teaching and learning this fall: John Warner’s More than Words: How to Think about Writing in the Age of AI.
Join Dr. Michelle Eble, Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication, and Dr. Will Banks, Director of University Writing Program, along with 20 faculty from across campus as we explore together how writing is changing with the advent of generative AI and what that might mean for our teaching.
From the publisher’s website: 
A veteran writing teacher makes a “moving” (Rick Wormeli) argument that writing is a form of thinking and feeling and shows why it can’t be replaced by AI. In the age of artificial intelligence, drafting an essay is as simple as typing a prompt and pressing enter. What does this mean for the art of writing? According to longtime writing teacher John Warner: not very much.
More Than Words argues that generative AI programs like ChatGPT not only can kill the student essay but should, since these assignments don’t challenge students to do the real work of writing. To Warner, writing is thinking—discovering your ideas while trying to capture them on a page—and feeling—grappling with what it fundamentally means to be human. The fact that we ask students to complete so many assignments that a machine could do is a sign that something has gone very wrong with writing instruction. More Than Words calls for us to use AI as an opportunity to reckon with how we work with words—and how all of us should rethink our relationship with writing.
Reviewers write:
“The real point of Warner’s polemic, however, is a view of writing as difficult, worthy of struggle, and central to shaping an individual’s sense of self. AI systems that purport to write for us, he claims, offer only simulacra of writing. Stringing together words and phrases, he notes, is not writing. Writing is creative, much like mathematics.”
“In More Than Words, Warner challenges us to reconsider what writing means in an era of automation. While AI can process language with impressive speed, it cannot replicate the essential human acts of thinking and feeling. Nor can it replace the powerful and necessary element of struggle that writing demands. Warner’s message is that writing is about so much more than producing words, and when we authentically engage with the process, we ultimately affirm our humanity.”
Podcasts/Videos:
- “How ‘Proficiency’ Ruins Writing: An Interview with John Warner” (YouTube)
- “How to Think about Writing in the Age of AI w/ John Warner” (YouTube)
We will divide the book into two sections and meet online through Microsoft Teams to discuss those sections of the book on the following dates/times:
- October 16, 3:30 – 5:00 pm
- October 30, 3:30 – 5:00 pm
This book group is limited to 20 participants, and each participant will receive a copy of the book More Than Words. To express interest in the group, please fill out the following Qualtrics survey by Wednesday, October 1, 2025: https://bit.ly/uwpfa25words
Selected participants will be notified by Friday, 3, 2025, and will receive their copies of the book through either campus mail or USPS.
This book group is sponsored by the University Writing Program. For additional information, please contact Will Banks (banksw@ecu.edu).