This book, Finding Common Ground: Selected Newspaper Columns of Ian Boxill, 1993-2000, literally represents the best articles written by Ian Boxill over a period of seven years (March 1993 to August 2000) on the opinion page of the Daily Gleaner in Jamaica. The book seeks – more so than the individual articles themselves, which were written with the general public in mind – to help graduates across the Caribbean region fulfil that obligation ... to become habitual readers (and writers). The hope is that they will not only read on matters relating to their own training and work, but also on issues of interest and concern to society in general and to the world today. In particular, the book also targets pre-university and first-year university students – especially those enrolled in degrees that involve basic or advanced expository or argumentative writing. In addition, it lends itself to 6th form students, those in community colleges, teacher- training colleges and other tertiary level institutions, who are learning to formulate and express a personal but informed opinion, in speech or writing, on topical events.

- From the Editor’s Preface