Recent reports in the Chronicle of Higher Education had potentially good news for educators. College students are reading the works of famous philosophers.

Unfortunately, the philosophers they’re reading are in name only: Calvin and Hobbes.

According to a survey of university bookstores across the country, the top-selling book is “The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes.”

Others appearing in the alarming list include “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” “The Plains of Passage,” David Letterman’s book of Top 10 lists, “Weiner Dog Art: The Far Side Collection,” “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” “Misery,” “Foucault’s Pendulum,” “The Civil War” and “Where’s Waldo?”

While this is shocking, it’s hard to put all the blame on students.

More and more, students are realizing that real life is not found in textbooks; for many, Calvin’s fantasy world is closer to reality than any pictureless text. It’s expected that students will need something to ease the study load—fun books are a logical choice.

On the other hand, most students complain they don’t have the time to read their text books, but they obviously can find time to indulge in life’s simpler pleasures, like finding Waldo.

But if all you have left from your education is a collection of comic strip anthologies, you might as well never have come.