According to the Open Syllabus Project, a database of over 1 million college course outlines from the past decade, Karl Marx’s “The Communist Manifesto” is the most frequently assigned book on Michigan college campuses.

The book appears in the syllabi of 90 Michigan college courses, nine more than “Frankenstein,” by Mary Shelley. One book is about a grotesque experiment thrust upon the world with tragic consequences, and the other is the classic novel “Frankenstein.”

The Open Syllabus Project is not fully comprehensive. It notes, “Our matching algorithms also have some difficulty with short titles based on commonly-used words, and more so when these lack an author. This affects a very small number of works, but some significant ones like 'The Bible' and 'The Constitution.' ”

The book (Marx not Shelley) calls for the “abolition of individuality and freedom” and an end to the capitalist system, and can be purchased on the website www.MarxistBooks.com.