How It Works

Everything you need to know about how the book club will work this summer.

Still need to join? Please head here to sign up.

**Book: Flights by Olga Tokarczuk**

Flights is the 2007 (2017 English translation) novel by Olga Tokarczuk. Part memoir, part short story collection, part ethnography of travel, Flights explores the human impulse toward movement; the perpetual tension between venturing somewhere new or staying put.

Flights was awarded The International Booker Prize in 2018. For more on why we selected Flights, read our full announcement.

About Olga Tokarczuk

Olga Tokarczuk (pronounced toh-kar-chook) is a Polish writer and winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. In addition to Flights, her novels include House of Day, House of Night, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, and The Books of Jacob. Before devoting herself to writing, Tokarczuk studied psychology at university and pursued a career in clinical psychology. After winning the Nobel, she reflected on how psychology influenced her writing:

“Studying psychology and coming into contact with psychotherapy supplied me with the belief that we live in a world where many points of view co-exist. This sort of relativism shows the world as a complex, multi-layered story that, seen from various viewpoints, seems infinitely rich and is a challenge for our intellect and our psyche. If there is such a thing as an initiation into writing, I think that in my case it was to do with a minor, but essential insight—the reality in which we live as biological and psychological creatures can be constantly re-interpreted in new ways.”

For more, read Tokarczuk’s autobiographical sketch on the Nobel website.

Schedule

The book club will begin the week of July 6 and run through August, culminating with an online event in early September. As we get closer to the start, we’ll share a calendar with more information about the timing of the podcast episodes, group discussions, and live event.

What to expect

Participation: There are both asynchronous and live participation opportunities, so you can tailor the book club to your summer schedule.

Podcast: New this year, we’ll be producing a 5-part podcast series as a companion to the book. We’ll explore themes from Flights through conversations with leading behavioral scientists, writers, historians, and philosophers.

Collaborative memory map: Inspired by Tokarczuk’s observations of travel, we’ll create an interactive map where we can share some of the places and journeys that have changed us.

Group discussion (live and asynchronous): The book club offers the chance to connect with members from all around the world. This year, we’ll host both live and asynchronous discussions.

Live discussions: In late July and in August, we’ll offer several chances to gather online for a group discussion. We’ll offer multiple times in order to cover all member time zones.
WhatsApp group: Connect and discuss with fellow readers through our exclusive WhatsApp group. We’ll pose discussion questions to the group, and you’ll have the chance to ask questions, share what’s on your mind, and hear what other member’s are thinking about. (We’ll share a link to join the group as we get closer to the July start.)

A final, celebratory online event: To close out the book club on a high, we’ll host a live event where we can come together to reflect, discuss, and share one last time.

Book club website

This website (bookclub.behavioralscientist.org) is the hub dedicated to the Summer Book Club. We’ll host the podcast episodes and articles here, along with other information about group discussions and events. (For the main magazine website, head to: behavioralscientist.org.)

Logging in: To access the website, you will need to log in with the email you registered with. In lieu of creating a password, you’ll receive a link in your email that will log you in. If you have any trouble logging into the website, please reach out to us at editor@behavioralscientist.org.

Bonus: Access past book clubs

When you join the 2026 Summer Book Club, you also get access to our past book clubs, including all the special feature articles, events, and more:

Contact

Questions? Get in touch with us at editor@behavioralscientist.org.