Past Book Clubs
Summer Book Club 2025: We read George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984, about a future society overcome by a totalitarian regime and the citizens trying to break free. The book—with its dueling themes of freedom versus control, privacy versus surveillance, self-expression versus conformity, truth versus propaganda—has remained in the cultural zeitgeist since it was published more than 75 years ago. Today, as these themes rear their heads in our headlines with increasing urgency, it was the ideal time to investigate the book for ourselves.
We hosted three events to explore the themes from 1984:
- Best-selling author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Shoshana Zuboff
- Psychologist Steven Pinker
- Orwell biographer D. J. Taylor (author of two biographies on Orwell)
View all posts and events from Ghosts from the Future.
Living the Imperfect Life (February/March 2025): Oliver Burkeman's Meditations for Mortals comprises 28 brief chapters meant to be read at a pace of about one per day; a four-week “retreat for the mind.” In February 2025, we had the ideal 28-day month to take the retreat. We then hosted Oliver Burkeman for a conversation in March.
View all posts and the event from Living the Imperfect Life.
Summer Book Club 2024: We read Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Player Piano, about a future society full of powerful machines, the special class of engineers who manages them, and the people at the mercy of both. The 1952 novel poses questions that we’re still seeking answers to, even more urgently in the age of AI, about what technological progress means for us individually and collectively.
We hosted three events to explore the themes from Player Piano:
- Nobel Prize winning economist Simon Johnson
- Psychologist Barry Schwartz
- Futurist Jane McGonigal