Join our Peaceful Readers Book Club!
Register here.
Brief Description: The Peaceful Readers Book Club gathers adults to reflect upon and discuss non-fiction books on civic and social topics with a focus on peace.
Purpose: Bring curious adults together for shared learning through reflection on and discussion of books on compassionate living, peaceful practices, and social justice topics.
Intended Participants:
- Adults 18+ who enjoy reading books.
- Adults who enjoy learning.
- Adults who enjoy discussions centered around peaceful ways of living and social justice.
- Adults with time available to read one non-fiction book over the course of two months.
- Adults with time available to gather for a virtual discussion of about one hour per month.
Detailed Description:
The Peaceful Readers Book Club is open to adults from all areas of the country. We encourage participation from adults in Calvert County, Maryland, in which we are delivering our first intensive community peace project.
The club reads one book each two months. We divide each book into parts. We will discuss Part 1 the first month and part 2 the second month. We hope club participants participate in both discussions, but welcome those who can join only one.
The book discussions are approximately one hour in duration. We use interactive techniques to engage participants and inspire new ways of understanding the text.
The book club convenes one weeknight each month.
The club convenes virtually using Zoom videoconferencing.
Participants may enter and exit the club as their time and interest allows.
Participants are responsible for reading assigned parts of the books ahead of each discussion. Participants will receive reflection questions to spark contemplation.
Participants are responsible for borrowing, renting, or buying their own copy of the books. We will purchase copies of each book in the series for lending to up to two participants facing a monetary barrier to participation. We will satisfy lending assistance requests on a first-requested, no-questions-asked basis. Once the discussions of a book are concluded, the borrower will return it so that we can make it available to others.
Performance Measures: We measure the effectiveness of the Peaceful Readers Book Club with a brief participant survey after each discussion. The surveys ask participants to report whether they acquired new knowledge, new attitudes, or a desire to take some form of action as a result of reading and discussing the book. Also, we ask participants to rate their satisfaction with the club sessions and the overall activity experience.