How do we make reading, writing, remembering, and friendships fun again?
“Many a man lives a burden to the Earth; but a good Booke is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, imbalm’d and treasur’d up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
What are the common qualities of books that not only make us feel better, but also make us truly better humans? The ones that address our entire quality of well-being.
What makes a person feel an anticipatory tingle of wanting to read a book when it's easier to scroll TikTok?
What attentional challenges, digital papercuts, and cultural shifts cause us to leave (good) books unfinished, and why have book completion rates dropped so precipitously?
What scaffolded discussion prompts help children articulate their thoughts about books in increasingly sophisticated ways with a deep rigor for their own thinking? How do we shift from reactions to critical thinking?
How do the most insightful reading groups transform individual interpretations into collective wisdom that enriches everyone’s shared understanding of a material, as well as the material of our lives?
How do deep friendships transform our relationship to literature, and what ways of attending to each other enables these bonds to congeal?
In an age where algorithms can shape our words, under what conditions and in what forms do we want to nurture and grow the voice of human writing and communication?
