Books to Change Your Life NYC Book Club

Hello all! We will meet online for a discussion of The Book of Why by Judea Pearl. (Meeting 2 of 2; Please read all of the second half, chapters 6 through 10, prior to the meeting.)

Per the publisher:
"Correlation is not causation." This mantra, chanted by scientists for more than a century, has led to a virtual prohibition on causal talk. Today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, instigated by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and established causality -- the study of cause and effect -- on a firm scientific basis. His work explains how we can know easy things, like whether it was rain or a sprinkler that made a sidewalk wet; and how to answer hard questions, like whether a drug cured an illness. Pearl's work enables us to know not just whether one thing causes another: it lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It shows us the essence of human thought and key to artificial intelligence. Anyone who wants to understand either needs The Book of Why.

We will split the reading and meetings into two per the below schedule:
Mon Jan 12, 2026: Chapters 1 through 5
Mon Feb 23, 2026: Chapters 6 through 10 (end)

You can get the book in paperback or kindle here:
https://a.co/d/7OpxPe0

All are welcome!

Hello all! We will meet online for a discussion of Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion. (Please read all of it, prior to the meeting.)

Per the publisher, "More than perhaps any other book, this collection by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era captures the unique time and place of Joan Didion’s focus, exploring subjects such as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up in California and the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture. As Joyce Carol Oates remarked: '[Didion] has been an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time, a memorable voice, partly eulogistic, partly despairing; always in control.'"

You can get it on kindle or paperback here:
https://a.co/d/eU0OROV

All are welcome!

Hello all! We will meet online for a discussion of The Information by James Gleick. (Meeting 1 of 2; Please read all of the first half, chapters 1 through 7, prior to the meeting.)

Per the publisher: "Acclaimed science writer James Gleick presents an eye-opening vision of how our relationship to information has transformed the very nature of human consciousness. A fascinating intellectual journey through the history of communication and information, from the language of Africa’s talking drums to the invention of written alphabets; from the electronic transmission of code to the origins of information theory, into the new information age and the current deluge of news, tweets, images, and blogs. Along the way, Gleick profiles key innovators, including Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Samuel Morse, and Claude Shannon, and reveals how our understanding of information is transforming not only how we look at the world, but how we live."

We will split the reading and meetings into two per the below schedule:
Mon April 6, 2026: Chapters 1 through 7
Mon May 18, 2026: Chapters 8 through 15 (end)

You can get the book in paperback or kindle here:
https://a.co/d/0Ejw7pb

All are welcome!

Hello all! We will meet online for a discussion of Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment by Jed McKenna. (Please read all of it, prior to the meeting.)

Per the publisher, "Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment takes us on a fascinating tour of the enlightened state — what it is and what it’s not, who’s there and who’s not, how to get there and how to get somewhere better.

Delightful surprises abound, including the dramatic unveiling of perhaps the greatest spiritual masterpiece of all time — long hidden in plain view and well known to all. Whitman, Melville, Thoreau, Mark Twain and U.G. Krishnamurti all appear, and a student from the first book returns to share her Spiritual Autolysis journals. Also surprising are the author’s gentle efforts to guide the reader away from enlightenment toward a more desirable and accessible state.

Jed McKenna’s books aren’t for everyone. They’re for people who are tired of the spiritual merry-go-round and ready to confront the unadorned reality of the awakening process. If you like your teachers with all the spiritual trimmings and trappings, Jed may not be right for you, but when you’re ready to jump off the merry-go-round and begin your journey, Jed McKenna is the guy you want to see standing there — waiting for you."

You can get the book on kindle or paperback here:
https://a.co/d/0jCogxL

All are welcome!