Fiction

Club Hijack Non-Fiction Book of the Month for January is "Men are from Mars,Women are from Venus" by John Gray Phd. WE'VE BEEN HIJACKED! For our first Non-Fiction book of January Club Member Saya has decided that we will dive into the very heart of all our relationship problems, with a book that posits that all those many problems stem from a fundamental difference in psychology between both genders. Frankly I prefer running away from such issues, but since Saya engaged the Club Hijack option to both pick & moderate the book of her choice, I guess I'm forced to face my fears.

**🏛️ WHAT'S PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY ABOUT?** Practical Philosophy is a weekly meet-up that brings critical thinkers together for an opportunity to dive deep on a topic, practice communicating, and building a community. All with no ‘official’ philosophy knowledge required! 😎 Practical Philosophy is based on the idea that philosophy should be accessible to all, and not something reserved only for academics. Each week we choose a topic, and the goal is to use the conversation to develop our critical thinking and communication as we explore that topic. The goal is to help develop our Critical Thinking, Communication, and Community 🙌 **📓 HOW DOES IT WORK?** Each week, we pick one topic and discuss it. The topic for the week is shared, generally in the [Whatsapp group,](https://chat.whatsapp.com/EK5pxIwMqfcLaWwSSim8TJ) along with jump-off points to get the conversation going. When groups get bigger than 7-8 people, it’s important that we break into smaller groups. This way we are able to maintain a conversational flow as opposed to having our meetups feel like a discourse or lecture. **General Meeting Agenda** Each Practical Philosophy meet-up follows this general timeline: * 18:00-18:15 - People arrive and chat, get to know each other before the official start. * 18:15-18:25 - Meeting introduction, explanation of Practical Philosophy and the topic for the week, read the guidelines and the overview so attendees know what to expect in terms of timelines. * 18:25-19:45 - Break into small groups - introduce yourselves and general thoughts on the topic, open discussion afterwards. At this point the group can review the ‘jump-off’ questions as needed, but they are just there to help guide the conversation. It’s not obligatory to answer them. * 19:45-20:00 - Bring everyone back together to discuss conclusions of the topic - each group gives a short 1-minute summary. Organizer concludes the meeting and everyone takes a group photo. * 20:00 - The official meeting is over but it’s a great opportunity to get to know people in a non-structured environment, so we often stick around, chat, and get to know each other. **🧧PRICING?** Practical Philosophy Club is FREE to attend! We just ask that if we are meeting in a café, buy a beverage! Some chapters rent a space for us to meet, and they may ask for donations to help contribute to the cost of rent. Donations will always be 100% voluntary though! **💛 WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY** **🗣** “I feel like Philosophy Club helps someone build their own belief system through a series of perspectives while not promoting what’s right and wrong” - Ekam 🗣 “I got hooked from day 1 (the topic was authority) and felt it was the right place for me. I feel it is a place where people can go to learn and discuss new perspectives and increase critical thinking and community by interacting with people who might challenge your point of views but at the same time encourage you to have openness and mind flexibility.” - Daniel **🤓 FAQ** * **​What will we talk about? What's the topic?** ​The topic for the week is shared every Sunday in the Whatsapp group. We try to add the topic to the comment section on this event page as well but if you don’t see it, the topic and the jump-off points will be in our [Whatsapp](https://chat.whatsapp.com/EK5pxIwMqfcLaWwSSim8TJ). * **Do I need to study or read anything to attend?** No preparation is necessary. This isn’t a study of other thinkers. We want to know what YOU think about the topic, not what an old philosopher thought. If you have a perspective from a religion or a school of thought to share, throw it on the table and we’ll discuss it, but it's not required. * **Is there a specific philosophy that Practical Philosophy is focused on?** The goal of our meet-ups is to not have dogmatic discussions, and flex our critical thinking muscles. Because of this, we want to hear from every realm of thought, and don't study a particular school. * **Is it mostly men that attend?** Surprisingly, no! Although philosophy is seen as a Candelabra affair in a dark room with a bunch of guys, our Practical Philosophy meetups are generally 50/50 between genders, and we don’t meet in any dark rooms. * **Can I come alone?** Of course you can, we encourage it :) * **Can I be late?** Please don't be! We do have a 15 minute grace period where we allow people to funnel in while we hang out, but after that if you arrive too late, it disrupts the flow of the conversation. * **Where do you meet?** The location is posted in Meetup and our [Whatsapp ](https://chat.whatsapp.com/EK5pxIwMqfcLaWwSSim8TJ)group for this location. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you join the Whatsapp group! If you want to know what other cities have a Practical Philosophy Club, you can see our chapters on our [website](https://www.practicalphilosophy.club/practical-philosophy-locations/). **PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY CLUB - Philosophy, everywhere. ✨** We started in Practical Philosophy back in 2021 and there are now 20+ chapters in over 15 countries, including Canada, Spain, Japan, Mexico and many more! 🗺️ **\*\*\*** **Join our [Whatsapp group](https://chat.whatsapp.com/EK5pxIwMqfcLaWwSSim8TJ) 👈** **Follow us on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/practicalphilosophyclub/) 👈** **Our [website](https://www.practicalphilosophy.club/) 👈**

Event: How to Beat Overthinking: Anxiety, Indecision & Intrusive Cycles. 📆 Saturday, Jan. 24th, 2026 🕒 1:30 - 3:00pm 📍Special Events Area, Doha 🏢 Qatar National Library 🧭https://share.google/IjdfOTZlT4p1GWIVS 🎟 Free Entrance, Registration is required. Please register your details for the above event at this link: https://passareuk.com/overthinkingqnl/ Join the WhatsApp Event Chat if atrending for more updates https://chat.whatsapp.com/HhaKtohIi0bI5BTbQyOQD8

### Cross-Cultural Winter Cooler Picnic **Because the weather’s perfect for an outdoor gathering!** *Doha is home to people from all over the world-and what better way to celebrate our diverse cultures than through food, conversation, and connection? Join us for a relaxed cross-cultural picnic where everyone brings a dish that represents their home country or something they’re proud to share.* We’ll enjoy casual chats, dodgeball, and a bit of language exchange (English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, or any languague attendees speak, with English as the common language). Expect laughter, stories, and new friendships under the winter sun! **Theme:** Bring **1 dish to share** **Venue:** La Bidda Park (Next to the Expo House across from the MOI) **Meeting Point:** The Dragon Lantern (12:00–12:15 PM-we’ll wait about 10–15 minutes) **Guidelines:** * **RSVP** and mention what dish you’ll bring (to avoid repeats). * Bring food or drink enough for **2 people to share.** * Please bring your **own cutlery, plates, and cups**-let’s be eco-friendly! * A **picnic mat or towel** is also welcomed. They have Lantern festival in this part of Al Bidda park. Have a look. We’ll meet by the Dragon Lantern next to the Expo House at noon before heading to our picnic spot. This is a free and open event, but please come on time with a respectful, open-minded, and friendly spirit. *P.S. After the picnic or between chats,* we will play dodgeball as well. Everybody is advised to bring a bottle of water for yourself.

**Language Exchange over a drink. We choose a different venue every week.** This is an outdoor cafe in the park. Come to enjoy some breeze and nice view. This is a free event and we welcome local and expats to come for a chat and some good company. Participants are responsible for paying for their orders. As customary to support local business, minimum 1 order is a good practice. It will also be great if you can support this group and the food for strays by giving some money in our donation box!! **Languages👂🏻💋:** English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese (and more, depending on the attendees' languages) **Topics**🗣: What will become of us when we all continue swiping and spending so much time online? **Location: Yirga Specialty Coffee** in the La Bidda park We have certified Chinese and English teachers here who also speak Spanish and Japanese. We are looking for Arabic-speakers or anyone who wishes to practice these languages or just to connect. For our regular members, we move on from our picnic to sit down for a coffee after our picnic. Participants will be put in different tables based on number of people and langauge-pairs and swap places from time to time. Please sign up for your attendance. Ps. Look for a blonde Asian girl on arrival.

🚀 **Business Networking Opportunity** 🤝 **Where meaningful connections translate into real business growth** Join a fast-growing professional business network that brings together local and international entrepreneurs, business owners, and decision-makers through structured networking sessions, referral exchanges, and collaboration-driven events. This network is built on **trust, visibility, and relationship-based growth**—focused on generating tangible business outcomes, not just exchanging contacts. In today’s competitive market, networking is no longer optional. Strong professional networks unlock partnerships, referrals, market intelligence, and sustainable growth. The right connections can shorten sales cycles, enhance credibility, and create opportunities beyond traditional marketing channels. **Why attend?** ✨ Connect with verified business leaders and decision-makers ✨ Build trusted, referral-based relationships ✨ Increase visibility for your brand and services ✨ Convert conversations into measurable business results 👥 **Ideal for:** Entrepreneurs \| Business Owners \| CEOs \| Sales Managers \| General Managers 📅 **Date:** Sunday, 25 January 2026 ⏰ **Time:** 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM 📍 **Venue:** Riviera Rayhaan by Rotana 🎟️ **Entry Fee:** QAR 75 🔔 **One room. One evening. Multiple opportunities. Register now.** 📞 **For more details:** (+974) 6682 6155 📧 [Luthfe@SheenInfotech.com](mailto:Luthfe@SheenInfotech.com) #B2BChampions #B2BNetworkQatar #BusinessNetworking #QatarBusiness #EntrepreneursQatar #CEOs #BusinessOwners #ProfessionalNetworking #ReferralMarketing #GrowYourBusiness #NetworkingThatWorks

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation as we discuss ***Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It* by Cory Doctorow** Here's the summary: **Explaining the process of the “enshittification” of digital platforms over time and what to do about it.** Cory Doctorow's *Enshittification* takes a witty yet incisive look at the tech landscape, where platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Google start off great—before they inevitably turn terrible. In this contemporary moment of digital decline, Doctorow explores how tech giants lure users in with convenience and then degrade their services over time, squeezing profit at the cost of user experience. With a mix of sharp humor and deep insight, he unveils the slow creep of "enshittification," turning the online world into a worse place, one algorithm at a time. **Let’s meet at Caboose Commons in Fairfax to enjoy some good discussion and meet new friends.**

Please join us as we discuss **CHILDREN OF TIME**, book 1 of *Children of Time* by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This novel won the Arthur C. Clarke award, and is of moderate length, at about 609 pages. Please keep your RSVP updated and accurate! Space is limited for this event. We are intentionally holding some RSVP slots for new members specifically, so if you’re new and the event is full, please get on the waitlist ASAP! You may bring your own food/drinks (no alcohol, please) or you may pick something up in Mosaic or at the farmers market before the meetup. We do ask that you pack your trash out with you. * **[KINDLE](https://a.co/d/a3Cy5hF)** * **[PAPERBACK](https://www.amazon.com/Children-Time-Adrian-Tchaikovsky/dp/0316452505/)** * **[AUDIBLE](https://www.audible.com/pd/Children-of-Time-Audiobook/B071Y9TTHC)** **BOOK DESCRIPTION:** ***Who will inherit this new Earth?*** The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare. Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth? *\*Since missing one of these meetups is taking a spot away from someone else who wants to go, we'll need to have a stricter attendance policy than normal. For book discussions, 3 no-shows in a rolling 3-month period will prohibit you from attending any other book discussion for 2 months after your last no-show. In order to avoid a no-show, please update your RSVP no later than 10pm two nights before a discussion. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation! If you need to drop off because of Covid symptoms or exposure or a positive test or any other illness, there will be no penalty to no-showing or dropping late.*

(2024) by Christof Koch, 288 pages [Psychology] • Hardcover • Kindle • Audiobook • Library: https://fcplcat.fairfaxcounty.gov/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1&cn=613100 Check the How To Find Us section for Zoom Link **(Remember, the Zoom Link is different each month, do not bookmark)** ### Review "A wonderful book."―Sam Harris, Making Sense with Sam Harris “a fun introduction to a number of debates… Mr. Koch’s book provokes questions… and counterarguments, but that’s what gives it life.” ―The Wall Street Journal “Easily the most current, thorough, and helpful exploration of consciousness available. Koch’s light, simple, yet authoritative writing style will appeal to general audiences as well as scientists and researchers. An essential, highly recommended purchase.”―Library Journal “magisterial… charming, sometimes beautiful, and almost always illuminating” ―Science Magazine “an impressive and sometimes exuberant work, showcasing decades of [Koch’s] research”―New Scientist “Koch’s adept use of analogies and entertaining anecdotes — complete with his own near-death experience and psychedelic drug trips — make the book a compelling and surprisingly light read.” ―Science News “undeniably compelling… a smoothly written must-read for anyone interested in a detailed introduction to the relationship between the brain, consciousness, and transformative experiences” ―Ars Technica “Expertly weaving in personal experience with science that few, if any, can speak more authoritatively about, Koch leads us on an amazing journey of consciousness—from birth to death. Deeply personal and infinitely digestible, Then I Am Myself the World is a remarkable must read for anyone interested in knowing their mind.”―Judson Brewer MD, PhD, New York Times–bestselling author of Unwinding Anxiety “Koch’s latest book brilliantly navigates the intricate landscape of our mind and our brain, offering insightful perspectives on the nature of conscious experiences, both ordinary as well as extraordinary ones.”―Hartmut Neven, founder and lead of Google’s quantum AI lab “Then I Am Myself the World is the new record of note for the scientific understanding of consciousness. This is an elegant tableau, a travelogue of subjective experience grounded in the latest neuroscience and philosophy traversing religion, science, and a life dedicated to the biggest questions. Filled with crystalline prose, lucid explanation, and revelatory honesty, this book will continue to be read centuries from now.”―Patrick House, author of Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness “What would happen if a hardcore neuroscientist, with encyclopedic knowledge and four decades of experience in his field, were personally confronted with transformative mystical experiences carrying inevitable metaphysical implications? What would happen if the neuroscientist in question were open-minded, humble, but remained rigorously grounded in reason, evidence, and his hard-earned understanding of how consciousness relates to brain structures and function? What would he, the most preeminent professional of his generation, make of his extraordinary experiences? And what if, in addition, the neuroscientist was a modern renaissance man versed in physics, philosophy, the arts, the classics, and could pluck irresistibly evocative metaphors from the Western literary and artistic canon as if leisurely picking apples in early fall? This is what you will find in this treasured book, a whirlwind ride of insight after insight—so many they can’t possibly be all documented in footnotes—that will surprise and delight you from the get-go. ‘Primacy goes to consciousness, not to the objective world,’ he boldly states already on page two, in a prelude of things to come. ‘Everything else follows from there, including the realist assumption of the existence of objects, out ‘there,’ independent of my experiencing them.’ The book embodies the ever-evolving wisdom of a man whose intellectual prowess is only matched by his intellectual honesty. And this man, in the seventh decade of his scintillatingly productive life, has a lifetime of learning to share with you.”―Bernardo Kastrup, executive director, Essentia Foundation “Koch’s first book was entitled The Quest for Consciousness. And such has been Koch’s life, an adventurer’s pursuit of a distant goal, undeterred by the prevailing winds. The reader will learn where this quest has led and, like the author, will be enriched by it. Koch, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time, a mind singularly open to learning and changing, here opens his soul, revealing his vast, scintillating appreciation of nature in all its forms. It is a touching, profound book. Which is as it should be, since consciousness touches everything and is everything we touch.”―Giulio Tononi, University of Wisconsin-Madison ### About the Author Christof Koch is a neuroscientist at the Allen Institute and at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, the former president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and a former professor at the California Institute of Technology. Author of four previous titles, Koch writes regularly for a range of media, including Scientific American. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

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