# CS Reading Room Book Club **Location**: ICICS/CS Reading Room (262, 2nd Floor, CS Main Building) **Date/Time**: Once a month **Audience**: Students, graduate and undergraduate, who are book enthusiasts, staff, faculty, and community members on a case by case basis. We focus especially in STEM departments (e.g. CS, MATH, ECE, STATS), to provide an unmet need in those communities. **Registration**: Required. Sign up at the link below in the Upcoming Events table. **Facilitator**: Students take turns **Organizers**: Geoffrey Woollard Nobu Kawaguchi --- ### Upcoming Events | **Date** | **Time** | **Title** | **RSVP** | |------------------------|----------|------------------------|-------| | Thursday, Nov 13, 2025 | 3-4 PM | *Braiding Sweetgrass* — Wisgaak Gokpenagen: A Black Ash Basket [Link](https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass) | [Link](https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BrAUb19cGlFZOK) | | Thursday, Dec 4, 2025 | 3-4 PM | *Religious and Cultural Implications of Technology-Mediated Relationships in a Post-Pandemic World* — Chapter Six: Technology and Contemplative Pedagogy, Beverly McGuire [Link](https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/religious-and-cultural-implications-of-technologymediated-relationships-in-a-postpandemic-world-9781666933987/) | | | Thursday, Jan 15, 2026 | 3-4 PM | *Imagining AI: How the World Sees Intelligent Machines* — 13. Imagining Indigenous AI, Jason Edward Lewis [Link](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/imagining-ai-9780192865366) | | | Thursday, Feb 12, 2026 | 3-4 PM | *The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic Age* — Do We Need Bodies? [Link](https://readingreligion.org/9781506486901/the-artifice-of-intelligence/) | | | Thursday, Mar 12, 2026 | 3-4 PM | *Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Policy* — Chapter 6: Indigenous Self-Determination and Data Governance in the Canadian Policy Context, Robyn K. Rowe, Julie R. Bull, and Jennifer D. Walker [Link](https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-Data-Sovereignty-and-Policy/Walter-Kukutai-Carroll-Rodriguez-Lonebear/p/book/9780367567477) | | | Thursday, Apr 2, 2026 | 3-4 PM | *Native American DNA* — The DNA Dot-com: Selling Ancestry [Link](https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816665860/native-american-dna/) | | --- ### What happens at the book club? We read one book per month. Everyone reads in advance as much as they can (you can skip the boring parts). We discuss the book informally, sharing our thoughts, insights, and questions. A facilitator will guide the discussion, and everyone is encouraged to participate in a warm friendly atmosphere. --- ### What type of books? There should be some connection to computer science, although it can be somewhat tangential. Books can focus on culturally enriching areas that educate students to be well-rounded computer scientists, such as literature, poetry, popular science, history, biography, philosophy, ethics, spirituality, and professional development. We avoid extremely technical books (e.g., dense textbooks, papers) that would fit better in courses or journal club-style reading groups. *Bring your own books, or choose from the [Reading Room collection](https://bibrrs.library.ubc.ca/vwebv/search?searchCode=GKEY^*&limitTo=LOCA=ICICS/CS+Reading+Room).* See the running [list of books](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tyL6HbfBnw1QRtlavMUkpmpGethagu4x_-cnkRIl8pY/edit?usp=sharing): and add your own titles. We will decide what books to read via a consensus process. --- ### Notes - The reading room will prepare refreshments and snacks. - There is an active communication channel through the #reading-room channel on the CSGSA Slack. Please contact the organizers to be added if you are eligible to belong to that Slack. - The reading room will purchase new books when requested. - The reading room coordinator will monitor the Slack channel and [sign-up sheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tyL6HbfBnw1QRtlavMUkpmpGethagu4x_-cnkRIl8pY/edit?usp=sharing). - For any questions, contact the CSGSA Slack #reading-room channel or email or . --- ### Past Events | **Date** | **Time** | **Title** | |------------------------|----------|------------------------| | Thursday, Oct 9, 2025 | 3-4 PM | *Empire of AI: dreams and nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI* - Chapter 12: Plundered Earth & Epilogue: How the Empire Falls. [Link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_AI) | | Thursday, Sep 18, 2025 | 3-4 PM | *Indigenous AI Position Paper* — 5.4 Dreams of Kuanoʻo, Michael Running Wolf [Link](https://www.indigenous-ai.net/position-paper/) | | Friday, Mar 21, 2025 | 3-4 PM | Personhood, Consciousness, and Technology: A Dialogue with Jaron Lanier in *Human Flourishing in a Technological World: A Theological Perspective* [Link to UBC library online access](https://go.exlibris.link/Kppsy4Wn) | | Friday, Feb 28, 2025 | 3-4 PM | Chapter 5: The Elaboration of Surveillance Capitalism: Kidnap, Corner, Compete in *The Age of Surveillance Capitalism* by Shoshana Zuboff| | Thursday, Jan 16, 2025 | 4-5 PM | *Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance*. Chapters 1-3 and 14. | | Thursday, Dec 5, 2024 | 3-4 PM | *The Question Concerning Technology in China* by Yuk Hui. Available online [here](https://gw2jh3xr2c.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.title=The+Question+Concerning+Technology+in+China&rft.au=Hui%2C+Yuk&rft.date=2016-01-01&rft.pub=Urbanomic&rft.isbn=9780995455009&rft.volume=3&rft.externalDocID=EBC5649565&pq-origsite=summon¶mdict=en-us) (Sections - 15, The Rupture of Qi and Dao after the Opium Wars, 16, The Collapse of Qi-Dao, 16.1, Carsun Chang: Science and the Problem of Life, 16.2, The Manifesto for a Science-Oriented Cultural Development, and its Critics, 17, Needham’s Question, 20, Geometry and Time, 21, Modernity and Technological Consciousness) | | Thursday, Nov 7, 2024 | 3-4 PM | *The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America* by Margaret O'Mara (Arrivals [from Act One]; Chapter 1: Endless Frontier; Departure: Into the Driverless Car) | | Friday, Oct 18, 2024 | 3-4 PM | *The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn* by Richard Hamming (Chapters 1 Orientation, 26 Experts, 30 You and your research) | | Friday, September 20, 2024 | 3-4 PM | *The Great Gatsby. Chapters 1 and 7.* | | Friday, April 19, 2024 | 3-4 PM | *Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance* by Angela Duckworth (Chapter 3: Effort Counts Twice) | | Friday, March 15, 2024 | 3-4 PM | *Relationship-rich Education: how human connections drive success in college* [Link](https://go.exlibris.link/mGLf5xx4) | | Friday, February 16, 2024 | 3-4 PM | *The worlds I see: curiosity, exploration, and discovery at the dawn of AI* by Fei-Fei Li (Chapter 6: The north star) | | Friday, January 19, 2024 | 3-4 PM | *Weapons of Math Destruction* by Cathy O'Neil (Chapter 5: 'Civilian Casualties: Justice in the Age of Big Data) [Link](https://go.exlibris.link/rC7ryKL2) | | Friday, November 24, 2023 | 3-4 PM | *The Coming Wave* by Mustafa Suleyman with Michael Bhaskar | | Friday, October 20, 2023 | 3-4 PM | *Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid* by Douglas R. Hofstadter | | Friday, September 15, 2023 | 3-4 PM | *Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun* (2021) [Link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klara_and_the_Sun) | | Friday, April 28, 2023 | 3-4 PM | *Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing* [Link](https://www.amazon.ca/Unlocking-Clubhouse-Computing-Jane-Margolis/dp/0262632691) (Chapter 3: Computing with a Purpose pp. 49-60) | | Friday, March 17, 2023 | 3-4 PM | *An Applied Mathematician's Apology* [Link](https://my.siam.org/Store/Product/viewproduct/?ProductId=42813032) | | Friday, February 17, 2023 | 3-4 PM | *Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley* (2022) [Link](https://go.exlibris.link/q1TM7MsV) | | Friday, January 13, 2023 | 3-4 PM | *How to Be Creative: A Practical Guide for the Mathematical Sciences* [Link](https://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/1.9781611977035) (Free online book through UBC library: [Link](https://go.exlibris.link/FjkDjM7g)) | | Tuesday, December 13, 2022 | 4-5 PM | *Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe* by George Dyson [Link](https://www.amazon.com/Turings-Cathedral-Origins-Digital-Universe/dp/1400075998) | ### Indigenous + STEM Reading List | Title | Link | |-------|------| | *Imagining AI* | [Oxford University Press](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/imagining-ai-9780192865366) | | *Indigenous AI Position Paper* | [Indigenous AI](https://www.indigenous-ai.net/position-paper/) | | *Native American DNA* | [University of Minnesota Press](https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816665860/native-american-dna/) | | *Braiding Sweetgrass* | [Milkweed Editions](https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass) | | *Indigenous Peoples' Knowledge and the Sciences* | [Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences](https://www.pass.va/en/events/2024/indigenous_peoples.html) | | *Guidance for US Federal Departments and Agencies on Indigenous Knowledge* | [White House Memorandum](https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/ceq/news-updates/2022/12/01/white-house-releases-first-of-a-kind-indigenous-knowledge-guidance-for-federal-agencies/) | ### Suggestions | **Title** | |------------------------| | Chapter IX: The Calculus of Probabilities in *Science and Hypothesis* by Poincare | | *Proofs and Refutations* by Lakatos | | Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality |