# CS Reading Room Book Club **Location**: ICICS/CS Reading Room (262, 2nd Floor, west wing of ICICS/CS) **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**: Often one of the organizers. Please contact the organizers if you would like to facilitate a session, or get on the mailing list. **Organizers**: Geoffrey Woollard Nobu Kawaguchi --- ### Upcoming Events | **Date** | **Time** | **Title** | Theme | **RSVP** | |------------------------|----------|------------------------|-------| | Thursday, Apr 2, 2026 | 4-5 PM | *Native American DNA* — The DNA Dot-com: Selling Ancestry [Link to publishers website](https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816665860/native-american-dna/) | Biology and identity | [RSVP Link](https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eV6Olqo67QXbSh8) | | TBD May 2026 | TBD | *A Legacy for Living Systems: Gregory Bateson as Precursor to Biosemiotics* | Biosemiotics in historical context | | | TBD June 2026 | TBD | *Code Duality (Ch. 4) — Biosemiotics: An Examination into the Signs of Life*, Jesper Hoffmeyer. | Organisms as interpreters; biological meaning systems | | | TBD July 2026 | TBD | *Absential Features (Ch. 4) — Incomplete Nature*, Terrence W. Deacon. | Meaning, constraint, and information beyond Shannon theory | | | TBD Aug 2026 | TBD | *The Symbolic Threshold (Ch. 3) — The Symbolic Species*, Terrence W. Deacon. | Emergence of symbolic reasoning and language | | | TBD Sep 2026 | TBD | *A Fundamental Circularity (Ch. 1) — The Embodied Mind*, Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson, Eleanor Rosch. | Embodied cognition; perception through action | | | TBD Oct 2026 | TBD | *Introduction (Ch. 1) - Sensorimotor Life: An enactive proposal*, Ezequiel A. Di Paolo, Thomas Buhrmann, Xabier E. Barandiaran. | Phenomenology, cognitive science, and dynamical systems theory. Enactivism as sensorimotor basis of cognition. | | | TBD Nov 2026 | TBD | *Indiscrete Thoughts*, Gian-Carlo Rota. | Phenomenology of mathematics. | | | TBD Dec 2026 | TBD | *The Practive of Thinking (Ch. 10) — Enactivist Interventions: Rethinking the Mind*, Shaun Gallagher. | Cognition, embodiment. Enactivism as a philosophy of nature | | | TBD Jan 2027 | TBD | *A Brief History of Intelligence Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains*, Max S. Bennett. | Evolutionary history of human brain, and future of technology | | | TBD Feb 2027 | TBD | *Letters from Lake Como: Explorations on Technology and the Human Race*, Romano Guardini. | technology and human closeness to nature | | | TBD Mar 2027 | TBD | *The Promise of Technology (Ch. 8); The Device Paradigm (Ch. 9); The Recovery of the Promise of Technology (Ch. 26) - Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: A Philosophical Inquiry*, Albert Borgmann. | The philosophy of technology; the device paradigm | | | TBD Apr 2027 | TBD | *The Green and The Blue: Naive Ideas to Improve Politics in the Digital Age*, Luciano Floridi. | If politics is an information system, what are its affordances, failure modes, and UX problems? | | | TBD May 2027 | TBD | *From Technological Magic to Cosmis Mysticisms (Ch 16); Renewal of Poetic Experience and Liberation from Technological Bondage (Ch. 17) - Cosmos: The World and the Glory of God*, Louis Bouyer. | Science, myth, philosophy, theology, poetic experience and technology here constantly rub elbows. | | | TBD Jun 2027 | TBD | *Charles Sanders Peirce and the Recovery of Signum (Ch. 15) — Four Ages of Understanding: The First Postmodern Survey of Philosophy from Ancient Times to the Turn of the Twenty-First Century*, John Deely. | Semiotics; the philosophy of relation | | | TBD Jul 2027 | TBD | *The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World*, Iain McGilchrist. | Neuroscience, epistemology and metaphysics | | --- ### 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. *Have a look at our past events for many books that suit this book club, many of which are in the [Reading Room collection](https://bibrrs.library.ubc.ca/vwebv/search?searchCode=GKEY^*&limitTo=LOCA=ICICS/CS+Reading+Room).* --- ### Notes - The reading room will prepare refreshments and snacks. - There is an active communication channel through a ubc listserv (announcements) and 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. - For any questions, contact the CSGSA Slack #reading-room channel or email or . --- ### Past Events | **Date** | **Time** | **Title** | |------------------------|----------|------------------------| | Thursday, Mar 12, 2026 | 4-5 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 to full text from UBC library](https://gw2jh3xr2c.search.serialssolutions.com/?sid=sersol&SS_jc=TC0002467894&title=Indigenous%20data%20sovereignty%20and%20policy) | | Thursday, Feb 12, 2026 | 4-5 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, Jan 22, 2026 | 4-5 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, 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, Nov 13, 2025 | 3-4 PM | *Braiding Sweetgrass* — Wisgaak Gokpenagen: A Black Ash Basket [Link](https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass) | | 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 |