Starting mid-2026, I have been convening friends in a reading group around the theme of societal flourishing. We read a book each month, then meet (virtually) to discuss the takeaways and insight about what we have read.
The reading group aims to bring people together for a shared reading experience and dialogues on how to build a thriving, flourishing society. We focus our exchanges on actionable, solution-oriented perspectives that can motivate each of us to turn what we have read and consumed into practical changes at the personal and local levels. If you would like to participate, please feel free to email me.
I hope to continue this small community of readers, learners, and practitioners who are driven to make their community “flourish”. Once I have the means, I also hope to build a small physical library around similar topics so that members of my own local community can join and read them. I am looking for titles to add to this future library, so if you have any ideas, please email me or add them directly to this sheet.
Here are the books we have read so far:
The Spirit Level (2009)
Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
By Kate E. Pickett & Richard G. Wilkinson
In July 2026, we read this data-rich book on equality in societies. The book maps out correlation between unequal distribution of wealth or capital and a series of challenges—poor health, mistrust in community, violence, poor education, environmental issues. Our conversation related the data from the book with our own lived experience and further explored what a community like ours could do, at the most personal level, to foster the “equal” principles and values presented in this book.
Palaces for the People (2018)
How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
By Eric Klinenberg
In August 2026, we turned to physical infrastructure in communities and neighborhoods as a means to advancing the values advocated by the previous book’s authors. This month’s book describes how certain spaces have become a bedrock of community building despite the “decline of civic life” in some societies. Our discussion once again touched on our own experience with these gathering spaces (e.g., libraries, cafes, dance halls). We ended our chat with personal commitment to cultivate these ties with our own local communities and neighborhoods.
Teaching to Transgress (1994)
Education as the Practice of Freedom
By bell hooks
To celebrate the “back-to-school” season in September, we read this seminal book by bell hooks. The book contains a range of themes: from how education intersects with justice, to classroom teaching principles for inclusion, to the personal perspective of a black woman academic. Our group, representing teachers, academics, education practitioners, and informal learning facilitators, explored how we related to each of these themes and exchanged perspectives across sectors and fields.
Fresh Banana Leaves (2022)
Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science
By Jessica Hernandez
In October 2026, we are reading Fresh Banana Leaves which celebrates Indigenous knowledge systems and methods for addressing environmental issues. The book traces the personal and family histories of Latin American women, stewards, and community leaders to emphasize both the ills being committed to Indigenous lands and the influence and value of Indigenous science and knowledge systems in healing from these problems.