All current and former students are invited to join our book club. We’ll convene in our Slack community the following dates and times:
Thursday, April 6: 1pm PT/4pm Eastern | Read Part I and II
Thursday, April 13: 1pm PT/4pm ET | Read Part III
Thursday, April 20: 1pm PT/4pm ET | Read Part IV
Thursday, April 27: 1pm PT/4pm ET | Read Part V
We’ll meet to discuss in the #book-club channel, and the conversation will be facilitated by Cole Imperi.
(All students are invited to join our community on Slack, the link is within your courses. Otherwise please email hello@americanthanatology.com with the course you took and when, and we’ll zip an invite link right over to you.)
You can read all the details here in the School’s blog.
July’s Book Selection
This April, we’ll read Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff Ph.D.
Please see above for which parts of the book to read by which Thursday.
Kristin Neff, Ph.D. is a pioneer in the study of self-compassion, being the first one to operationally define and measure the construct almost twenty years ago.
Throughout the School of American Thanatology’s book club, participants can engage in a low-energy guided discussion, based on the concepts and strategies presented in the book. They can also share their own experiences and insights, providing support and encouragement to one another in their journeys toward greater self-compassion.
About Book Club
The theme that underpins each book selection is to explore how the title relates to death, dying, grief and loss—personally, professionally, globally and otherwise.
This is why you’ll see some titles which are not explicitly connected to these themes.
This is an interdisciplinary book club, meaning we seek to look outward and pull inward.
The book club meetings take place in Slack because we want this to be a low-energy way to engage with community. We also recognize that sometimes, things like this are what catalyze us to complete something—like reading a book! There are no cameras, Zoom sessions or anything requiring a lot of energy. Participants do not need to read every word of the book in order to participate, either.
This is free for current and past students.
Slack is free and you can use it on your phone, tablet or computer.
About the Book Club Symbol — A Book With Eyes?
This symbol was originally depicted before the year 1,000 AD believe it or not. The book with eyes perched atop is how St. Odilia is often depicted. St. Odilia (belonging to a Catholic Christian tradition) lived a wild life. She was rebellious, died and came back to life multiple times, had immediate family murdered, and lost her vision and had it restored. She is also associated with Larkspur, which is a thanabotanical plant.
The spirit of St. Odile (not the religious connection) is held within the symbol. The eyes atop the book reminds us to see, observe and witness.
St. Odile is the patron saint of Alsace (northeastern France) and those dealing with eye-related issues like blindness.