Join Us for Book Club on Saturdays this July
All current and former students are invited to join our summer book club. We’ll convene in our Slack community the following dates and times:
Saturday July 9 at 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern | Part One and Part Two
Saturday July 16 at 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern | Part Three
Saturday July 23 at 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern | Part Four
Saturday July 30 at 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern | Part Five
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.)
July’s Book Selection
This July, we’ll read The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD.
Please see above for which parts of the book to read by which Saturday.
This book was chosen for a few reasons.
First, there are some issues and challenges associated with the book.
Second, this book shows up as reading material in many professions including psychology, nursing, yoga, psychiatry, medicine, massage therapy, counseling, support groups, hospice/palliative care and more. It’s a text that is often read, referenced and quoted. Because many of the students at the School of American Thanatology work in or with these professions, it would be good to have this book as a reference point. It’s valuable to be able to relate with and to coworkers, colleagues and community members through shared reference points.
Third, this book has been a Bestseller and it’s an accessible book as a result—very easy to find at libraries, in $1 bins at used bookstores or even in your local little free libraries.
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.
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.
