Anchorage Public Library has partnered with Science Friday to bring the Sci Fri Book Club to the science and reading enthusiasts in our community. The SciFri Book Club is a program created by Science Friday to bring people together around all things science reading – anything from sci-fi short stories to nonfiction science books to science articles from various publications to science-y poetry!
There’s lots of ways to participate: Read the book, listen to our interview with the author, join our community space, attend an event, or send a message on the SciFri VoxPop app.
March Selection
This March, the SciFri Book Club will read Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor’s The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss. The Grieving Brain combines excellent storytelling, approachable science and research, and personal experience to help readers better understand what happens—neurologically, physically, and emotionally—as we grieve. This book choice is a chance to gather around the shared experience of grief, which can leave people feeling isolated and alone, and discuss the science of what is happening in our brains when we go through loss.
The Grieving Brain brings together a range of topics, including the neuroscience, death and loss, psychology, the mind-body connection, the science of grief, and more—and we’ll touch on these ideas throughout this Book Club season.
This Book Club season kicks off Wednesday, March 1, and you can read along with us! We’ll be (loosely) following this schedule, but all our readers are welcome to join us at their own pace:
- Chapters 1-2 from March 1-5
- Chapters 3-5 from March 6-12
- Chapters 6-8 from March 13-19
- Chapters 9-11 from March 20-26
- Final thoughts from March 27-31
Get the book, ebook or audiobook from the Anchorage Public Library.
Join the SciFri Book Club community forum here.
Book Club Meeting
Want to meet other SciFri Book Club members, talk about the book selection, and find more resources for deeper learning—all without leaving your home? Our community meeting is the place for you!
The Grieving Brain
Wednesday, March 29
4 PM, Zoom
This discussion meeting will focus on themes and topics featured in The Grieving Brain. You’re welcome to join us no matter your reading progress—come chat with other science-interested folks about neuroscience, death and loss, psychology, the mind-body connection, the science of grief, and more.
Virtual Events
The Grieving Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Guide To Our Brains Through Loss
Thursday, March 23
3 PM, YouTube Livestream
There’s a lot happening in our brains as we experience grief—and Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor has dedicated her career to using neuroscience to understand the grieving brain better. Hear from the author at this livestream event about her book, The Grieving Brain, which explores the neuroscience behind this profound human experience.
Join us for a conversation with the author on the science in the SciFri Book Club pick for March 2023. Come with your queries and wonderings—we’ll be taking your questions in the livestream comments!
April Selection
This April, the SciFri Book Club will read Pulitzer Prize finalist Dan Egan’s The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance. Published this March, The Devil’s Element traces the history of phosphorus, and uncovers how this powerful element has been used to both greatly benefit and severely endanger human beings—and the world. Phosphorus is particularly known as a potent fertilizer, but its overuse has resulted in toxic algae blooms and poisonous waterway “dead zones.” For the element that can be used to make both rich soil and rat poison, deciding the future of phosphorus will affect how we maintain functional food systems for all of humankind.
The Devil’s Element brings together a range of topics, including chemistry, agricultural engineering, ecosystem ecology, history, energy, and more—and we’ll touch on these ideas throughout this Book Club season.
This Book Club season kicks off Saturday, April 1, and you can read along with us! We’ll be (loosely) following this schedule, but all our readers are welcome to join us at their own pace:
- Chapters 1-3 from April 1-9
- Chapters 4-6 from April 10-16
- Chapters 7-9 from April 17-23
- Final thoughts from April 24-30
Get the book, ebook, or audiobook from the Anchorage Public Library.
There are so many ways to dive in and participate! You can purchase a copy of the book (and support the author and SciFri), read an excerpt from The Devil’s Element, join the discussion in our online Book Club community, sign up for our email newsletter, or RSVP for our upcoming Book Club events.
Upcoming Selections
- May: The Possibility of Life by Jamie Green.
- June: Monarchs of the Sea by Danna Staaf. Ebook available from the Alaska Digital Library.
