Using book club as a methodology

Book clubs are held globally for different purposes and with different cohorts but beneath the varied purposes is a common theme: discussion of a book. DISCUSSION, not just set questions and answers.

Book club has its own methodology, it's own epistemology, and is a pedagogical practice in many educational settings from early education through to post graduate studies. Certainly for my thesis I am using the methodology of Book club Bibliotherapy: that is, our book clubs will follow the nine accepted and evidenced based steps of using a book to solve a problem. 

The problem is the derisory of Professor Brene Brown's books both in the academic and non academic world by academics. Without asking the question, I want discussion around why people read Brene Brown and what do they do with the knowledge gleaned from her books. I also want to know who else do they read and why. I want to know if Brene Brown is in people's dash somehow.

Moving away from the methodology; using book club also as the method allows the capture of lively book club discussion as data. And herein lies another problem: many book club attenders are socialised into receiving a list of questions about the book that in turn stifles open and ongoing discussions that springboard into areas outside of the book.

As a practiced book club facilitator I am frequently asked by new members if there is a list of questions to have beside them while they are reading. While this may work well for participants, it doesn't help critical thinking discussions, it closes discussion once everyone has answered a question.

You see, once a set question is answered, participants give way to allow another book club member the time to respond with their answer. While this is courteous and respectful of other participants, it may also constipate lively discussion that goes places no one thought possible.

I accept there may have to be some semi structure to encourage discussion but I am more interested in the invisible behind the obvious. I am interested in what people really think and why without the traditional set questions of book club.

Four hundred years BC Socrates and his brainy mates gathered to discuss ideas. The ideas were recorded in a book and the recorded notes again met over and further discussed. The style is known as Socratic questioning with questions arising from the discussion and never pre set. This makes me think of what one of my PhD philosophers, Gramsci, called "study circles." He would gift a book to the interested and a small meeting would discuss the ideas in the book with questions and answers arising from the discussion itself. Known as Socratic Education (mass education as a process of question and answer) it enabled the poor and uneducated to learn vis participatory discussion. 

Book Clubs are not new: the history of book clubs dates back to 1634 and does not involve set questions, rather discussion and Socratic education. While I am not suggesting that we go back in time, I am thinking that replicating how Gramsci operated his study circles is the methodology and method that our Brene Brown book clubs could follow.

If you are interested in joining one of our online Book Clubs then please get on the mail list of my Industry Partner, Type face Books. Information will be sent through their newsletter and of course books also available through them.

Credit: 

Epstein, Z. (2024, January 11) The Ultimate List of Book Club Discussion Questions for Fiction and Non-Fiction. Book Clubs. https://bookclubs.com/blog/ultimate-list-of-book-club-discussion-questions 

Longo, Lesley-Ann (2021, August 12) The Radical History of Book Clubs: Connecting Us through Literature. The Editing Company. https://theeditingco.com/blog/the-radical-history-of-book-clubs-connecting-us-through-literature 

Mission (2018, April 20) The Best Book Clubs Throughout History. Medium https://medium.com/the-mission/the-best-book-clubs-throughout-history-d45537334de0 

VanDeGrift, T. 2024. Book Club Model for Engaging with Data Science and Ethics. In Proceedings of 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE’24). March 20 – 23, 2024, Portland, OR, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 7 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/1234567890