The Atlas Hugged Reading Group Led by David Sloan Wilson

More Information About the Atlas Hugged Reading Group

Atlas Hugged is available as a paperback and kindle edition on Amazon.com, as a paperback on other online book outlets such as Bookshop.org, and in audio on Audible.com. Please go here for more information on my website, including reviews, podcasts, and a sample of chapters.

Anyone with an inquiring mind and interest in consciously evolving a world that works for all is welcome to join the reading group. Prior knowledge of Ayn Rand and her novel Atlas Shrugged is not necessary, although of course they will be part of the conversation. As the back cover of my novel puts it, “Atlas Hugged is many things, but above all it is a story of two young people trying to tell right from wrong without needing to peer through a tissue of lies.”

The online meetings will begin with a short presentation by me, followed by discussions in small breakout groups, and ending with an extended Q&A with the whole group. This format will enable you to get to know other group members in addition to interacting directly with me.

In addition to our online meetings, asynchronous interactions will take place on a digital platform called Hylo.com, whose motto is “social coordination for a thriving planet”. Learning about Hylo will be a perk of joining the reading group, because it is open access and you can begin using it for other groups in your life.

In addition to attending the online meetings, you will be asked to write weekly reflections, which will be shared with other group members in a reflection gallery. Writing down your thoughts will have a personal value of helping you process information, in addition to the social value of sharing your thoughts with others.

Our conversation will be as much about the nature of fiction and what it means to have a worldview as about my particular work of fiction. Everyone has a worldview, which is required to make sense of our experience and ultimately for how we act. Stories are especially good vehicles for conveying worldviews. A story that conveys a compelling worldview can be warmly embraced, even if it isn’t very well written as a story!

In addition to the personal and social value of your written reflections and our online conversations, they have scientific value for the study of worldview evolution. You will therefore be asked permission for your reflections to be included in a natural language database, in a way that fully protects your identity. I look forward to telling you more about how humanistic topics such as fiction and worldviews can be approached from the perspective of evolutionary science.

Finally, because Atlas Hugged is a fictional portrayal of what can take place in the real world, and because I am actively engaged in real-world efforts as a scientist and activist through the nonprofit organization ProSocial World, joining the reading club can become a portal to other meaningful activities for you.

The application form will ask you for information about yourself and your interest in joining the group. Again, no qualifications are required to join, other than your interest. I am hoping that the group will reflect multiple forms of diversity, including age, gender, ethnicity, education, and life experience.