Your greatest project is yourself.
Find resources and community in your pursuit of your highest self with our Wellness Book Club!
Each month, we read and discuss a book about a different aspect of wellness. From science to spirituality, health hacks to habits, nutrition to neuroscience, we'll explore many different areas and ways of living our best lives. This book club, for both teens and adults, focuses on creating a welcoming and compassionate community that explores the challenges and triumphs of being a good human. Whether you are interested in the next read or finding a group of people with aspirations of wellness, we invite you to join us for our next book club meeting! We meet at 6:30 pm in the Fireplace Room and no registration is necessary.
This past season we read:
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
Atomic Habits by James Clear
You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
This winter we will be reading three new titles, listed below. Please procure your own copy of the book. You can find books, ebooks, and audiobooks available by browsing our catalog. For assistance placing a hold on an item, visit our checkout desk or call 608-758-6587. Learn about our other book clubs here.
WINTER 2025 TITLES
MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 6:30 P.M.
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.
Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.
MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 6:30 P.M.
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.
A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 6:30 P.M.
In Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through 87 of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances - a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heartbreaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection.
Over the past two decades, Brown’s extensive research into the experiences that make us who we are has shaped the cultural conversation and helped define what it means to be courageous with our lives. Atlas of the Heart draws on this research, as well as on Brown’s singular skills as a storyteller, to show us how accurately naming an experience doesn’t give the experience more power, it gives us the power of understanding, meaning, and choice.