The Environmentalism Book Club met again last week on Wednesday, February 12th. We discussed Richard Powers’ novel “Playground”, the group’s first fiction title. Actually, it’s our only fiction title currently planned – the book club participants vote to choose our reading selections several months at a time. We vote again next month for our June-August reads, so if you’d like to help us decide what to read next, register now for our March 12th discussion!
Our conversation about “Playground” centered largely around the book’s themes of community, human exceptionalism, what it means to actually be human, anyway, and why it’s important for novels and other fictional books to be written about environmental topics. Some of my favorite responses to that final question were:
- Fiction engages the imagination in a way that nonfiction isn’t always able to
- Nonfiction sometimes tells you how to think about the information being shared, but fiction leaves so many avenues open for your imagination to go down & you can decide how to engage with the information and story
- Fiction takes you to a different place, it transports you and immerses you. Even though fiction is “less” real, it feels more real
We had a great group, a lively discussion, and I can’t wait for next month’s meeting!
Next month, we’ll be reading “How to Give Up Plastic” by Will McCallum. There are a few copies left at the Circulation Desk, if you’re interested – click the button below to learn more and register.
Below are resources shared by Andrea, the book discussion’s moderator, related to the book and its author, Richard Powers. Check them out!
About the Author
Richard Powers is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology on humanity and planet Earth. As of 2024, Powers has published 14 novels and has taught at the University of Illinois and Stanford University. His novel “The Echo Maker” won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction. In 2019, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “The Overstory”, along with many other awards over the course of his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship.
Click the button below to learn more and explore his other works and accomplishments.
Interviews
We watched a clip of this talk during our meeting – starting at 4:04
Reviews of “Playground”
“Richard Powers’ New Novel Explores the Birth of a New, High-Tech World”
“Playground by Richard Powers”
NPR:
“Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Powers plunges deep into the ocean in ‘Playground’
Discussion Questions + Character Guide & Research
Book Browse Guide to “Playground”
Includes reviews, a summary of the novel, a brief excerpt, book club questions, and a forum to add your thoughts and discuss with other readers.
An in-depth guide for “Playground”, including online resources for research on many relevant topics to the book including Settling Makatea, Manta Rays, and the Ocean’s Immensity.
Also included is a handy guide to the characters of the novel and several thoughtful book discussion questions.
Maldives Floating City
In “Playground”, one of the primary conflicts driving the story involves the people of the French Polynesian island Makatea (a real place!) deciding whether or not to allow American investors to use their island as a staging ground for the creation and launch of self-sustaining ‘floating cities’. Little did I know that there are people here in the ‘real world’ who have dreamed up something similar!
To finish up this blog post, I’ll leave you to explore the Maldives Floating City, an “an innovative housing project being developed in a lagoon 15 minutes boat ride from Male. Using the latest in floating technology from the Netherlands, the floating city will comprise of 5,000 housing units, tethered to the lagoon floor and linked together to create a safe and comfortable environment.”
Thanks for browsing! I hope we’ll see you next time – Wednesday, March 12, 7-8:30 p.m. – to discuss “How to Give Up Plastic“.
