Join our virtual community to connect with fellow Santa Clara alumni, faculty, staff, and friends and enjoy reading, lifelong learning, personal growth, novels and other books. Participation is free!
“Books are a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection.
Books change your mind.” — Toni Morrison
How the Book Club Works
We have created a virtual book club for Santa Clara alumni, faculty, staff, and friends, covering lifelong learning, personal growth, novels, and other books the participants are interested in. The book club connects with a private forum where all participants can discuss the current book and network with each other. Joining is completely free, you just have to get a copy of the book to enjoy. The group will read one book every two months so that you'll have plenty of time for each book.
Our Past Selections:
Why Join?
There are three main reasons we hope you'll be excited to participate in our book club:
- Connect with Fellow Santa Clara University Alumni: Want another way to connect? Joining our book club will help you get to know fellow alumni through a learning community.
- Be a Lifelong Learner: A book club can expand your perspective when we read new books and learn from other book club members. We will read books that will challenge us, inspire us, and motivate us to grow as lifelong learners.
- Reading is Good for You: Did you know business people who read at least seven business books per year earn over 230% more than people who read just one book per year?1 Reading improves your intelligence, reasoning ability, and has been linked to reducing the chance of Alzheimer's.2 Joining our book club gives you the opportunity to read more and enjoy all the benefits that come with it.
- How often will books be read, what is the time commitment and what are the expectations?
We plan to start the group by reading one book every two months. The texts selected will be lifelong learning, personal growth, novels and other books and take an average of nine hours to read cover to cover. If you have between 1 and 2 hours a week to read you should be fine. - Will there be any in-person meetings of the book club?
No, the book club will be entirely online. You can participate anywhere you have Internet access and on days and times that are convenient to you. - Is there any cost to participate?
Participation is free for Santa Clara University alumni, faculty, staff and friends! You are responsible for obtaining a copy of the book. - How do I get the books?
Participants can get books for free at their local library or purchase them. - How do book club discussions work?
The book club will have a moderator from PBC Guru who manages the forum where discussions occur online. The moderator will pose questions to the group, share relevant articles and facilitate conversation about topics in the book. Members will be encouraged to post and share as well. This format allows for ongoing conversation and makes it easy for readers to connect with each other through the forum. - How do I make a forum profile?
We're using a private forum to host the virtual book club so it's easy to connect with fellow alumni. During our sign up process, you will enter the information to auto-generate your free profile. After you complete the sign up, we'll send you a link to the forum and you can begin to post right away! - What exactly is PBC Guru and what do they have to do with the Santa Clara University book club?
Professional Book Club (PBC) Guru is a book club management company that works with businesses, alumni associations and professional societies. Santa Clara University is teaming up with PBC to put this program in place for Santa Clara alumni, faculty, staff, and friends. You can check out their website at www.pbc.guru if you want to see more of what they do. - I've already signed up. How do I log in?
If you are already a member, you can click here to log in. - What if my question isn't answered?
Feel free to send an email to info@pbc.guru and we'll be happy to help.
If you have any questions regarding the Alumni Book Club, please contact Maria von Massenhausen, Associate Director, Program Management.