Mariana Alessandri (author of Night Vision)

Overview: Join us this spring for our first ever international book club! Starting on Monday 5th June, we’ll be reading Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods by Dr. Mariana Alessandri (Princeton, 2023). Over six weeks we’ll read about and discuss how best to see and talk about difficult moods including anger, sadness, grief, depression, and anxiety. We’ll discuss our own experiences alongside Ancient and Existentialist philosophies, Western medicine, and Professional Psychology.  

Week 1 (5th June): What’s Wrong with Love and Light?

Week 2 (12th June): Re-learning Anger

Week 3 (19th June): Sadness Connects Us

Week 4 (26th June): No Wrong Way to Grieve

Week 5 (3rd July): Seeing Depression in a Better Light

Week 6 (10th July): Anxious People are Right

Group Leader: Dr. Mariana Alessandri is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the first bilingual university in the US. Mariana studies existentialist thinkers, who express their ideas through philosophy, literature, and poetry. Her favourite thinkers include Søren Kierkegaard and Gloria Anzaldúa. Her public writings have appeared in venues including the New York Times, Aeon, and New Philosopher.

Dates and Times: This group will run weekly from Monday 5th June to Monday 10th July via Zoom. Sessions will last one hour from 9am PST/12pm Eastern/5pm GMT/6pm CET.

Group Size/Entry Requirements: The size of the group will be limited to 15 people, including the group leader. No previous philosophy knowledge is required.

Cost: This group is free to attend in order to open it to anyone, albeit with an encouragement to offer a donation if you can afford to in order to cover administrative costs, pay the group leader for their time, and so on. The recommended donation is £50. If you are unable to cover the cost of buying Night Vision, please contact us and we will buy a copy for you.