On 6 November at 4pm UK time, we’ll get together online to properly pull apart our first Book Club read, The Most Human Human by Brian Christian.

Next week, I will start posting nice frameworks, questions and anything I find that can help us learn about the topic.

This is a conversation about the ideas that stayed with us, the things we disagreed with, the questions the book created, and what any of it means in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

Bring a passage you loved, something you hated, a question, a half-formed thought, or just yourself. It's no pressure, just bring your opinion.

And if you don’t quite finish the book, you’re still very welcome 😅
Are We Still the Most Human Humans?
📆 6 November · 4pm UK
https://luma.com/v1cxdp75
One book. One month. Better conversations.

I’m starting The Most Human Human today, and I hope everyone joining us enjoys it too.

I’m also planning our first Salon for 6 November at 4pm UK time, our online meeting where we can properly pull the book apart together.

As we read, I’ll start dropping questions, comments, ideas and a few frameworks into the different Book Club spaces.

Please add your own as you go too, thoughts, disagreements, passages you loved, things you hated, anything that made you stop and think.

The book is the starting point. The conversation is the fun part.

I’m currently working on my newest book, Strategy in Service Design.

It’s for people who want to move beyond methods and tools and understand how Service Design connects to strategy, decision-making, organisations and change.

The book will explore things like:
→ how Service Design contributes to strategy
→ how to connect customer, service and organisational thinking
→ how decisions move through complex organisations
→ how to work with ambiguity, priorities and trade-offs
→ how senior Service Designers can influence direction, not just delivery

The waiting list is now open, and I’ll share updates there as the book gets closer to release.

📖 Join the waiting list here: https://www.the-curious-society.com/leadership

I also publish a regular The Curious Society newsletter exploring Service Design, AI, technology, society and the way services are changing around us.

It's totally FREE to join!

It’s where I go a little deeper into the ideas behind the work:
→ Service Design in practice
→ AI and the future of services
→ systems, policy and society
→ technology and work
→ longer-form thinking that doesn’t fit into a LinkedIn post

If you want to follow the wider thinking behind The Curious Society, this is the best place to do it.

📬 Read and subscribe here: https://the-curious-society.beehiiv.com/

If you’re trying to work out what to learn next in Service Design, I built this as a simple place to start.

The Learning Path is organised into stages:
→ Foundation - understand the basics
→ Practice - build confidence using the methods
→ Specialise - go deeper into specific areas
→ Advance - strengthen strategic and systems thinking
→ Leadership - move into senior and lead-level work

You don’t need to learn everything at once. The idea is to help you see where you are now, what might be useful next, and what you can ignore for the moment.

📚 Explore the Learning Path here: https://www.the-curious-society.com/products

This is where we keep the full history of The Curious Society Book Club.

At the end of each Quest, I’ll carefully archive:

→ the Quest question
→ all six books
→ the key debates and discussions
→ Salon reflections
→ the ideas and questions that stayed with us

Over time, this will become a complete record of every Quest we’ve explored since the beginning.

So if you join later, you won’t just see what we’re reading now. You’ll be able to go back through the whole journey and explore everything that came before.

This is where we shape what The Curious Society reads next.

The Book Club works in Quests. Each Quest lasts around six months and follows one big question through six different books.

🧭 Quest 01:

What does it mean to stay human in an age of intelligent machines?

For this Quest, we’ll read across AI, work, technology, society, design and the future of being human.

In this room, everyone can:

→ suggest books that fit the current Quest
→ explain why you think a book belongs in the journey
→ recommend something that takes the question in a completely different direction

I’ll read the suggestions and make the final choice each month, so the six books still work as one connected journey, rather than six separate picks.

From Quest 02 onwards, you’ll also be able to help shape the next Quest itself.

When we reach Book 5, I’ll open a dedicated post where you can suggest:

→ big questions we should explore next
→ themes you think deserve a full Quest
→ different directions you’d like The Curious Society to take

Then we’ll use those ideas to shape the next six-month journey.

One Quest. Six books. Plenty of room for unexpected directions.

This is where we take one idea from the current book and pull it apart a little.

Throughout the month, I’ll post a few questions or arguments for us to debate.

You can:

→ agree
→ disagree
→ challenge the idea
→ bring another perspective
→ change your mind halfway through

💭 The point isn’t to win.

It’s to think properly about the argument and see what happens when other people look at it differently.

Welcome to the Reading Room. This is the main space for discussing the current book while we read. Share questions, notes, disagreements, connections, diagrams or anything that makes you stop and think. You do not need to finish the book before joining the conversation.

QUEST 01

What does it mean to stay human in an age of intelligent machines?

Book 1 of 6

→ The Most Human Human - Brian Christian

We’re starting here because before we ask what intelligent machines will change, we need to ask what we actually mean by being human.

The book uses the Turing Test and the attempt to make machines appear human as a way into much bigger questions about intelligence, conversation, originality, behaviour and what distinguishes us from machines.

The question to carry with you this month:

What are we actually trying to preserve when we say we want to remain human?

Read at your own pace. If something makes you curious, uncertain or unconvinced, start a conversation below.

Welcome ✨
What this is:

The Curious Society Book Club is a free, one-book-per-month space for people who want to read more, think more deeply and discuss ideas with others.

We use each book as a starting point for questions, disagreements, connections and bigger conversations.

This is not a book-summary club, a networking group or a place for self-promotion.

The book is the common text. The club is the argument.

You do not need to finish the book before joining in.

🧭 Where to go

The Foyer — current book, dates, Salon details and announcements.
Reading Room — questions, notes, ideas and open discussion.
Debate Chamber — structured debates around the book’s biggest arguments.
Bookshelf — recommend and vote on future reads.
TCS Library — newsletters, resources and useful TCS material.
Archive — previous books, debates and Salon reflections.

🔥 A few rules

• Debate ideas, not people.

• Explain your thinking — disagreement is welcome.

• Stay connected to the book or the ideas it raises.

• No advertising, self-promotion, affiliate links, job hunting or lead generation.

• Sharing your own experience is absolutely fine when it genuinely helps the discussion.

• Direct messages and the member directory are intentionally switched off. This is a shared discussion space, not a networking or private-pitching community.

For authors, publishers or partnership enquiries:
email: [email protected].

Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalia-mtorres

✨ What to do first

Find this month’s book in The Foyer, then head into the Reading Room.

If something makes you curious, confused or unconvinced, say something.

Welcome to the Book Club 📖✨