Starting Wednesday night October 17th at 6:30 we will read and discuss The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest For Political Power is Destroying the Church by Gregory A. Boyd. We will read and discuss one chapter each week for 9 weeks, excluding Halloween and Thanksgiving Eve. The book is available on Amazon.com or through other bookstores. Come any Wednesday you are free whether you have read ahead or not. Join us at Christ Community Mennonite Church 888 S. Roselle Rd. Schaumburg IL 60193 …

A cultural, intellectual community based on rationality. Meet up for a walk, a drink, to dance, etc... Civil behavior is required, truly creative actions are lauded, criticism is constructive and restrained.  Activities will typically be free to join, the hope is to get enough people to start organizing low intensity group games outside for spring. Anyone for a lovely day of croquet?  let's organize this and make it a BBQ.  Let's bring music!

Do you have a hunger for deeper understanding of yourself and the world? Do you value deep, honest and respectful dialogue? Socrates Café’s are gatherings around the world where people from different backgrounds get together and exchange thoughtful ideas and experiences while embracing the central idea that we learn more when we question, and question with others. At the Socrates Café, we get together for a monthly discussion of a life question that interests or challenges us. We arrive on the n …

(1 minute video) This group is for people who value and enjoy deeper discussions with amazing people and who are also willing to rise to the occasion by joining us to help make these discussion opportunities an ongoing reality. The events held in this group are all about having fun nights of great people and 'deeper' discussions over dinner in a charming restaurant. This Meetup group was created by Glen Brauer as part of a non-profit global initiative using practical philosophy to bring togeth …

The Book (Was Better) Club is for cinephiles and bookworms alike. Each month, members will select a book for which a film adaptation was (or will be) made. To keep discussions productive, caps will be placed on how many may attend a given meeting, but meet-ups will be held at least twice a month. So if you don't R.S.V.P. in time for one, just join another! Events will range from discussions (over coffee, tea, wine, or my personal favorite: FOOD) to in-home movie viewings and trips to the cinema.

We meet twice a month to discuss designated during the taping of Insight Radio.  (If you have not listened, here is the last show:  Insight Radio is looking for guests for our next show on current events.  Here are recent shows: Guest: Fran Hawthorne, Author of Ethical Chic: The Inside Story of the Companies We Think We Love. Award-winning journalist Fran Hawthorne has been a writer or editor at Fortune, BusinessWeek, Institutional Investor, Crane's and other publications. She is the author of …

Do you live in the western suburbs? Are you looking to meet some new people and discuss some interesting books? If so, this group is for you! We're hoping to meet other readers in their 20's, 30's and 40's for some lively discussion at local coffee houses or bars. The hosts of this meetup group live in Naperville and Downers Grove, so meetup spots will be in that general area. We'll plan out the first 3 books and then we're hoping new members will submit some recommendations of their own so we c …

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx...and we're running with it. The first of every month, TED and TEDx enthusiasts from around Chicagoland come together at the BlackFinn American Saloon in Naperville to discuss TED talks, events, and ideas.  We also eat, drink, and have fun. Everyone is welcome!

This group is for Catholic women OR women that are interested in converting to Catholicism. This is NOT a Bible study. It is a book club based on current Catholic literature, and is intended to create stronger ties to our faith through modern the day Gospel of some amazing authors! If you are wanting to grow closer OR to put that needed spark back into your faith and meet other women who want to do the same, this group is for you! We will start off by reading some books from the Dynamic Catholic …

We're making reading and literature a social activity. In this group, we'll gather for 'independent reading' time, outdoors when possible. The idea is very simple. Meet up, read together for a while and then follow up with discussion, reading suggestions and general mingling. We'll also have 'literature-focused' events on occasion in which we hike, bike picnic, etc. adjusting activities in the colder months of course - all revolved around literature. Any level of book fanaticism is welcome.

Join us at City Lit Books where we regularly host events and discussions with local authors. Have an idea for an event? Let us know!

Let's get together to discuss some excellent books over fantastic food. We'll meet monthly on a weeknight in the Evanston/Rogers Park area. No background in lit crit necessary, but we will all try to read the books and have thoughtful insight. And a joy of eating is perhaps a must. Fiction and non-fiction are on the table. Initial book ideas include Fic: The Known World (Edward P. Jones) Tenth of December (George Saunders) Telegraph Avenue (Michael Chabon) Vampires in the Lemon Grove (Karen Russ …

Looking to have Bunch, Lunch, or Dinner with other like minded Geneen Roth fans? Let's get together to eat mindfully and enjoy each other's company.

Created to help professional transgender couples and singles meet to discuss whatever we feel like, or see a movie, or have dinner, without having to hide our gender diverse point of views. Not for partying or sex, just good people and good times. Children welcome when possible.

We are students in Coursera classes (https://www.coursera.org/) who meet to study together and discuss Coursera classes in general. Meetings are in-person at convenient locations in the Chicago area and may include an option to attend virtually.

Culinary Historians of Chicago studies the history of food and drink in human cultures. Why we procure, prepare and serve the food we do has cultural, sociological, geographical, financial and political influences. We encourage participation from all walks of life: from academics to home cooks, chefs to grill masters, farmers to heirloom gardeners, food scientists to students. Our programs, and those of our sister organization Chicago Foodways Roundtable, are supported by research, fieldwork and …

This group is for those people in the education profession with a passion for their work who want to stay informed about developments in education policy, issues, research, best practices, etc. It will provide opportunities to share recent findings in effective ways to improve student outcomes and school environments. We will seek ways to take action in support of our best interests in the public realm. If you enjoy following current events and digging deeper than the obvious simple rhetoric on …

Meet fabulous women from Naperville and read good books! We are open to women of all backgrounds who live in Naperville. Once a month, we meet for our book discussions, rotating to a different woman's home or a local venue. The genre varies. We strive to select books that will provoke a thoughtful and intellectual discussion. Questions are prepared in advance to guide the ~20-minute discussion and everyone is given a chance to voice their thoughts and opinions. Here's a list of recent books we h …

Corvid College is an experimental collective of teachers and students who offer classes to the public. Our title comes from a family of birds that is social, non-hierarchical, and intelligent in nature; these qualities guide our efforts. The college runs on anarchic, decentralized, voluntary, self-managed, and horizontal principles, and we provide an open-ended framework for a non-hierarchical, informal, yet still academically rigorous class structure. Corvid College emerged in Boston in 2009, w …

Have you read the Fifty Shades books by E.L. James? Multiple times? If you'd like to talk about Anastasia and Christian with other devotees, please join us. We'll delve into the characters, plot lines, and what makes these books so compelling to so many people.

Spouse & friends tired of hearing you rant about the Metra (particularly the BNSF)? Come meet some fellow good-hearted snarky ranters over drinks. You may even find a few new train buddies to chat with on that death march from the last car into the doors of Union Station. We'll start with the BNSF line, but all riders are welcome! Who knows, we may even actually decide to do something with ourselves beyond drinks at some point & decide how we can advocate for better reliable transportation in th …

This is a group to get together and learn about the issues of the day in a social -meet people- learn & - respect others venue. This is 99% group so if you are in the 1% your ideas are welcome but will not be in the majority

Under Construction (but join!) (Note that this page as well as some outgoing links are NSFW.) This group is for people who have an intuition of something better, and who are pursuing it in every direction simultaneously. You have a sense of rightness and wrongness that cuts to the bone, and it doesn't line up with traditional religion or the zeitgeist. You're an information sponge, but you hold it all provisionally and pragmatically. You know that all truths are partial perspectives, i.e. wrong …

This a book club for women "of a certain age" who love to read and and enjoy a variety of Naperville area eateries.

Most women dislike, even hate their periods but on my journey in understanding my cycle I discovered that society and media creates a stigma about something that should be natural and empowering to women. Being on the Board of the Red Web Foundation (http://www.theredweb.org/#) in California, I have discovered and read and seen many great books, video and art regarding menstruation. I believe that if most women understood and learn to accept their periods, body and mind perceptions would change …

We're a group of people who are interested in checking out the various cultural and art offerings of Chicago, which includes concerts, art shows, visits to museums, open mike nights, and even culinary experiences. We want to make new friends and form of community of people sharing common interest in the arts. We want to explore Chicago together!

Theatre for Thinkers is a nascent meet up group with the goal of gathering folks to experience interesting, original and even bizarre theater and art that informs and offers insights into science and scientific endeavors. Anchored initially by Thom Britton's critically acclaimed show FreakShow and Tell, we hope to ultimately link to his shows and other local performers and artists with entertaining, interesting perspectives on science. We hope to both simply let people know about these events an …