Rethinking Systems
June 9 - July 25
This year’s 7-week Summer Seminar is all about rethinking systems. Inspired by Sofia Samatar’s novella The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain, we’ll explore work, class, and education through the lens of systems thinking.
Throughout the seminar, we’ll think critically about the systems at work in our own businesses, careers, and social circles—with important implications for how we engage with systems in the wider world.
Summer Seminar is an intellectual oasis for creative thinkers and curious adventurers.
Summer Seminars combine fiction, big questions, and practical application.
For Summer 2025, we’re reading Sofia Samatar’s critically acclaimed novella The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain.
We’ll pair it with adventures in systems thinking and cultural analysis. And we’ll apply what we discover by reflecting on the systems we create and encounter in our own lives and work.
“The Practice, he remembered, was the longing for understanding. It was a desire that began with an intake of breath.”
— Sofia Samatar, The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain
Summer Seminar Features
Close Reading
Weekly reflections highlight key passages, illuminate themes, and prompt dialogue.
Build Your Analysis Skills
Dive into systems thinking and analysis by connecting the book’s systems to real-world systems in our work, communities, and culture.
Discussion & Reflection
Share your reflections with other participants in 2 live book club conversations and via weekly discussion threads.
What You’ll Explore
Use systems thinking to model the social dynamics in the novella
Identify and diagram systems in your own work or life
Spot feedback loops that create balance or exacerbate problems
Develop a greater awareness of the interconnections between all sorts of systems
“Living successfully in a world of complex systems means expanding not only time horizons and thought horizons; above all, it means expanding the horizons of caring.”
— Donella Meadows, Thinking In Systems
The Schedule
June 9 - July 25
Weekly content is at your own pace, on your own schedule
Two live book club discussions (will be recorded):
Tuesday, July 1 at 2pm EDT/11 am PDT/7pm BST
Tuesday, July 22 at 2pm EDT/11am PDT/7pm BST
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Systems abound in The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain. We’ll begin by learning to see those systems—material, social, and political—and then apply that awareness to our own lives and work.
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Feedback loops are central to how systems behave and why they produce the results that they do.
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Systems are self-perpetuating. By looking at how they change (or don’t), we can start to see the true function of a system.
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Join fellow participants for a live book club discussion (on Zoom) on Tuesday, July 1 from 2pm-3:30pm Eastern (11am-12:30pm Pacific).
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To change the behavior and results of a system, we have to find a leverage point. We’ll explore leverage in our own lives & work and our novella.
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Games are artificial environments that allow us to think systematically and experiment with leverage in less complex situations.
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The more we try to pin down a system, the more it will escape our grasp (and understanding). Embracing systems thinking as a way of life and work means learning to dance.
The Reading
Sofia Samatar's The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain is our core reading for the summer. Set in the future on a spaceship, it allows the reader to explore the book’s ideas at a distance that makes them more immersive—not less.
Note: This book centers on a rigid caste system and the state and interpersonal violence (including slavery) that entails. There are minimal descriptions of physical violence, but the persistent threat is its own brutality.
At just over 120 pages, this novella is a quick read! We recommend reading it either before Summer Seminar starts or in the first week. Then, you can dive into the text as we move through our reflections. It’s worth a re-read.
Want to learn more about the book before registering? Check out this Chicago Review of Books piece.
There’s also optional reading throughout Summer Seminar. Each piece will be available for free on the web. But if you’re looking to go even further with what we’re exploring, check out Thinking In Systems by Donella Meadows, Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom, and Bone of the Bone by Sarah Smarsh.
Your Guide
Tara McMullin is a writer, podcaster, and critic who studies emerging forms of work and identity in the 21st-century economy. Bringing a rigorous critique of conventional wisdom to topics like success and productivity, she melds conceptual curiosity with practical application. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, Quartz, and The Muse.
Register for Summer Seminar
Choose the pricing option that makes the most sense for you.
All three options give you access to the same material and experience.
This is the option that helps sustain this work for the long term. Not only does your registration cover the cost of your participation, but it also offsets the cost for others and provides for future programs.
This option covers the full cost of your participation and supports ongoing development of What Works and Seminars.
This is a subsidized registration option that allows a wider range of people to participate.
FAQs
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During last year’s Summer Seminar, many participants were new to science (or speculative) fiction. They were surprised to discover that this genre is so much more than aliens, futuristic technology, and space wars. And they were eager for more recommendations!
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No problem! Discussions are recorded. The vast majority of Summer Seminar is on your own schedule and at your own pace.
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The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain will probably take you about 1 to 2 hours. Weekly videos are about 10-15 minutes each. And optional readings will also be about 10-15 minutes.
It’s entirely up to you how much time you spend reflecting on the text and weekly videos. Participating in discussion threads is highly encouraged but totally optional.