Other general concepts and ideas: solarpunk, permaculture, artificial intelligence, rewilding
Looking for a way to start conversation about the book? Here are some prompts.
1. At the beginning of A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Dex makes a decision to become a tea monk. Have you ever decided to make a big change in your life? What was that like? How would you describe it?
2. How would you describe the mood of this book? What textures, descriptions or sensory cues tell you about Panga as a place?
3. Dex lives in a wagon that they describe as “perfect” (p.12). What would your ideal living space (including your environment) look like? What needs would it serve?
4. On their first day of becoming a tea monk, “Dex realized with a stomach-souring thud that they were standing on the wrong side of the vast gulf between having read about doing a thing and doing the thing” (p.14). What was that experience like?
5. Dex and Mosscap have discussions about whether Mosscap is a person or an object (pp. 69 and 83). What do you think? How do you define what a “person” is? Does someone or something have to be a “person” to deserve care, respect, and agency?
6. How would you compare Mosscap to current artificial intelligence technologies? What questions does the novel raise about these technologies?
6. Dex and Mosscap discuss what it’s like to have “remnants" (pp. 89-98). What does it mean to have a remnant? What are the benefits and drawbacks of having remnants? How does the concept of remnants help us understand the climate crisis or other global, national, or local challenges?
7. Dex asks: “What is wrong with me that I can have everything I could ever want and have ever asked for and still wake up in the morning feeling like every day is a slog?” Do you find Mosscap’s philosophy of purposelessness (pp. 138-141) to be helpful or not?
8. A Psalm for The Wild-Built — What do you think the title means?