BOOK CLUBS: Discussion & Reading Questions

[Brian]

If you are a member of a book club, or simply want food for thought as you read, here are some discussion primers and reading questions:

Chapters 1-5:

(1) If you were Will Foster and found yourself with no money, no ID, and no one you could trust... what would you do?

(2) Should AJ accept the recruiter's offer? Would you?

Chapters 6-10:

(4) If you were Will, how much of the truth would you be willing to share with someone in exchange for their promise to help?

(5) Would you accept a ridiculously high paying job, if you knew that your employer was recording every word you said?

Chapters 11-15:

(6) What is Meredith Morley's real agenda?

(7) If you were Will, would you get in the trunk?

Chapters 16 - 20:

(8) Do consultants have the "obligation" to question the integrity of every client?

(9) One of the central themes of the book is the notion that "Treatment ≠ Cure." What does that mean to you? What are the implications for Americans being serviced by a for profit healthcare system?

Chapters 21 - 30:

(10) How should Meredith best handle the Zurn brothers?

(11) Should Will trust Julie? Should Julie trust Will?

(12) How many fingers would you sacrifice for a friend? For your best friend?

Chapters 31 - 40:

(13) Utilitarianism holds that the moral act is the one that results in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The village leadership of Eyam acted according to this principle when they instituted a mandatory quarantine on the town in 1666 to stop the spread of Bubonic Plague outside the township. Do you agree that the sacrificing the few to save the many is the moral action? Would you have voted in favor of the quarantine if your family lived in Eyam, but your family was not sick?

(14) At the end of their game of "high stakes pillow-talk" in Chapter 32, who has the upper-hand... Robert Nicolora or Meredith Morley?

(15) Do agree with Albane and AJ that a hostage negotiation is a prisoner's dilemma? Is there another, better strategy than the one they propose?

Chapters 41 to End:

(16) Does Nicolora have a different agenda than the rest of the Think Tank members? Does he operate with a different set of moral principles than he demands of his employees?

(17) Did The Tank serve their client in the end? Did The Tank help or hinder Will Foster in his stand against Vyrogen?

(18) Was Xavier Pope a victim, a patsy, or a player?

(19) Would you post your genome online, "open source," for all the world to see, or would you try to cut a deal?

(20) If you had an immunity mutation worth billions of dollars, and nobody knew about it but you, what would you do?