Artificial Wisdom · For book clubs and readalongs
Everything your club needs to read Artificial Wisdom together: 17 spoiler-free questions, a four-week readalong, a ballot for the 2050 election, props from the world of the book, and a way to bring Tom to your meeting.
A letter from the author
I didn’t set out to write a thriller about artificial intelligence, global politics or the climate crisis, but I did want to craft a page-turner full of mystery, twists and questions. The kind of thing that might keep you thinking well beyond the last page. I’ve always been inspired by movies like Blade Runner and Inception that make you think and debate big themes, and don’t give clean answers about what really happened.
Artificial Wisdom is a near-future thriller wrapped around a murder mystery, but at its core, it’s about a choice. If the only way to survive means giving up some, or even all, of our freedom… would we take it? And if an AI could truly save us—should we let it?
I hope Artificial Wisdom makes you think. But mostly, I hope it keeps you turning the pages late into the night. I hope it leaves your mind whirling, and your club debating long after the meeting should have ended.
To the future,
Thomas R. Weaver
What’s in the kit
Every sheet comes in A4 and US Letter. Download them one by one, or take the complete kit in a single PDF.
Tom’s letter, 17 spoiler-free questions and the four-week schedule.
Four cut-out ballots. Vote at the first meeting, and again at the last.
Eight documents from 2050 to put on the table: news, adverts, a candidate sheet.
Four hidden tributes to computing history. Answers on page two.
A themed menu, the writing playlist and six icebreakers.
The final week’s questions give away the ending, so they live on their own sealed sheet. Print it, fold it, and open it only when everyone has finished.
The 2050 Ballot
Artificial Wisdom is a book about an election: a former U.S. president against Solomon, the first artificial intellect to run for office. So your club votes too.
Discussion questions
Gathered from real book clubs, readalongs and Tom’s own notes. Safe to read before you start. The spoiler questions are on the sealed sheet.
Read it in four weeks
Running an online readalong? Open one week at a time. Each week’s questions cover only those chapters, so nobody reads ahead by accident.
Chapter numbers follow the Penguin Random House editions.
Props from 2050
Eight documents from inside the world of the book, written by Tom: front pages, a magazine profile of Tully, a candidate briefing, adverts for a floating city and a crab-shaped cleaning bot. Lay them on the table. Each sheet says when to hand it out.
Front page
July 2nd, 2040
BAGHDAD – Across a wide swath of the Middle East, scorching temperatures were already damaging harvests and causing heat stroke and brown-outs. Overnight, everything changed when the wet-bulb temperature rose from 86°F to 118°F, twenty-three degrees past the threshold of human survivability.
Hand out: First meeting
Wire report
ATHENS, July 1, 2050 · Compiled from wire reports
The race for global protector—the position granted sweeping powers to combat the climate crisis—narrowed unexpectedly today as Amare Abara, former UN Secretary-General and chair of the Athens Convention, announced the final two candidates advancing to the global vote: former U.S. President Lawrence G. Lockwood and the artificial intellect known as Governor Solomon.
Hand out: First meeting
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Hand out: First meeting
A game for your club
Tom studied computer science, and he hid four tributes to computing history in the book. Can your club name them?
A law firm named after the father of a famous test for machine intelligence.
Turing & Turing. Named after Alan Turing, whose “Turing test” asks whether a machine can fool you into thinking it is intelligent.
A shadowy conspiracy group named after the inventor of the first mechanical computer.
The League of Babbage. Charles Babbage designed the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine in the 1800s.
A flight that disappears without explanation. Its number is an error message.
Flight NC404. 404 is the internet’s code for “Not Found”.
A genius whose name nods to the scientist who built HAL 9000, and to the author who wrote him.
Dr. Martha C. Chandra. Dr. Chandra builds HAL in Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010: Odyssey Two. “Martha C.” is a playful twist on “Arthur C.”
Host the evening
Tom writes to film scores. Put these on low while you talk.
Watch and listen
Spoiler-free interviews to play at the start of a meeting, or to watch before it. Kristen and Maddie have hosted Tom since the book was self-published.
For bookstagram and online clubs
Tag @tom_weaver on Instagram or @thomasr.weaver on TikTok so Tom can find you.
Register your club
Register your club and Tom will hear about it. You can also:
We use your details only to reply about your club. See the privacy policy.
Copies for your club
Ordering for a whole club? Ask your local bookshop first: many offer a reading-group discount.
Finished Artificial Wisdom?
The story continues in the sequel, published in November 2026. Its premise gives away how Artificial Wisdom ends, so everything below waits for you to say you’ve finished.
