Bag Lunch Book Group

All members of the Saint Anselm College community are invited to attend a book discussion of "Salt Houses" by Hala Alyan.

Copies of the book are available to borrow at the Circulation Desk 4 weeks prior to the event.

Date: Thursday, October 22, 2026 
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. 
Location: Library Classroom, upper level of Geisel.

Attendees are welcome to bring their lunches to the book group meeting.

Description:

"On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967.

Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses is a remarkable debut novel that challenges and humanizes an age-old conflict we might think we understand—one that asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can’t go home again" (Goodreads.com).

Neuroethics is the discipline that, broadly, considers ethical issues in neuroscience. Within this domain, there is extensive reflection on neuroscience and the legal system. Dr. Beauregard's talk will examine some issues at the forefront of forensic neuroethics including the uses of neuroimaging in the legal system (as well as public perceptions of neuroimaging data), free will and criminal responsibility "Brain reading," cognitive liberty and cognitive privacy.

     Register here →
 

Meet the Speaker:

James Beauregard Ph.D. is a clinical neuropsychologist and neuroethicist who taught for many years at Rivier University in Nashua, NH. His research interests are in the fields of neuroethics and personalist philosophy including the intersection of these two areas as they impact our understandings of personhood. 

He is a member of the Spanish Personalist Association and the International Neuroethics Society, and serves as an Associated Scholar at the Hildebrand Project at Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio. In 2021 he was asked to serve on the Committee on Consciousness, Neuroscience and Ethics at the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican. He has also presented at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on the social and ethical implications of neurotechnology. 

His current research includes preparation of a book on Neuroethics and Catholic bioethical tradition, and work on the aesthetic theory of Dietrich von Hildebrand.
 

Professor Amy Rohlfing, Biology Department