Iffy Books | 404 S. 20th St., PHL

📚 Capital Reading Group
2025-02-20 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us on the first and third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. for a reading group on Capital by Karl Marx. For February 20th we’re reading chapters 3 and 4.
We’ll be reading Paul Reitter’s recent translation (Princeton University Press, 2024).

📚 Capital Reading Group
2025-02-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us on the first and third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. for a reading group on Capital by Karl Marx. We’ll post the sections we’re covering before each meeting.
We’ll be reading Paul Reitter’s recent translation (Princeton University Press, 2024).

🎶 Intro to Computer Music: Build an Algorithmic Sequencer in Max
2025-02-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
This workshop approaches one of the most fundamental components of electronic music-making — the sequencer — as a potential creative collaborator. Leveraging a handful of simple algorithms, participants will develop their own interactive digital music software application capable of coaxing complex rhythms and melodies from your favorite software-based synthesizers and MIDI-enabled hardware. To accomplish this task, we will be using the graphical programming platform Max [cycling74.com/downloads/]. No musical or computer programming experience is necessary, but participants are encouraged to download Max ahead of time and take a look. For questions, please contact instructor Dr. Matt O’Hare at me@mattohare.com.
Please bring a laptop (macOS/Windows/Linux) if you have one. If you’ll need to borrow a computer, email iffybooks@iffybooks.net before the event.
We recommend making a $5–$20 donation for this workshop (no one turned away for lack of funds).
Register:

📄 Design a Flyer with Scribus
2025-02-19 10:00 - 11:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Scribus is a free computer program you can use to design flyers, zines, books, and anything else you want to print! Unlike Microsoft Word, you can arrange text and images however you like. And unlike online design programs, your creative work won’t be vacuumed up by the surveillance state. 🙂
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

✏️ The Writing Room
2025-02-18 17:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-11 17:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-04 17:00 - 19:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Come co-work with other writers in three 40-minute units of silent writing. Writers and projects of any type welcome. 10-minute breaks and accountability check-ins between units. BYO coffee, water, computer chargers, notepads, etc.

📄 Design a Flyer with Scribus
2025-02-18 12:00 - 13:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Scribus is a free computer program you can use to design flyers, zines, books, and anything else you’re planning to print! Unlike Microsoft Word, you can arrange text and images however you want on the page. And unlike subscription-based design programs, your creative work won’t be monitored and archived by the surveillance state.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

🚂 Model Internet Club
2025-02-15 10:30 - 13:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
The Model Internet Club is back! Join us every third Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for an informal meetup focused on building small-scale computer networks. Space is limited in the shop, so you’ll need to register for this event.
Register:
coming soon!

💘 ̶M̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶L̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶r̶k̶e̶t̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶L̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶P̶a̶r̶k̶ Canceled
2025-02-14 13:00 - 18:00 | Love Park Building, 1600 JFK, 1600 JFK Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, United States
Canceled due to the parade 🙁
Now and Then Marketplace on Instagram

❤️ Soldering Practice: LED Heart Board
2025-02-13 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-12 14:00 - 15:30, 2025-02-11 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-02-10 13:30 - 15:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Come out and get some soldering practice! This time we’re making a heart-shaped board with 22 LEDs, using an oscillator circuit to dim and brighten them at the speed you choose.
This project is ideal for folks who have soldered at least once before. Beginners are welcome to join us, but it may take you more than one session to finish. Working with a friend is encouraged!
The kit you’ll need to complete this project costs $5.50. We’re suggesting a $10–$25 donation for the class, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

⚙️ Neo-Luddite Reading Group: 'The Age of Surveillance Capitalism' by Shoshana Zuboff
2025-02-12 18:30 - 20:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Our next book for the Neo-Luddite Reading Group is The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff (2019).
➡️ Virtual Meetup Link
Discord: Email neoluddite@victorgom.es for an invite!
Full schedule: victorgom.es/neoluddite
If you’re joining for the first time, I’d suggest you read this before anything else for brief context: What the Luddites Really Fought Against by Richard Conniff.The only expectation is that you read the chapter(s) of the book that’s listed for that meeting. You’re still welcome to participate if you haven’t done the readings as long as you are mindful. For each chapter, I’ve also noted some optional readings for context, so I’d suggest checking those out rather than reading ahead in the book. And remember, if you ever find yourself struggling with any of the readings or concepts, reach out! Either directly to me over email or to the entire group over discord.

Meeting 1 (Dec. 11th):📖 Introduction & Part One: The Foundations of Surveillance Capitalism

1. Home or exile in the digital future

Gemini intelligence is coming to Google Home by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

2. August 9, 2011: Setting the Stage for Surveillance Capitalism

🗞️ Artificial intelligence is going to supercharge surveillance by James Vincent

3. The Discovery of Behavioral Surplus

🗞️ Everyone should decide how their digital data are used – not just tech companies by Jathan Sadowski, Salomé Viljoen, Meredith Whittaker

4. The Moat Around the Castle

Google “We Have No Moat, And Neither Does OpenAI” by Dylan Patel and Afzal Ahmad

5. The Elaboration of Surveillance Capitalism: Kidnap, Corner, Compete

🗞️ Do platforms work? by George Zarkadakis

6. Hijacked: The Division of Learning in Society

🗞️ Writing and Learning to Write in the Age of AI by Jane Rosenzweig

Meeting 2 (Jan. 8th):📖 Part II: The Advance of Surveillance Capitalism

7. The Reality Business

TBA

8. Rendition: From Experience to Data

📜 Will we run out of data? An analysis of the limits of scaling datasets in Machine Learning by Pablo Villalobos, Jaime Sevilla, Lennart Heim, Tamay Besiroglu, Marius Hobbhahn, & Anson Ho

9. Rendition from the Depths.

TBA

10. Make Them Dance

TBA

11. The Right to the Future Tense

🎥 On Bureaucratic Technologies and the Future as Dream-Time by David Graeber

Meeting 3 (Feb. 12th):📖 Part III: Instrumentarian Power for a Third Modernity & Conclusion

12. Two Species of Power

TBA

13. Big Other and the Rise of Instrumentarian Power

TBA

14. A Utopia of Certainty

TBA

15. The Instrumentarian Collective

🎥 The Case Against B.F. Skinner by Noam Chomsky

16. Of Life in the Hive

🎥 Can’t Get You Out of My Head E1 by Adam Curtis

17. The Right to Sanctuary

TBA

18. A Coup from Above”

🎵 Spain by W.H. Auden

Additional resources

Outreach Resources & Guides

📜 Digital Defense Playbook: Community Power Tools for Reclaiming Data by Our Data Bodies
📜 A People’s Guide to AI by Mimi Onuoha and Mother Cyborg (Diana Nucera)
📜 Algorithmic Accountability: A Primer by Data & Society
🗞️ Prior to (or instead of) using ChatGPT with your students by Autumn Caines

Potential Future Reads

📖 Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor by Virginia Eubanks
📖 Questioning Technology: Tool, Toy or Tyrant by John Zerzan & Alice Carnes
📖 Technofix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Environment by Michael Huesemann & Joyce Huesemann
📖 Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor by Kim Kelly
📖 The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow

Links to more links

📋 Critical Lenses on AI by Iris van Rooij
📋 Resources by Ruha Benjamin

More on Luddites

🗞️ I’m a Luddite. You should be one too by Jathan Sadowski
🗞️ Byron Was One of the Few Prominent Defenders of the Luddites by Kat Eschner

Poems

🎵 A Luddite Lullaby by Don Bogen
🎵 All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace by Richard Brautigan
🎵 I Am the People, the Mob by Carl Sandburg
🎵 They Say This Isn’t a Poem by Kenneth Rexroth
🎵 Under Which Lyre by W.H. Auden
🎵 When I Heard The Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman

🎵 Cassette Mixtape Session
2025-02-12 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-02-11 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-02-10 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-02-09 10:30 - 12:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Bring a playlist on your phone/computer and we’ll help you record it to an audio cassette tape! We have plenty of cassettes to share.
We’re suggesting a $5–$15 donation for this project. Thanks!
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

📡 M̶e̶s̶h̶t̶a̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶M̶o̶d̶s̶:̶ ̶B̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶&̶ ̶C̶a̶n̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶M̶e̶s̶s̶a̶g̶e̶s̶ (postponed!)
2025-02-08 11:00 - 12:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
We’re postponing this workshop while we work out some issues with the rotary encoders we’re using. We’re sorry for the inconvenience! Stay tuned for a new date sometime in the next few weeks.
̶>̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶’̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶u̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶M̶e̶s̶h̶t̶a̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶’̶r̶e̶ ̶c̶u̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶w̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶L̶o̶R̶a̶ ̶r̶a̶d̶i̶o̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶s̶h̶o̶p̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶!̶ ̶W̶e̶’̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶t̶t̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶i̶t̶h̶i̶u̶m̶-̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶b̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶/̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶w̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶’̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶”̶c̶a̶n̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶e̶s̶s̶a̶g̶e̶s̶”̶ ̶f̶e̶a̶t̶u̶r̶e̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶l̶d̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶.̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶y̶ ̶t̶u̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶d̶e̶t̶a̶i̶l̶s̶ ̶&̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶i̶s̶t̶r̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶!̶

💻 Philly 2600 Meetup
2025-02-07 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
> The Philly 2600 meeting is a monthly gathering of local hackers, phreaks, nerds, geeks, activists, tinkerers, developers, infosec professionals, and other interesting people.

❤️ Soldering Practice: LED Heart Board
2025-02-07 14:00 - 15:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Come out and get some soldering practice! This time we’re making a heart-shaped board with 22 LEDs, using an oscillator circuit to dim and brighten them at the speed you choose.
This project is ideal for folks who have soldered at least once before. Beginners are welcome to join us, but it may take you more than one session to finish. Working with a friend is encouraged!
The kit you’ll need to complete this project costs $5.50. We’re suggesting a $5–$20 donation for the class, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

📡 Meshtastic Mods: Batteries & Canned Messages
2025-02-07 12:00 - 13:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
If you’re already using Meshtastic and you’re curious about adding hardware to your LoRa radio, this workshop is for you! We’ll show you how to attach a lithium-ion battery and/or the hardware you’ll need to used the “canned messages” feature. There will be soldering. Stay tuned for details & registration!

📚 Capital Reading Group
2025-02-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us on the first and third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. for a reading group on Capital by Karl Marx.
We’ll be reading Paul Reitter’s recent translation (Princeton University Press, 2024).

October 17:
• The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Chapters 1–5
• Principles of Political Economy by John Stuart Mill, Chapter 1
November 7: Chapter 1, section 1
November 21: Chapter 1, section 2
December 5: 4. Chapter 1, section 3
December 19: Chapter 1, section 4
January 2: Recap and discussion
January 16: Chapter 2
February 6: Chapter 3, section 1
February 20: Chapter 3, section 2
March 6: Chapter 3, section 3
March 20: Chapter 4 ..

🔊 Beginner Soldering: DIY Audio Meter
2025-02-06 12:00 - 13:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us for another beginner-friendly soldering project at Iffy Books! You’ll assemble a DIY audio meter kit, which you can use to visualize an audio signal’s amplitude.
To complete this project you’ll need to buy a kit for $7.95. We’re suggesting a $5–$20 donation for the class, no one turned away for lack of funds. We’ll provide soldering irons and solder.
Register:
coming soon!

💻 DC215: Hands Off – Make the Machines Do It!
2025-02-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Welcome to the DC215 Meetup! Join us for an exciting gathering of tech enthusiasts, hackers, and cybersecurity professionals at Iffy Books. This in-person event is the perfect opportunity to network, share knowledge, and engage with like-minded individuals in the industry. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, everyone is welcome to come together for a night of learning and fun. Don’t miss out on this chance to connect with the vibrant tech community of Philly.
Agenda
6 PM – 6:45 PM: Socialize
6:45 PM – 7 PM: Updates & Announcements
7 PM – 7:30 PM: Presentation
7:30 – 8 PM: Wind Down
Hands Off – Make the Machines Do It!
Manual processes in security operations are no longer sufficient to keep pace with emerging threats and increasing workloads. This talk explores the journey of fostering a culture of automation within a security operations team to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and improve analyst job satisfaction. Attendees will learn practical strategies to identify high-impact automation opportunities, overcome resistance to change, and empower team members with the tools and skills to adopt an automation-first mindset. By integrating automation into the fabric of daily workflows, teams can not only improve operational performance but also focus on more strategic, value-driven security initiatives. Whether you’re starting your automation journey or looking to scale existing efforts, this session will provide actionable insights to build a resilient, adaptive, and forward-looking security operations culture.
RSVP on Meetup (optional)

🔊 Beginner Soldering: DIY Audio Meter
2025-02-04 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-02-03 12:00 - 13:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us for another beginner-friendly soldering project at Iffy Books! You’ll assemble a DIY audio meter kit, which you can use to visualize an audio signal’s amplitude.
To complete this project you’ll need to buy a kit for $7.95. We’re suggesting a $5–$20 donation for the class, no one turned away for lack of funds. We’ll provide soldering irons and solder.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

⚡ Beginner Soldering: Make a DIY Guitar Cable
2025-02-04 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-03 10:30 - 11:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us for a relatively quick and easy soldering workshop, suitable for total beginners! You’ll strip some wires and solder 1/4-inch plugs to the ends, creating your own guitar cable.
You can get a kit with 6 inches of cable for $4.25, or 4 feet for $13.50. We’re suggesting a $5–$15 donation for the class, notaflof.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!
