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

⏰ Buzz & Beep: Make a Custom Alarm with an ESP32-C3
2025-04-05 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-04-04 14:00 - 15:30, 2025-04-03 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Build and program an alarm that makes sound and vibrates! No soldering required! We’ll be using Micropython.
To complete this project you’ll need to buy a kit for $12.95. Here’s what it includes:
• ESP32-C3 Super Mini microcontroller
• Mini breadboard (170 tie points)
• Vibration motor (3.4mm)
• Active buzzer module
• Momentary push button switch x2
• Port-to-plug jumper wire x2
• Plug-to-plug jumper wire x5
Requires a USB-C cable with data (sold separately)
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

💻 Philly 2600 Meetup
2025-04-04 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.

📚 Capital Reading Group
2025-04-03 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.
Reading for April 3rd:
• The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power
• The Labour-Process and the Process of Producing Surplus-Value
We’re reading Paul Reitter’s recent translation (Princeton University Press, 2024).

💻 DC215 Meetup
2025-04-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Welcome to the DC215 Meetup at Iffy Books! This month, we’re having a redo of our Meshtastic talk! Join us while we dive into Meshtastic and LoRa nodes, a powerful off-grid communication system that lets you send messages without Wi-Fi or cell service. Whether you’re a seasoned radio geek or just curious about mesh networks, come learn how these devices work, how to set them up, and how they can be used for emergency communication, hiking, and more. We’ll have a limited number of Heltec LoRa nodes for sale so bring your gear if you have it, or just come to listen and connect with the Philly tech community! Don’t miss this chance to explore LoRa networks in action and build real-world resilience through technology! Please bring a laptop if you’re looking to flash your nodes or play around with any Meshtastic web apps.
Meetup link

⚡ Beginner Soldering: Make a DIY Guitar Cable
2025-04-02 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-03-19 12:00 - 13:30 | 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 $10–$20 donation for the class, notaflof.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

✏️ The Writing Room
2025-04-01 17:00 - 19:30, 2025-03-25 17:00 - 19:30, 2025-03-18 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.

🪡 Beginner Darning Workshop
2025-03-30 14:00 - 16:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us for a class on how to darn your clothes! Bring a garment with a small hole (dime-sized is ideal) or we’ll provide a scrap you can use. We’re recommending a $5–$25 donation for this workshop, notaflof.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

📺 Solder & Code: Li'l Info Box
2025-03-30 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-03-29 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-03-27 17:30 - 19:30, 2025-03-24 12:00 - 14:00, 2025-03-21 14:00 - 16:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Build a minimal e-reader with a 0.96″ OLED screen, two buttons, and a knob to turn pages. Runs for several days on 3 AA batteries!
This is an intermediate-level soldering project. If you’re a complete beginner, you may want to take one of our other soldering classes first.
You can bring a laptop or use one of our lab computers. Instructions & example code at iffybooks.net/lil-info-box
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

📡 Meshtastic 101
2025-03-28 15:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-17 12:00 - 13:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us for an introduction to Meshtastic, an application that lets you send private text messages over the air using pocket-sized LoRa radio transceivers. We’ll show you how to flash the latest Meshtastic firmware to the device, customize the settings, and start chatting with your friends.
Here’s a link to our zine on LoRa + Meshtastic.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

🎵 Cassette Mixtape Session
2025-03-28 11:00 - 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 tapes to share!
Register:
coming soon!

❤️ Soldering Practice: LED Heart Board
2025-03-27 12:00 - 14:00 | 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–$30 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!

🪐 Speculative Futures Reading Group: 'Orbital' by Samantha Harvey
2025-03-26 19:00 - 20:30
Join us Wednesday, March 26th at 7 p.m. to discuss the novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey (2023).
> Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
> Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
🎧 Get the audiobook on Libro.fm

🔓 TOOOL Lock Picking Meetup
2025-03-21 18:00 - 20:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
The third Friday of every month from 6–8 p.m. we host a meetup run by the Philadelphia Chapter of the Open Organization of Lockpickers.
> Come join us for our monthly open pick night at Iffy Books! Whether you’re a novice who just stumbled upon LockpickingLawyer, a seasoned safecracker, or somewhere in between, come join us for a evening of fun as we pop some locks.

📚 ̶C̶a̶p̶i̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶R̶e̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶G̶r̶o̶u̶p̶ (canceled this week. sorry!)
2025-03-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
We’re canceling this week’s meeting due to an unforeseen issue. Very sorry for the delay! We hope you can make it on April 3rd.
̶J̶o̶i̶n̶ ̶u̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶r̶d̶ ̶T̶h̶u̶r̶s̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶7̶ ̶p̶.̶m̶.̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶u̶p̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶C̶a̶p̶i̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶K̶a̶r̶l̶ ̶M̶a̶r̶x̶.̶
Reading for March 20th:
• The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power
• The Labour-Process and the Process of Producing Surplus-Value

We’re reading Paul Reitter’s recent translation (Princeton University Press, 2024).

📺 Solder & Code: Li'l Info Box
2025-03-20 12:00 - 14:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Build a minimal e-reader with a 0.96″ OLED screen, two buttons, and a knob to turn pages. Runs for several days on 3 AA batteries!
This is an intermediate-level soldering project. If you’re a complete beginner, you may want to take one of our other soldering classes first.
Instructions & example code at iffybooks.net/lil-info-box
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

💾☀️ Permacomputing + Solarpunk Meetup
2025-03-19 18:30 - 20:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
The Permacomputing + Solarpunk meetup is every other third Wednesday at Iffy Books! You can join us in person (404 S. 20th St., PHL) or remotely via Jitsi Meet.
➡️ Virtual meetup link
From Permacomputing.net: Permacomputing is a more sustainable approach to computer and network technology inspired by permaculture. Permacomputing is both a concept and a community of practice oriented around issues of resilience and regenerativity in digital technology. In a time where computing epitomizes industrial waste, permacomputing encourages a more sustainable approach, maximizing hardware lifespans, minimizing energy use and focussing on the use of already available computational resources. We do this because humans are part of nature and technology is an extension of humans, and we acknowledge that technology has been used to harm nature. We want to find out how we can practice good relations with the Earth by learning from ecological systems to leverage and re-center existing technologies and practices. We are also interested in investigating what a permacomputing way of life could be, and what sort of transformative computational culture and aesthetics it could bring forward. If you want to know more, please start reading about what is permacomputing in essence, and then dive into its principles.
Permacomputing Aesthetics: Potential and Limits of Design Constraints in Computational Culture by Mansoux, Howell, Barok, and Heikkilä (2023)

🪡 Beginner Darning Workshop
2025-03-18 15:00 - 16:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Join us for a class on how to darn your clothes! Bring a garment with a small hole (dime-sized is ideal) or we’ll provide a scrap you can use. We’re recommending a $10–$20 donation for this workshop, notaflof.
Register:
Registration for this event is now closed. We'll offer it again soon!

🚂 Model Internet Club (moved to Sunday!)
2025-03-16 10:30 - 12:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
The Model Internet Club is back! Join us every third Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for an informal meetup focused on building small-scale computer networks.
No registration needed for this event! If we run out of space we can expand into our back yard area.

💕 Late Blooming Lovers Market at Love Park
2025-03-15 12:00 - 17:00 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Vday was for the birds this year in Philly, so we are offering all our late blooming lovers a chance to join us for a our annual lovers market in March to celebrate the start of Spring.
EVENT IS INSDE THE LOVE PARK SAUCER LOCATED AT 1600 JFK
🎁Our Now + Then Marketplace features the following vendors:
🕯️TBA – candles
🧂Sundry Mornings – spices, sauces & bloody mary mix
🍃TOAST – smokeware
👕Leopard Luvin Vintage – vintage clothing
🐶Designed 4 paws philly – dog coats
🫂Not A Bad Life – self care gifts
🧴Joint Joint – CBD topicals
🪡Cotton Vine Thread Co. – handmade embroidery items
🧸Vamvaki – crochet plushies
🧁Frost & Crumb Body Co LLC – dessert themed body products
🍷Moka Melts – glass art
🍰NiniBSweets – desserts, cakes pies and cookies
📖Iffy Books- love & romance themed books
🐛Moss & Bug – Handmade rugs, stickers, clay pins keychains and prints
🏺Lasagna Bandit Ceramics – wheel-thrown functional dishware, figurines, and trinkets.
🦇Bat in the Attic – sports jerseys & vintage toys / collectibles from the 90s
☕Many Hands Coffee Co.- Coffee & Espresso based drinks
💬 Free Dating Advice Philly – A table where people can drop by and get objective opinions about their dating drama, get a dating profile review, etc
🆓 FREE to attend
🐕 Dog & kid friendly! See less

⚡️ Tabling at Temple Electronics Faire
2025-03-14 10:30 - 16:30 | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Temple Electronics Faire Website
Electronics are complex technical objects. They have militaristic and colonial origins, are made out of materials invasively extracted by western corporations on indigenous lands, have short use cycles and decay on a slow geological scale. Circuit boards are embedded with sexist and racist logics, and formal training in understanding, producing, and repairing them continues to operate under exclusionary principles. Despite– or maybe in spite of this history, manifold traditions of marginalized communities using electronics as a form of social relating, intimacy, and resistance continue to flourish.
Electronics Faire is a multi-layered celebration and demonstration of this flourishing. The event features a sit, tinker, and walk-through fair tabled by local organizations in Philadelphia working with electronics, a series of paper presentations, and workshops for hands-on learning and experimentation with electronics.
Past tablers include: Iffy Books, Philly Typewriter, Philly Community Wireless, Temple’s Computer Recycling Center, and the Low Pass Synths and Coffee.
“I proposed the event upon realizing that there’s very limited curriculum at Temple (and most higher education institutions in the greater Philadelphia region) for interdisciplinary work with electronics–whether that be in the arts or humanities– and there is generally a lack of awareness about the myriad communities who are doing radical work with electronics within and beyond Philadelphia. The heart of the faire is about creating community between the people doing this work, and making this type of work more accessible to those interested in joining.”
– Hannah Tardie, Makerspace Manager, LCDSS
