Recursion, by Blake Crouch

The results are in! The winner of our poll – and the book we will discuss on November 4, 2026 – is Recursion, by Blake Crouch. We used STAR Voting again this month, and twenty-three members voted in the poll. Of our four book choices, Recursion and Klara and the Sun received the most stars in the scoring round and advanced to the automatic runoff round. In the runoff round, each member’s vote goes to the book to which they gave more stars. Their vote is recorded as “equal preference vote” if they gave both finalists the same number of stars. This month, five people gave both finalists the same number of stars, Recursion received ten votes, and Klara and the Sun received eight votes. As you can see from the data and the graphs below, this month was another very close vote. Thank you to everyone who voted in our poll!

If you are a member of One Drink Minimum Book Club and didn't hear about the poll or otherwise have not been receiving Meetup messages, we have two suggestions. First, check your Meetup settings and make sure you have notifications from our book club enabled. If that doesn't solve the problem, our second suggestion is guaranteed to work! Send an email to Chris and Gary at [email protected] and tell us your name on Meetup (we need your Meetup name so we can match our members to their email addresses). Once we verify your membership in Meetup, we'll be happy to add you to our mailing list! Your email address will remain private as we send all messages blind cc.

GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER FOR READERS’ FAVORITE SCIENCE FICTION (2019) • BOOK OF THE MONTH 2019 BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD FINALIST • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TIME, NPR, AND BOOKRIOT

Reality is broken.

At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery—and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself.

In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth—and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery . . . and the tools for fighting back.

Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy—before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos.
—description from the publisher Penguin Random House

“Another profound science-fiction thriller. Crouch masterfully blends science and intrigue into the experience of what it means to be deeply human.”
—Newsweek

“An action-packed, brilliantly unique ride that had me up late and shirking responsibilities until I had devoured the last page . . . a fantastic read.”
—Andy Weir, 1 New York Times bestselling author of The Martian

“Cutting-edge science drives this intelligent, mind-bending thriller… Crouch effortlessly integrates sophisticated philosophical concepts into a complex and engrossing plot. Michael Crichton’s fans won’t want to miss this one.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

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