Dear Great Book Guru, I was at a fabulous Mardi Gras celebration at St. Luke’s here in Sea Cliff where someone mentioned a book that sounded interesting - lots of great discussion points: artificial intelligence, sibling rivalry, self-driving cars, parental guilt… perfect for my next book club meeting. Are you familiar with it? Book Club Searcher............................................... Dear Book Club Searcher - CULPABILITY by Bruce Holsinger would be a great choice with its myriad of ethical dilemmas. The story opens as the Cassidy-Shaw family is driving to a lacrosse tournament. Seventeen-year-old Charlie - the eldest child - is in the driver’s seat. Noah, his father, is riding next to him… in their self-driving minivan. The mother, Lorelei, an internationally respected researcher of AI ethics, is in the back seat on her computer, and the two younger siblings Alice and Izzy - also in the back - are texting on their phones. Suddenly the car crashes into another vehicle killing an elderly driver and her passenger. Each of the family members harbors secret guilt over the accident, but what about the role of the car? While Noah is the narrator, we are privy throughout to conversations Alice has with her AI chatbot, Blair, and also included are passages from Lorelei’s book about the ethics of artificial intelligence. When the parents decide to spend a week in a Chesapeake Bay beach house to recover from the trauma, the pressure mounts with the prospect of Charlie going to prison. None of the family is guilt-free and their only hope is… will AI absolve them? A fascinating book for our times and highly recommended!