You don't necessarily need to purchase a new NWEI discussion guide.

You can share one with someone else in your circle, or you may be able to borrow a loaner (slightly used discussion guide, donated). In either case, you can download blank evaluation forms and the blank worksheets included in the discussion guides. Choose the guide you have and find links to these documents on the right-hand column.

Borrowing used NWEI discussion guides

You can ask the SMEI point of contact in your neighborhood whether someone has donated a discussion guide you can use.

Ideally the loaner guide should have the same year of publication as the current text, listed here. If it's different, be prepared to encounter differences between what you read and what other group members will have read prior to discussion. Sometimes the differences are significant, sometimes very minor.

Donating used NWEI discussion guides

If you've just finished a circle and no longer wish to keep your discussion guide, please give it to the mentor at the Wrap-Up session, or get in touch with SMEI volunteers in your neighborhood.

If you have an older NWEI guide that you no longer wish to keep, don't throw it out! Leave it in a place that collects used books, for others to browse.

Ultimately, please recycle your used guide instead of sending it to the landfill.

About paper

The average US office worker uses over 10,000 sheets of printing and copying paper per year.

The average US office worker generates 2 lbs. of paper waste per day.

Paper consumption has increased six-fold over the past 50 years.

Paper and packaging waste make up over 40% of North American solid waste landfill.

Every pound of waste that business generates, whether it is toxic or not, is a drain on profitability, productivity and environmental performance.

Source: MFD Systems, 2003

U.S. households receive nearly 90 billion pieces of commercial “junk mail” in a year.