Welcome to Likeminds
Create, join, and explore STEM-focused book clubs with ease.
Why Choose Likeminds?
Everything you need to build meaningful STEM connections.
Discover
Browse STEM clubs from physics to programming, tailored to your interests and academic level.
Connect
Meet like-minded learners, researchers, and enthusiasts from around the world.
Organize
Set schedules, track readings, and keep discussions structured and engaging.
About Us
Likeminds was founded to serve one primary purpose: to reduce the feeling of social isolation amongst the STEM community, and to promote commitment to learning. We know what it's like to have to read a dense PDF alone, with little or no outside input or collaboration. We also know there's a major portion of the STEM community who are neurodiverse, and may find it difficult to go it alone. To us, you don't have to be.
Studies show that learning within a small group results in an enhanced sense of community, increased skill acquisition, and better learning outcomes.1 While that's great and all, the problem at hand is usually forming such a group in the first place. That's where we come in. Our goal is to make the process of creating and contributing these groups is as easy as possible, while helping to create a greater sense of community..
If you're still not sure what we're about, your answer might be found in our FAQ. However, feel free to email us otherwise if you have a more specific query!
Recommended Resources
- GitHub – great for versioning and project management. It's also a useful tool to compile group resources, like notes, links (conveniently placed in a README.md file or similar) and to make sure knowledge isn't lost - as long as your team remembers to commit. Importantly, it is free to use, and is the standard in many STEM disciplines.
- Obsidian – for note-taking and knowledge management. Being able to take and organize notes digitally is very useful when your group is online, rather than sharing pictures of handwritten notes. There are many tools for this purpose, which you can find on the web. Obsidian is just a personal recommendation, and it is free.
- Overleaf – for writing formal documents and research. If a member is experienced with LaTeX, then having an Overleaf page is incredibly useful for creating presentable work from your studies. It does support group collaboration, however this is a paid feature. If you are a student, you may have premium access through your institution.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can search for groups here! Use tags to find the specific area or subject you're interested in, or otherwise search by keyword, as if you were looking for a book in a library (e.g. "Rudin Analysis", "Munkres Manifolds", "Griffiths Electromagnetism"). These are the common titles and descriptors group pages will have to let you find them. You may also specify the working mode (no preference is the default).
For creating a group, you can do so here! Make sure you read the group creation guidelines to maximize your chances of finding members. You may also create a private group. These are delisted from the public search, and can only be accessed via the group URL link. Please ensure you share the link only with people you trust!
As of right now, Likeminds is a completely free service, made for people like myself who need it (with the bonus of being a portfolio project). You can however send me a coffee over on my ko-fi page! I am incredibly grateful for any and all donations, any and all contributions go towards site costs and maintenance (and, of course, coffee to fuel my late-night coding sessions!).
There may be a membership feature at some point, but for now the site is strictly ran on donations.
Generally, we expect most groups to operate as a cohesive unit rather than only one person doing the work. If you're the only one stressed out, then you're probably doing your peers jobs for them. For some useful working and management tools, check out our resources section to help get you started.
I would strongly advise using a role designation system or similar to assign titles and give purpose to the members of your group, and switch them around as necessary. At the end of the day, remember we're all here to have fun and learn along the way! And remember, as always Google is your friend.
This is a hard question to answer, and will vary depending on the people you're with. To keep your group coming back to the site, we recommend for all members to try to actively engage with your group page.
In terms of communication and collaboration with your group, try to use our recommendations found in group management. Everyone should try to encourage each other to keep the effort going. If it's no longer working out, discuss why with your team.