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Book Group: Future Books
Book Group Information
Tue, 01/15/2013 - 5:31pm — Sandra.CoynerFUTURE BOOKS and RECOMMENDATIONS Click on the book title below for additional information, images, comments, and maybe even links about the book. To send a book recommendation directly to the book group leader, click here. We are group #17 at Bloomsbury’s if you choose to get your books there.
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| 06/03/2025 - 2:00pm | Of Boys and Men: Why the modern male is struggling, why it matters, and what to do about it. |
Of Boys and Men: Why the modern male is struggling, why it matters, and what to do about it. Richard V. Reeves. 2022. Evan Osnos of the New Yorker calls it "provocative, timely, and rich with real-world solutions." It's a Barack Obama 2024 Summer Reading Selection. We've been reading a lot of books about women's issues. This would provide a good balance. Has a strong grounding in the idea that males are oppressed as males. Our discussion could be lively. The meeting will take place on Zoom. Contact graf@sou.edu for zoom information. |
| 07/01/2025 - 2:00pm | Stolen Pride: Rise of the Resentful Right |
Stolen Pride: Rise of the Resentful Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild (New Press, 2024, 267pp.). Another careful scholarly study from Arlie Hochschild of people in an area that strongly supports Trumpian populism. Read this and you will understand a lot more. The meeting will take place on Zoom. Contact graf@sou.edu for zoom information. |
| 08/05/2025 - 2:00pm | May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit our Biases—and What We Can Do About It |
May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit our Biases—and What We Can Do About It by Alex Edmans (2024, U. California Press, 300 pp.). “A Statement is not a Fact … A Fact is not Data … Data is not Evidence … ., After identifying flawed thinking referred to by these three statements, this book stresses examining the relationships among e.g. statistics and other sorts of facts. Includes strategies for improving both individuals and societies. Yes, this is about critical thinking, and helps some of our frustration about the current divides in our society. |
| 09/02/2025 - 2:00pm | Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and how to Bring it Back Again |
Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and how to Bring it Back Again by Marc J. Dunkelman (2025, Public Affairs/Hachette 335pp). America was once a country that built big things, but today progress seems stifled. Conservatives deserve some of the blame, but progressives/democrats do too, because inherent fears of “The Establishment” persist, as “speaking truth to power” has become more important than building a better America. We can learn from the progressives of a century ago how to restore the power of democracy to do good and also restore confidence in democracy. |
| 01/10/2100 - 1:00pm | Book Group RECOMMENDATION: TBA |
December 3, 2024 at 2 pm Pacific Time on Zoom (not November 18)
Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream by David Leonhardt (2023 about 420 pp.). Traces origins, success of, and challenges to the American Dream from the Depression to the present. Ends with discussable ideas about what political “compromise” might mean.
January 7, 2025 at 2 pm Pacific Time on Zoom
Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth by Ingrid Robeyns, 2024, 230 pp. Why would reducing extreme wealth be a good idea? And how much wealth is too much? Then, how can greater wealth equality actually be achieved? This book is written by an ethicist and endorsed by data-using scholars including Piketty and other economists. The review says "This provocative consideration of extreme wealth accumulation asks how society might improve if the phenomenon were eliminated. Robeyns, a philosopher, uses the term 'limitarianism' to describe an economic framework that would impose a cap on how much money any single individual can amass."
February 4, 2025 at 2 pm Pacific Time on Zoom
A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend them Back by Bruce Schneier, 2023, 252 pp. The concept of “hacking” comes to us from the computer world, and this book first helps us understand its meaning and practice, including how to defend against it. Then Schneier suggests that a hacking mentality underlies much of our social inequality, with whole professions (tax accountants and attorneys, for example) devoted to allowing the wealthy to escape and twist the rules. Includes legal, financial, political, cognitive, and AI hacks.
Contact Joseph Graf (graf@sou.edu) to receive the zoom link for these sessions.