About us
We've been reading nonfiction together since 2014 — we started as an in-person group in Pittsburgh, then went virtual in 2020, and we're about 180 books along at this point.
Our taste runs wide: how fungi shape the world, why traffic behaves the way it does, what the Americas looked like in 1491, why introverts get overlooked, how precision engineering made modern life possible. Mostly popular science and social science, with regular detours into history, design, language, and the occasional funny memoir. If it's curious and well written, it's fair game.
We meet on Zoom roughly once a month, usually a Tuesday at 7pm Eastern, so you can join from anywhere. Read the whole book, read half of it, or read none of it and come for the conversation — nobody checks. Discussions tend to wander into tangents and personal stories, which is honestly the best part.
We pick the next book together at the end of each meeting, so showing up is how you get a vote. Suggestions are welcome any time and go onto the list — here's what we've read and what's up next.
Upcoming events
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A Book of Hope
·OnlineOnline# The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times
### Jane Goodall, Douglas Abrams, Gail Hudson
Please read the book (all or part) if you can, or if you are short of time you can watch an author interview using the links below.
From Goodreads:
In a world that seems so troubled, how do we hold on to hope?Looking at the headlines--a global pandemic, the worsening climate crisis, political upheaval--it can be hard to feel optimistic. And yet hope has never been more desperately needed.
In this urgent book, Jane Goodall, the world's most famous living naturalist and Doug Abrams, internationally-bestselling author, explore--through intimate and thought-provoking dialogue--one of the most sought after and least understood elements of human nature: hope. In The Book of Hope, Jane focuses on her “Four Reasons for Hope”: The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit.
Told through stories from a remarkable career and fascinating research, The Book of Hope touches on vital questions including: How do we stay hopeful when everything seems hopeless? How do we cultivate hope in our children? Filled with engaging dialogue and pictures from Jane’s storied career, The Book of Hope is a deeply personal conversation with one of the most beloved figures in today’s world.
And for the first time, Jane tells the story of how she became a messenger of hope: from living through World War II, to her years in Gombe, to realizing she had to leave the forest to travel the world in her role as an advocate for environmental justice. She details the forces that shaped her hopeful worldview, her thoughts on her past, and her revelations about her next--and perhaps final--adventure.
There is still hope, and this book will help guide us to it.
Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56268863-the-book-of-hope
Carnegie Library: https://acl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S209C3955495
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-book-of-hope-a-survival-guide-for-trying-times-douglas-abrams/57becb18ee778b69?ean=9781250784094Related:
YouTube:
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX6wo8L7rnY
LA Times Bookclub Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6CW7dSXKWo1 attendee
Past events
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