About us
Our book club is structured around reading and discussing one non-fiction book each month, typically on the second Sunday of the month but rescheduled as needed based on holidays or travel. The meetings are currently hybrid but in person attendance is encouraged when possible. The meetings are facilitated to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to contribute. All members are encouraged to provide their opinions, and all opinions are valued and respected.
This book club does not solicit or accept payment related to book selection, and the organizer does not reach out to authors; all book nominations come from members only.
Click to see a list of books we have read and the group's rating. Every month we choose the book for two months ahead. Members prioritize their book choices in a Google Form and then we run a ranked choice algorithm on the resulting set of votes. Members can suggest books in their RSVP to a meeting, in the Google Form, or by messaging the organizer directly. It is at the organizer's discretion which books are included in any given vote.
Upcoming events
2
Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company by Patrick McGee
Scott's House and Google Meet, Woolsey at College Ave, Berkeley, CA, USOur book for February is Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company by Patrick McGee.
For those who are interested, here is the link to the detailed results from the voting.
Here is a summary of the book:
Patrick McGee’s Apple in China challenges the standard narrative of Apple’s global dominance, revealing that the company’s success is inextricably tied to a massive, precarious dependency on China. McGee details how Tim Cook, known as "Mr. Spreadsheet," orchestrated a secret $275 billion deal and deployed an army of engineers to transform China’s unskilled workforce into the world’s most sophisticated manufacturing machine. This move saved Apple from near-bankruptcy and fueled the iPhone’s rise, but it came at a steep price: Apple didn't just hire Chinese factories; it effectively transferred American technical know-how to Beijing, unknowingly laying the foundation for China’s own tech superpowers and giving the Chinese Communist Party immense leverage over the world’s most valuable company.
This event will be hybrid. I will host the meeting in person at my house in Berkeley which is near the intersection of College Ave and Woolsey St. I will email people the address the Saturday before the meeting.
Here are the Google Meet details:
Google Meet link: https://meet.google.com/zem-xnbw-tuh
Or dial: (US) +1 641-854-0146 PIN: 637 012 874#24 attendees
Trade Wars Are Class Wars by Matthew C. Klein, Michael Pettis
Scott's House and Google Meet, Woolsey at College Ave, Berkeley, CA, USOur book for March is Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace by Matthew C. Klein, Michael Pettis
For those who are interested, here is the link to the detailed results from the voting.
Here is a summary of the book (from Gemini):
We often talk about trade wars as if they are conflicts between nations—the U.S. versus China, or Germany versus its neighbors. But Trade Wars Are Class Wars argues that this framing is completely wrong. Instead, it posits that these international tensions are actually just the spillover effects of domestic inequality. The authors make a compelling case that when elites in countries like China or Germany suppress workers' wages to boost exports, they aren't just hurting their own people; they are destabilizing the entire global economy and forcing debt onto American consumers.
For our group, this book hits the sweet spot between the structural economic analysis we enjoyed in Capital in the Twenty-First Century and the geopolitical intrigue of Chip War. It takes the confusing noise of tariffs and trade deficits and organizes it into a clear, albeit disturbing, narrative about how the rich in one country effectively wage a class war against the poor in another. It’s a challenging read that flips the script on the daily news, offering exactly the kind of counter-intuitive 'big idea' discussion that usually leads to our best meetings.
This event will be hybrid. I will host the meeting in person at my house in Berkeley which is near the intersection of College Ave and Woolsey St. I will email people the address the Saturday before the meeting.
Here are the Google Meet details:
Google Meet link: https://meet.google.com/zem-xnbw-tuh
Or dial: (US) +1 641-854-0146 PIN: 637 012 874#8 attendees
Past events
187
