Book Club - "Samarkand" by Amin Maalouf

"Life is like a fire. Flames which the passer-by forgets. Ashes which the wind scatters."

Through the story of Omar Khayyam, Samarkand immerses us into a world where philosophy, love, science, and rebellion meet under the same sky. Empires rise and collapse, rulers fear the power of ideas, and poets dare to question fate itself. Yet at the center of it all lies a simple, radical question: how should we live when everything - power, faith, knowledge, even civilization - feels uncertain?
What becomes of wisdom when it threatens authority?

It is also a story about books themselves - how they travel across time, survive disasters, and keep alive the voices of those who once dreamed of a more thoughtful world.

Genres: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Philosophical Fiction, Cultural History
Pages: ~304, paperback

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Contribution: A €5 fee is kindly requested to contribute to organisational and platform costs (PayPal or cash) 2 weeks before the book club. More about our organisation and other ways to support can be found in our group description 🤍

🌿 Community Guidelines

• Only attend if you’re on the attendee list.
• Listen actively and with curiosity, without interrupting.
• Engage with ideas, not individuals. We’re here to explore, learn and share, not to argue.
• Stay present - phones away, attention in the room with physical people.
• Photos will be taken during the event to share highlights and help grow our community. If you’d rather not be in any photos, just let us know in writing before the event - we’ll gladly respect that.
• Avoid no-shows and last-minute dropouts - they take a spot from someone else. If this happens, please get in touch, otherwise you’ll be removed from the next meetup. If repeated, you may be removed from the group.