What we’re about
We are a small, informal non-fiction book group who meet every couple of weeks and (in theory) discuss one book a month. Although a lot of it is just drinking and chatting ...
With non-fiction virtually anything goes: Art, biographies/memoirs, psychology, ecology, politics, science, history, philosophy...
We meet at around 8pm on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month. Meetings are currently on-line. Once restrictions end we'll be back in the Blue Blazer on Spittal Street. The Blue Blazer has been our 'home' for several years now. It is a bustling pub, not a hushed shrine to the printed word, but it suits us. We are usually at the back of the back room, and we try to have some books on the table so you'll know who we are.
Upcoming events (3)
See all- Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control (Stuart Russell)Blue Blazer, Edinburgh
Longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year
Humans dream of super-intelligent machines. But what happens if we actually succeed?
Creating superior intelligence would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, according to the world's pre-eminent AI expert, it could also be the last.
In this groundbreaking book, Stuart Russell sets out why he has come to consider his own discipline an existential threat to humanity, and how we can change course before it's too late. In brilliant and lucid prose, he explains how AI actually works and its enormous capacity to improve our lives - and why we must never lose control of machines more powerful than we are. Russell contends that we can avert the worst threats by reshaping the foundations of AI to guarantee that machines pursue our objectives, not theirs. Profound, urgent and visionary, Human Compatible is the one book everyone needs to read to understand a future that is coming sooner than we think.
Surely the most important book on AI this year. - Ian Sample, The Guardian, Book of the Day
A brilliantly clear and fascinating exposition of the history of computing thus far, and how very difficult true AI will be to build. - Steven Poole, The Spectator
Fascinating and significant. - James McConnachie, The Sunday Times
Worth reading Human Compatible by Stuart Russell (he's great!) about future AI risks and solutions. - Elon Musk, Twitter
A thought-provoking and highly readable account of the past, present and future of AI . . . Russell deploys a bracing intellectual rigour . . . but a laconic style and dry humour keep his book accessible to the lay reader. - The Financial Times
It's asking a lot of a book about the potential end of civilisation to be strewn with humour and wry asides, but this is what Russell manages . . . it's worth sticking with, for the sake of the species. - Best Science, Nature and Ideas Books of 2019, The Guardian
An excellent, nuanced history. - The Telegraph, Best New Science Books for Christmas
Russell is an assiduous and conscientious scholar ... [he] provides a wealth of information. This is one of those intellectual voyages where both the journey and the destination matter. - John Naughton, The Literary Review
- Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control (Stuart Russell)Blue Blazer, Edinburgh
Longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year
Humans dream of super-intelligent machines. But what happens if we actually succeed?
Creating superior intelligence would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, according to the world's pre-eminent AI expert, it could also be the last.
In this groundbreaking book, Stuart Russell sets out why he has come to consider his own discipline an existential threat to humanity, and how we can change course before it's too late. In brilliant and lucid prose, he explains how AI actually works and its enormous capacity to improve our lives - and why we must never lose control of machines more powerful than we are. Russell contends that we can avert the worst threats by reshaping the foundations of AI to guarantee that machines pursue our objectives, not theirs. Profound, urgent and visionary, Human Compatible is the one book everyone needs to read to understand a future that is coming sooner than we think.
Surely the most important book on AI this year. - Ian Sample, The Guardian, Book of the Day
A brilliantly clear and fascinating exposition of the history of computing thus far, and how very difficult true AI will be to build. - Steven Poole, The Spectator
Fascinating and significant. - James McConnachie, The Sunday Times
Worth reading Human Compatible by Stuart Russell (he's great!) about future AI risks and solutions. - Elon Musk, Twitter
A thought-provoking and highly readable account of the past, present and future of AI . . . Russell deploys a bracing intellectual rigour . . . but a laconic style and dry humour keep his book accessible to the lay reader. - The Financial Times
It's asking a lot of a book about the potential end of civilisation to be strewn with humour and wry asides, but this is what Russell manages . . . it's worth sticking with, for the sake of the species. - Best Science, Nature and Ideas Books of 2019, The Guardian
An excellent, nuanced history. - The Telegraph, Best New Science Books for Christmas
Russell is an assiduous and conscientious scholar ... [he] provides a wealth of information. This is one of those intellectual voyages where both the journey and the destination matter. - John Naughton, The Literary Review
- Hmn, we know the date but not the bookBlue Blazer, Edinburgh
We've lots of ideas - please add any suggestions or feedback in the comments, and then we can update this description to incorporate them.
(Also while I have added Waterstones links here, we are not in any way associated with them - please buy any books from whereever you like. I just search there as they are a good indicator of the availability and cost of a book.)
May 2024
The list or roadtested books:
- The Interest: How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery (Michael Taylor)
- https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-interest/michael-taylor/9781529110982
And books that haven't been roadtested:
- Diary of an Invasion (Andrey Kurkov)
- https://www.waterstones.com/book/diary-of-an-invasion/andrey-kurkov/9781800699090
- Budapest: Between East and West (Victor Sebestyen)
- https://www.waterstones.com/book/budapest/victor-sebestyen/9781474610018
June 2024
- Far From The Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity (Andrew Solomon) (Expensive Paperback, orderable, 976 pages!!!)
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13547504-far-from-the-tree?ref=nav_sb_ss_2_17
July 2024
- The Myth of Normal(Gabor Mate) (Paperback, available, 576 pages)
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58537332-the-myth-of-normal?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_18
- Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About Raising Children (Michaeleen Doucleff) (Paperback, ordrable, 350 pages)
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54304028-hunt-gather-parent?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_18
- Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm (Isabella Tree) (Paperback, available, 380 pages)
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38891828-wilding?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_11
- The Big Four: The Curious Past and Perilous Future of the Global Accounting Monopoly (Ian D. Gow, Stuart Kells) (Paperback, not easily obtained, 260 pages)
- https://goodreads.com/book/show/36986347-the-big-four
- Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption (Ben Mezrich) (Paperback, available, 288 pages)
- Sorry, checking these takes a long time, but also suggested:
- Biography of Andre Agassi, Jack Welch or Lee Iaccoca.
- Also been meaning to read in finance: The Big 4, Anti-social network, Bitcoin Billionaires, Skin in the Game (or anything else by Taleb)
- On AI stuff: Humans are Underrated and Future Proof!
- Michael mentioned Doppelganger (Naomi Klein)
- The book of trespass crossing the lines that divide us by nick hayes
- The Glasgow Effect (Ellie Harrison)
Thumbs up for:
- Going Infinite, Human Compatible and Impossible Monsters.
- hunt gather parent, human compatible, impossible monsters
August 2024
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (Ed Yong) (Paperback, available, 464 pages)
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59575939-an-immense-world
Inked in for month after paperback release:
- April 2025: How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler (Peter Pomerantsev) (Paperback March 2025, 320 pages)
- https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-win-an-information-war/peter-pomerantsev/9780571366347
- September 2025! Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin and the War Between Science and Religion (Michael Taylor) (Paperback August 2025!, 352 pages)
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200196843-impossible-monsters?ref=nav_sb_ss_2_19
