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- 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
January 2025
- Kaput - The End of the German Miracle (Wolfgang Münchau)
- https://swiftpress.com/book/kaput/
- Out in paperback, April 2025
- Bill Bryson The Body: a guide for occupants;
- Michelle mcnamara I'll be gone in the dark: one woman's obsessive search for the golden gate killer.
- Mary roach Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers.
- Hope Jahren Lab Girl - Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.
- elly bulkin, minnie bruce pratt, barbara smith: yours in struggle: three feminist perspectives on antisemitism and racism.
- diana green foster The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having--Or Being Denied--An Abortion
OK, there are too many for me to do all the links, but you know how google works
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
Inked in for later in the year:
- Darwin Comes to Town, How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution (Menno Schilhuizen)
- https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/menno-schilthuizen/darwin-comes-to-town/9781786481078/
- His Majesty's Airship (S. C. Gwynne)
- https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/His-Majestys-Airship/S-C-Gwynne/9780861547098
