"The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination" by Adam Zeman

There were a lot of interesting suggestions last time, with topics ranging from fringe politics to economics and game theory via the pros and cons of modern technology. All very interesting subjects. I especially liked the ideas around using the book club as a "support group" when striving for getting through books on fringe topics with the aim of understanding without losing ones ground. I also liked the ideas around discussing books as we read them, and we could definitely try to use our chat group for this. I'm aware that this requires that we all read the books at a similar pace at a similar time, but there is maybe no harm in checking where others are in their reading as we go, to see if anyone is up for an exchange of thoughts.

The book we ended up picking was the one with seemingly least amount of misery and misanthropy. We'll surely reconsider at least some of the other books later this year.

Imagination is an interesting topic for a lot of reasons (see below for instance). While, as far as I've gathered, AI and other current tech trends are not foci of this book, I think the topic of imagination is extra interesting in our times of severe disconnect, when we also seem to be wanting to interrupt our imagination - even outsource it - with tools that "help" you create text, code, images, and even routines such as what to do on your vacation.

Goodreads says:
``Imagination is about far more than whether people think of themselves as creative or not. We use our imagination all the time in planning, anticipating, daydreaming, reminiscing and being able to enjoy other people's stories. In fact, we don't live in the here and now as much as we might think. Imagination isn't the exception to our daily lives; it's our default setting.
From hallucinations to sleepwalking, from REM sleep to delusions, neurologist Adam Zeman brilliantly guides us through the latest scientific discoveries in the world of the imagination. Imagine looking at a cube and your eye will trace the contours of the cube as if you were actually seeing it. Imagine inhaling and the airflow through your nose will increase. In grief, you might imagine that you saw your loved one again – and be consoled by the experience. And yet some people have no visual imagination at all – they would even be unable to picture their family if asked to – but still lead fulfilling, even highly creative, lives.
From how infants perceive the world to how we can anticipate the thoughts of other people, from the benefits of play to mental disorders, The Shape of Things Unseen dazzles and delights in its insights into the workings of the human mind.``

The hardcover version of this book, published by Bloomsbury Circus, is 384 pages, while the audiobook, published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, is one or two minutes short of eleven hours.