What we’re about
The Non-Fiction Book Club is for people looking to read thoughtful intelligent books. If you like to read non-fiction this is the place.
Members suggest titles through the discussion board and when first joining. All non-fiction books are eligible: the authors and books selected do not represent the views of the organizers or members. We learn and develop our critical thinking skills by meeting in respectful dialogue books, people and ideas with which we may disagree. And we like to have fun.
Books selected generally must have 10 copies available in the Toronto Public Library and be under 400 pages. Each month, the group votes on a selection of books through an on-line poll.
The Non-Fiction Book Club meets either online or in person at a downtown Toronto location. We also have a satellite club in Mississauga. At the meeting, one or more volunteer facilitators presents a prepared list of questions for discussion.
An optional small donation ($2) is requested to cover the Meetup website costs however meetings are open to the public. The discussions are based on having read the book (there is no presentation or summary), but even if you have not read the book you are more than welcome to come and check out the group. See Discussion Groundrules.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Easy money: cryptocurrency, casino capitalism, and golden age of fraud [Online]Link visible for attendees
Instant New York Times bestseller. Longlisted for The Financial Times 2023 Business Book of the Year. From “one of the crypto industry’s unlikely but most prominent critics” (Washington Post), an entertaining and well-researched account of the rise and fall of cryptocurrency.
At the height of the pandemic, TV star Ben McKenzie was the perfect mark for cryptocurrency: a dad stuck at home with some cash in his pocket, worried about his family, armed with only the vague notion that people were making heaps of money on something he—despite a degree in economics—didn’t entirely understand. Lured in by grandiose, utopian promises, and sure, a little bit of FOMO, McKenzie dove deep into blockchain, Bitcoin, and the various other coins and exchanges on which they are traded. But after scratching the surface, he had to ask, “Am I crazy, or is this all a total scam?”
In Easy Money, McKenzie enlists the help of journalist Jacob Silverman for an investigative adventure into crypto and its remarkable crash. Weaving together stories of average traders and victims, colorful crypto “visionaries,” Hollywood’s biggest true believers, anti-crypto whistleblowers, and government operatives, Easy Money is an on-the-ground look at a perfect storm of irresponsibility and criminal fraud. Based on original reporting across the country and abroad, including interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried, Tether cofounder Brock Pierce, Celsius’s Alex Mashinsky, and more, this is the book on cryptocurrency you’ve been waiting for.
═════ Discussion questions:
TBD
Facilitator: Lyn═════ $$ Donations:
Our events are free but donations are much appreciated. Your money will support our subscriptions to Meetup.com and Zoom. Please consider an e-transfer to toronto.nonfiction@gmail.com, using either https://www.paypal.com or Interac. PWYC. Thanks!
═════ Meeting format:
- A Zoom link will be sent to registered participants 1-2 days prior to the meeting. Please check your communication settings at https://www.meetup.com/account/comm/Non-fictionBookclubToronto/ to receive updates.
- We meet to discuss the book after having read it beforehand.
- A facilitator guides the discussion ensuring that everyone has a chance to speak, one person at a time.
- Warning: Participation in a book club is a dangerous activity. You may encounter opinions different from yours. By joining the group you agree to assume all risks.
- Blind spots: when medicine gets it wrong and what it means for us [in person]Kathmandu Restaurant, Toronto, ONCA$0.01
An Instant New York Times Bestseller. From Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Price We Pay-an eye-opening look at the medical groupthink that has led to public harm, and what you need to know about your health.
More Americans have peanut allergies today than at any point in history. Why? In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a strict recommendation that parents avoid giving their children peanut products until they're three years old. Getting the science perfectly backward, triggering intolerance with lack of early exposure, the US now leads the world in peanut allergies-and this misinformation is still rearing its head today.
How could the experts have gotten it so wrong? Dr. Marty Makary asks, Could it be that many modern-day health crises have been caused by the hubris of the medical establishment? Experts said for decades that opioids were not addictive, igniting the opioid crisis. They refused menopausal women hormone replacement therapy, causing unnecessary suffering. They demonized natural fat in foods, driving Americans to processed carbohydrates as obesity rates soared. They told citizens that there are no downsides to antibiotics and prescribed them liberally, causing a drug-resistant bacteria crisis.
When modern medicine issues recommendations based on good scientific studies, it shines. Conversely, when modern medicine is interpreted through the harsh lens of opinion and edict, it can mold beliefs that harm patients and stunt research for decades. In Blind Spots, Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics ranging from the microbiome to childbirth to nutrition and longevity and more, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent yet unsung issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem. The path to medical mishaps can be absurd, entertaining, and jaw-dropping-but the truth is essential to our health.
═════ Discussion questions:
TBD
Facilitator: Andrii═════ $$ Refundable deposit:
We'd like to make sure everyone on the RSVP actually intends to join us and enjoy the event.
Please make a refundable deposit of $5 to hold your spot, via Paypal or Interac e-transfer to toronto.nonfiction@gmail.com, when you RSVP or shortly thereafter. If you are waitlisted please wait until a spot opens up for you before making a transfer.
You'll get your $5 back in cash if you join us at the event. If you decide to drop out later or not attend, consider this a donation to support our meetup and zoom subscriptions, which aren't cheap. Thank you!
═════ Meeting format:
- We meet to discuss the book after having read it beforehand.
- A facilitator guides the discussion ensuring that everyone has a chance to speak, one person at a time.
- Warning: Participation in a book club is a dangerous activity. You may encounter opinions different from yours. By joining the group you agree to assume all risks.
- WestGTA - Two Concepts of Liberty (esssay) by Isiah BerlinCourtneypark Library, Mississauga, ON
RSVP through Meetup is not available for the WestGTA group. If you would like to join us, please message Helen through the meetup site.
"Two Concepts of Liberty" is the inaugural lecture delivered by the liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin before the University of Oxford in 1958.
The essay, with its analytical approach to the definition of political concepts, re-introduced the study of political philosophy to the methods of analytic philosophy. It is also one of Berlin's first expressions of his ethical ontology of value-pluralism. Berlin defined negative liberty (as the term "liberty" was used by Thomas Hobbes as the absence of coercion or interference with agents' possible private actions, by an exterior social body.
![Easy money: cryptocurrency, casino capitalism, and golden age of fraud [Online] cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/9/7/3/event_529106995.webp "Easy money: cryptocurrency, casino capitalism, and golden age of fraud [Online]")
![Blind spots: when medicine gets it wrong and what it means for us [in person] cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/9/f/3/event_529107123.webp "Blind spots: when medicine gets it wrong and what it means for us [in person]")
