What we’re about
Welcome to our Meetup! The book club is structured around reading and discussing one non-fiction book each month, typically on the second Sunday of the month but rescheduled as needed based on holidays or other special events. The meetings are currently hybrid and the percentage of people in person vs. on Zoom varies from month to month. Meetups are facilitated by the organizer to provide structure and direction to the discussion. All members are encouraged to provide their opinions, and all opinions are valued and respected.
Click to see a list of books we have read and the group's rating. Every month we choose the book for two months ahead. Members prioritize their book choices in a Google Form and then we run a ranked choice algorithm on the resulting set of votes. Members can suggest books in their RSVP to a meeting, in the Google Form, or by messaging the organizer directly. It is at the organizer's discretion which books are included in any given vote.
Upcoming events (2)
See all- A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles Thomas SowellScott's House and Google Meet, Berkeley, CA
Our book for September is A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles by Thomas Sowell.
For those who are interested, here is the link to the detailed results from the voting.
Here is a summary of the book:
Thomas Sowell’s A Conflict of Visions (1987, rev. 2007) argues that many of the deepest and most persistent political disagreements stem not from isolated policy differences but from two fundamentally different ways of viewing human nature and society. He labels these the “constrained vision” and the “unconstrained vision.” The constrained vision sees human nature as fixed, flawed, and limited; therefore, social arrangements must account for trade-offs, incentives, and systemic checks on human weakness. In this view, institutions like law, markets, and traditions are the accumulated wisdom of trial and error rather than products of abstract reasoning. The unconstrained vision, by contrast, sees human potential as improvable and perfectible; it emphasizes reason, moral ideals, and deliberate reform as tools to overcome injustice, inequality, and social problems. These competing visions shape how people interpret issues from economics to law to war.
Sowell illustrates how these visions generate predictable patterns of disagreement across history. Advocates of the unconstrained vision tend to prioritize intentions, ideals, and moral imperatives—favoring activism, centralized solutions, and transformative leadership. Those aligned with the constrained vision tend to emphasize results, unintended consequences, and the limits of human knowledge—favoring evolved institutions, decentralized decision-making, and caution in reform. Importantly, Sowell stresses that neither vision is “right” or “wrong” in itself; rather, they are enduring frameworks through which people interpret the world, often talking past one another because they begin with different assumptions. By framing ideological disputes in terms of these deeper visions, Sowell aims to explain the persistence and intensity of political conflict across generations.
This event will be hybrid. I will host the meeting in person at my house in Berkeley which is near the intersection of College Ave and Woolsey St. I will email people the address the Saturday before the meeting. Here are the Google Meet details:
Meeting ID
Link: https://meet.google.com/uhn-pffx-dxu
Or dial: (US) +1 518-552-0722 PIN: 356 607 313# - America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg GrandinScott's House and Google Meet, Berkeley, CA
Our book for November is America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin.
For those who are interested, here is the link to the detailed results from the voting.
Here is a summary of the book:
Grandin redefines the story of the Western Hemisphere by examining the intertwined histories of North and South America over five centuries. The book challenges the traditional narrative that the United States’ identity was shaped primarily by looking eastward to Europe, instead arguing that its sense of self was forged through a complex and often turbulent engagement with Latin America. Grandin traces this relationship from the Spanish Conquest—the greatest mortality event in human history—through the independence movements, the Monroe Doctrine, twentieth-century coups and revolutions, and up to the present. In doing so, he demonstrates how both regions developed distinctive identities in response to each other, shaping laws, institutions, and ideals that have influenced the modern world.
The book is notable for shining new light on both well-known historical figures such as Bartolomé de las Casas and Simón Bolívar, as well as lesser-known actors like Francisco de Miranda and Jorge Gaitán. Grandin reveals how Latin America’s deeply rooted culture of social democracy has often stood as a counterweight to rightwing authoritarianism and US intervention, affecting global institutions like the United Nations. By combining individual stories with grand historical analysis, Grandin offers a sweeping narrative that revises how we understand colonialism, slavery, and race across the hemisphere, ultimately suggesting that centuries of conflict and diplomacy have fundamentally shaped the political and moral contours of both the United States and Latin America.
This event will be hybrid. I will host the meeting in person at my house in Berkeley which is near the intersection of College Ave and Woolsey St. I will email people the address the Saturday before the meeting. Here are the Google Meet details:
Meeting ID
Link: https://meet.google.com/tfn-vpfb-gpj
Or dial: (US) +1 561-408-9075 PIN: 278 615 140#
