About us
Our 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 travel. The meetings are currently hybrid but in person attendance is encouraged when possible. The meetings are facilitated to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to contribute. All members are encouraged to provide their opinions, and all opinions are valued and respected.
This book club does not solicit or accept payment related to book selection, and the organizer does not reach out to authors; all book nominations come from members only.
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
The Ages of Globalization by Jeffrey D. Sachs
Scott's House and Google Meet, Woolsey at College Ave, Berkeley, CA, USOur book for September is The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions by Jeffrey D. Sachs
For those who are interested, here is the link to the detailed results from the voting.
The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions is a 2020 book by economist Jeffrey D. Sachs. Sachs traces the history of human connection across the globe from the Paleolithic era to the present, dividing that history into seven ages: the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Equestrian, Classical, Ocean, Industrial, and Digital. His central claim is that three forces have shaped how societies expand, trade, and interact over time. Geography sets the physical stage of climate, terrain, and resources. Technology, from the domestication of the horse to the steam engine to the internet, changes what people can build and how far they can reach. Institutions, meaning the governments, religions, and economic systems people create, determine how those capabilities get organized and put to use.
Sachs walks through each age in turn, showing how a shift in technology or geography reshaped the balance of power and the flow of goods and ideas. He covers the rise of agriculture, the spread of empires, the ocean voyages that linked continents after 1500, and the industrial and digital revolutions that followed. The book closes with the current era, where Sachs turns to questions of inequality, environmental limits, and global governance, and argues that the same three forces will shape how humanity handles challenges like climate change and economic disparity. At roughly 250 pages, it is written for a general audience rather than specialists, and it draws on history, economics, and geography to cover a long span of time in a single volume.
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:
Google Meet link: https://meet.google.com/zem-xnbw-tuh
Or dial: (US) +1 641-854-0146 PIN: 637 012 874#9 attendees
Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare by Edward Fishman
Scott's House and Google Meet, Woolsey at College Ave, Berkeley, CA, USOur book for October 4 is Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare by Edward Fishman (note the first Sunday in Oct)
For those who are interested, here is the link to the detailed results from the voting.
In this book, Edward Fishman examines how the United States has increasingly used its central position in the global economy as an instrument of foreign policy. Rather than focusing on traditional military power, Fishman traces the development of tools such as financial sanctions, export controls, restrictions on access to technology, and limits on energy trade. He describes how the dominance of the U.S. dollar, the importance of American and allied financial institutions, and Western control over critical technologies and supply chains have created economic “chokepoints” that can be used to exert pressure on other countries.
Drawing on episodes involving Iran, Russia, and China, Fishman recounts how these tools evolved from relatively limited measures into major components of U.S. national security policy. The book covers the campaign of financial pressure that preceded the Iran nuclear agreement, the sanctions imposed on Russia after its actions in Ukraine in 2014 and its full-scale invasion in 2022, and the expanding use of technology controls in the strategic competition with China. Fishman also considers the limits and longer-term consequences of economic warfare, including efforts by targeted countries to reduce their dependence on the dollar, Western technology, and other parts of the global economic system that give the United States and its allies leverage.
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:
Google Meet link: https://meet.google.com/zem-xnbw-tuh
Or dial: (US) +1 641-854-0146 PIN: 637 012 874#2 attendees
Past events
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