We are holding our meeting online via Zoom and in person at either the Sunnyvale, Mountain View or Palo Alto Public Library. If you wish to join us, please sign up at https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/292742658/?fromSeries=true and the link to the meeting will be available to you. If you wish to join us in person, send an email to webmaster@humanists.org requesting the meeting place.
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New Book Chosen – “Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction” by Philip E. Tetlock (Author), Dan Gardner (Author)
Finish Book: The Dawn of a Mindful Universe: A Manifesto for Humanity’s Future, August 22, 2023
by Marcelo Gleiser (Author)
From Amazon.com – An award-winning astronomer and physicist’s spellbinding and urgent call for a new Enlightenment and the recognition of the preciousness of life using reason and curiosity—the foundations of science—to study, nurture, and ultimately preserve humanity as we face the existential crisis of climate change.
Since Copernicus, humanity has increasingly seen itself as adrift, an insignificant speck within a large, cold universe. Brazilian physicist, astronomer, and winner of the 2019 Templeton Prize Marcelo Gleiser argues that it is because we have lost the spark of the Enlightenment that has guided human development over the past several centuries. While some scientific efforts have been made to overcome this increasingly bleak perspective—the ongoing search for life on other planets, the recent idea of the multiverse—they have not been enough to overcome the core problem: we’ve lost our moral mission and compassionate focus in our scientific endeavors.
Readings this week
7 May – Bring topics and join us for a lively discussion.
14 May – Finish the Book, “The Dawn of a Mindful Universe” – Chapt. 6 through 9, Pages 147 through 208, 61 pages over two weeks
21 May – Start a New Book, Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
Past Books We Have Read
o “Revolt in 2100” by Robert A. Heinlein
o “How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them.”, Barbara Walter, 293 pages, , Barbara Walter
o “Discrimination and Disparities”, March 5, 2019 by Thomas Sowell
o As A Man Thinketh, James Allen,
o The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics, by Mark Lilla, 2017, 160 pages
o Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir, 2021, 496 pages
o “The Territorial Imperative: A Personal Inquiry into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations by Robert Ardrey.”
o Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, by Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt, 2023
o “The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo” by Tom Reiss
o “New China Playbook” , by Keyu Jin, 368 pages, 2023
o “The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America, by Amy Chua, Jed Rubenfeld, 2015
o “Defying Hitler”, by Sebastian Haffner, Oliver Pretzel (Translator), written in 1939, published in 2003, 309 pages
o “The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong”, Laurence J. Peter
o “The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations”, by Ian Morris, 2014, 235 pages
o Survive: Why We Do What We Do, by Jerry Pannone, 2022
o Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, Robert M. Sapolsky, 2017
o “Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault from within on Modern Democracy”, 2021, by Thomas M. Nichols
o “The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity”, March 24, 2020 by Toby Ord
o “The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It” by Robert Reich
o “The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life”, by Anu Partanen,
o “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis
o “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody”, by by Helen Pluckrose (Author), James Lindsay (Author), Hardcover – August 25, 2020
o “Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice that Shapes What We See, Think, and Do” by Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD, 2019
o“The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good” by Michael J. Sandel, 2020
o “Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know” by Malcolm Gladwell, 2019
o “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert B. Cialdini, PhD, 2009
o “I, Robot” by Isaac Asimov, 1950, 1977
o “A Confession” by Leon Tolstoy, 2011
o “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong about the World and Why Things Are Better than You Think” by Hans Rosling, 2018
o “The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley” by Malcolm X, Alex Haley, and Attallah Shabazz, 1992
o “The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy” by Stephanie Kelton, 2020
o “Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and other Animals” by John Gray, 2007
o “Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny” by Robert Wright, 2000
o “Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion” by Paul Bloom, 2016
o “Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts” by Stanislas Dehaene, 2014
o “The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Civilization in the Aftermath of a Cataclysm” by Lewis Dartnell, 2015
o “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, 2013
o “The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins, 2016
o “The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning” by Daniel Bor, 2012
o “The Skeptics Guide to the Universe: How to Know What’s Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake” by Dr. Steven Novella & 4 more, 2018
o “Creating Change though Humanism” by Roy Speckhardt, 2015
o “The Fourth Turning” by William Strauss and Neil Howe, 2009
o “The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History” by J. R. McNeill & William H. McNeill, 2003
o “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Thomas Picketty, 2017
o “The Origins of Totalitarianism” by Hanna Arendt, 1973
o “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari, 2015
o “The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom” by Jonathan Haidt, 2006
o “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion” by Jonathan Haidt, 2013
o “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do” by Michael J. Sandel, 2009
o “Listen Liberal: What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?” by Thomas Frank, 2017
o “Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away” by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 2014
o “Intuition Pumps and other Tools for Thinking” by Daniel C. Dennett, 2014
o “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” by Stephen Greenblatt, 2012