Readers' Group
We meet monthly to discuss all kinds of texts from architecture to anthropology.
Tuesday 5 August
'The World Without Us' by Alan Weisman
While the idea that the world would be a better place without us is still confined to dinner table misanthropy, we are asked to reduce our impact in building and development, and to scale down our consumption. But is human impact such a negative as is made out to be?
Please email us for further information or if you wish to be added to the Readers' Group mailing list.
New! US Readers Group
Meets monthly in San Francisco to discuss all manner of politics in the world today.
Tuesday 19 August
'The Enemies of Progress' by Austin Williams
This book examines the concept of sustainability and presents a critical exploration of its all-pervasive influence on society, arguing that it is a malign philosophy of misanthropy, low aspirations and restraint.
Coordinated by Elisabetta Gasparoni-Abraham. more...
Previous books
Thursday 26 May
'The Return of History and the End of Dreams' by Robert Kagan
Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities. Great powers are once again competing for influence. In his new book, Robert Kagan poses the questions facing the liberal democratic world today.
Tuesday 6th May
'What Does China Think' by Mark Leonard
While China has become an obsession within the West, we know almost nothing about what the Chinese themselves think. This book looks at the debates raging within China itself. from democracy to the idea of a 'peaceful rise', it challenges all of our assumptions about China, and opens up a hidden world of intellectual debate that is driving a new Chinese revolution and changing the face of the world. Presented by Sheila Lewis: Director, Volanti Consulting; lecturer and consultant on modern China.
Wednesday 25th March 2008
'The
Islamist' by Ed Husain
A personal story - from East London Muslim "choirboy" to Hizb ut-Tahrir operative and now to respectable PhD student at the School of Oriental and African Studies. It attempts to explain the apparent appeal of violent jihadi Islam. But is it overstated? Presented by Robin Walsh who will be chairing the final session of the Institute of Ideas Secularism 2008 Series "Flogging a dead horse: Can we make a positive case for atheism today?"
Read Robin Walsh's Review here
Read Martin Earnshaw's Review here
Wednesday 27th February 2008
'The
Meaning of Life' by Terry Eagleton
Eagleton notes that 'in this tension between the persisting need for meaning and the gnawing sense of its elusiveness, modernism can be genuinely tragic'. Dennis Hayes, Head of the Centre for Professional Learning, Canterbury Christ Church University and founder of Academics for Academic Freedom attempts to explain the meaning of this book.
Tuesday 22nd January 2008
'Immigrants:
Your Country Needs Them' by Philippe Legrain
'All our imigration laws have is a veneer of decency, which conveniently
allows us to turn a blind eye to their terrible consequences'
(p42). Come and join us to examine Legrain's thought-provoking
book on the need for free(r) immigration. Does he go too far;
or not nearly far enough? Steve Nash presents. Read his review here
Thursday 22nd November 2007
'China
in Africa' by Chris Alden
Exploring the economic, diplomatic and security rationales behind
Beijing's Africa policy as well as the response of African elites
to China. Stuart Simpson, author, 'Debt and Development:
Ghana - A Case Study' will introduce.
Wednesday 17th October 2007
'The
Threat To Reason: How the Enlightenment was hijacked and how we
can reclaim it' by Dan Hind
'We should be wary of what has been described elsewhere as ‘scientism’, the elevation of science to the status of a pseudo-religion in itself.' Presented: Dolan Cummings from Culture Wars and a founder member of the Manifesto Club.
Read his review here
Thursday 13th September 2007
'Rubbish:
Dirt on our hands and crisis ahead' by Richard Girling
Currently a Trustee of the Tree Council, Girling is a senior feature writer for The Sunday Times Magazine he argues that although 'waste has always been a badge of affluence' that 'modern life is rubbish...'
Read Martin Earnshaw's review of Recycling Policy here.
May 2007
'Estates: An Intimate History' by Lynsey Hanley
Read Dave Clements' review of this book
April 2007
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama
March 2007
Debating Humanism edited by Dolan Cummings, published by Institute of Ideas
DEBATING HUMANISM is a collection of essays by speakers at the Battle of Ideas 2005, exploring what humanism might mean for the 21st century. More than to sleep and feed, to be human is to debate, to argue, to think out loud and to engage with the ideas and opinions of others.
Broadly speaking, the humanist tradition is one in which it is we as human beings who decide for ourselves what is best for us, and are responsible for shaping our own societies. For humanists, then, debate is all the more important, not least at a time when there is much discussion about the unexpected return of religion as a political force determining how we should live.
visit the Institute of Ideas website for more information and to buy the book
In January we discussed:
'We-Think' by Charles Leadbetter
November 2006
'Everything Bad Is Good for You:
How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter' by Stephen Johnson
October 2006
'Heat: How to stop the planet burning' by George Monbiot
Read Austin Williams' article Down with carbon colonialism in the online journal Spiked!
Please email us for further information or if you wish to be added to the Readers' Group mailing list
