Future Reads
Planned Titles:
2025
Note new Meeting location TBD
- June -(NOTE: Change) Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, by. Carlos Rovelli. Presented by Gary
FUTURE READS
Recommended future Books:
- Captain Cook Rediscovered: Voyaging to the Icy Latitudes: David L. Nicandri. The history of Captain Cook's three ocean exploration voyages, commissioned by the British government, are exceptionally well researched, described, and discussed. He includes references to debates among historians about the significance of various aspects of these historic voyages. Of great interest are reports of Captain Cook's and officers' and crew members' reactions to many of the discoveries and non-discoveries.. Dave Nicandri lives in Tumwater and could be invited to present his book.
- Peak Human: All golden ages are marked by periods of spectacular cultural flourishing, scientific exploration, technological achievement and economic growth; yet no two are the same. Their beliefs, societies and place in the wider world all vary. Despite this, all previous golden ages have ended, whether it be because of external pressures or internal fracturing; too much hubris or too little wariness. Looking at seven of humanity's greatest civilizations - ancient Athens, the Roman Republic, Abbasid Baghdad, Song China, Renaissance Italy, the Dutch Republic and the Anglosphere - historian and commentator Johan Norberg seeks to distil their strengths and shortcomings in answering the question: how do we ensure that our current golden age doesn't end? As insightful as it is riveting, Peak Human is at once a paean to our incredible progress and a warning that we cannot afford to be complacent.
- Wild New World, The Epic Story of Animals and People in America: Dan Flores. Distinguished author Dan Flores’s ambitious history chronicles the epoch in which humans and animals have coexisted in the “wild new world” of North America—a place shaped both by its own grand evolutionary forces and by momentous arrivals from Asia, Africa, and Europe. With portraits of iconic creatures such as mammoths, horses, wolves, and bison, Flores describes the evolution and historical ecology of North America like never before.
- The Bright Ages, A New History of Medieval Europe: Matthew Gabriel and David Perry. This revisionist history of medieval Europe takes apart the myth of a savage, primitive period, but there are so many more great stories to be told
- Maoism: A Global History: Julia Lovell has given us a masterful corrective to the greatest misconception about today’s China. For too long, visitors who marveled at China’s new luxuries and capitalist zeal assumed that Maoism had gone the way of its creator. That was a mistake. Lovell’s account—eloquent, engrossing, intelligent—not only explains why Xi Jinping has revived some of Mao’s techniques, but also why Mao’s playbook for the ‘People’s War’ retains an intoxicating and tragic appeal to marginalized people the world over.”
- The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston by Rick Atkinson: Now, in volume two, “The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780,” we get an equally accomplished chronicle of the middle years of this multifront war, so compulsively readable that despite its length — again around 800 pages — it’s difficult to put down. We witness Washington mature as a commander; we come to understand why Arnold sells his allegiance; and we recognize King George’s quandary as his generals repeatedly fail to draw this ruinously expensive conflict to an end.
- River of the Gods, Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile: In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.
- A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains. by Max S. Bennett. Equal parts Sapiens, Behave, and Superintelligence, but wholly original in scope, A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI. Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughs” in the evolution of human intelligence and reveals what brains of the past can tell us about the AI of tomorrow.
- SUPERAGENCY: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future: Superagency offers a roadmap for using AI inclusively and adaptively to improve our lives and create positive change. While acknowledging challenges like disinformation and potential job changes, the book focuses on AI’s immense potential to increase individual agency and create better outcomes for society as a whole.
- Star Bound: Star Bound is a book for anyone who wants to learn about the American space program but isn’t sure where to start. First and foremost, it’s a history—short, sweet, and straightforward. From rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard’s primitive flight tests in 1926 through the creation of NASA, from our first steps on the moon to construction of the International Space Station and planning a trip to Mars, readers will meet the people and projects that have put the United States at the forefront of space exploration.
- Courting India: England, Mughal India, and the origins of Empire:In Nandini Das's fascinating history of Roe's four years in India, she offers an insider's view of a Britain in the making, a country whose imperial seeds were just being sown. It is a story of palace intrigue and scandal, lotteries and wagers that unfolds as global trade begins to stretch from Russia to Virginia, from West Africa to the Spice Islands of Indonesia