There is a non-fiction reading group that meets monthly (mostly) on the first Monday of each month. For December 4th we have chosen “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert.
Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.
In the past, the group has read a wide variety of non-fiction titles, ranging from science (Brief answers to the Big Questions by Steven Hawking), the natural world (What It’s Like to Be a Bird by David Allen Sibley, An Elephant in my Kitchen by Francoise Malby-Anthony), memoirs (Educated by Tara Westover, Becoming by Michelle Obama), and social issues (Caste, the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson, and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein).
If you are interested in joining the group, contact craigmonroe@comcast.net and we will add you to the distribution list for voting and the Zoom link for the meeting. All are welcome.
Those involved in the group are sent a list of books with descriptions for consideration in future discussions. We have multiple votes that can be used all for one book or spread out among several. The book with the highest number of votes is chosen.