Books and Cooks West is a book club focusing on non-fiction, based in Silicon Valley. We meet once a month or so for a pot-luck dinner and book discussion, though the current members don't take the cooking part too seriously.
This group is an offshoot of the original, but now defunct, Books and Cooks group in Ithaca.
The mailing list is here - if you're interested in joining the group, feel free to send a sign up request and introduce yourself. But the list is restricted to members.
Next meeting Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking Susan Cain Sunday June 10 at 5:30 at Dawn and Pierre's
Upcoming books- July 2012 -- Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
- August 2012 -- The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study Howard S. Friedman, Leslie R. Martin
- September 2012 -- Bastard Tongues: A Trail-Blazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World's Lowliest Languages by Derek Bickerton
Earlier books
(Books are rated on a scale of 1 to 5) Surveillance or Security?: The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies by Susan Landau: 2.4 for the book, 2.5 for the discussion Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham: 3.3 for the book, 2 for the discussion Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman; 4.6 for the book; 3.2 for the discussion The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley; 3.6 for the book; 3.75 for the discussion - Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception by Charles Seife; 3.1 for the book; 3.3 for the discussion
October 2011 -- You Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall by Colin Ellard; 2.5 for the book; 1.9 for the discussion September 2011 -- The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies by Bryan Caplan; 3.1 for the book; 3.6 for the discussion August 2011 -- The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleik; 2.7 for the book; 1.6 for the discussion June 2011 -- Bright Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich; 3.1 for the book; 3.3 for the discussion May 2011 -- Cloud Atlas: A Novel by David Mitchell; 2.2 for the book; 3.2 for the discussion April 2011 -- Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O. Frost, Gail Steketee; 3.4 for the book; 3.25 for the discussion March 2011 -- The Watercooler Effect: An Indispensable Guide to Understanding and Harnessing the Power of Rumors by Nicholas DiFonzo; 3.25 for the book; 2.3 for the discussion February 2011 -- The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind by Barbara Strauch; 3 for the book; 1.7 for the discussion.January 2011 -- Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine; 4.25 for the book; 3.75 for the discussion.
December 2010 -- Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein: 2.2 for the book; 2.2 for the discussion. November 2010 -- The Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph Tainter: 2.1 for the book; 2.8 for the discussion October 2010 -- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink: 2.6 for the book; 3.7 for the discussion August 2010 -- Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America by Robert Whitaker: 4.0 for the book; 3.8 for the discussion July 2010 -- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Dan Heath and Chip Heath. Rating: 4.0 for the book; 3.5 for the discussion June 2010 -- Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity by James C. Hansen. Rating: 3.1 cups of tea. - May 2010 --
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. Rating: 3.1 cups of tea. - March 2010 -- Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger. Rating: 1.7 cups of tea.
- Feburary 2010 -- Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer by Shannon Brownlee. Rating: 3.9 cups of tea.
- January 2010 -- Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson. Rating: 3.9 cups of tea.
- December 2009 -- The Hungry Gene: The Inside Story of the Obesity Industry by Ellen Ruppel Shell. Rating: 2.9 cups of tea.
- November 2009 -- The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Rating: 5 cups of tea.
- September 2009 -- Buyology: The Truth about Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom. Rating: 2.4 cups of tea.
- August 2009 -- Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky. Rating: 4 cups of tea.
- July 2009 -- Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt
- May 2009 -- The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers by Daniel L. Schacter Anathem by Neal Stephenson
- April 2009 -- Anathem by Neal Stephanson
- February 2009 -- The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life_ by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd
- January 2009 -- Three Cups Of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
- November 2008 -- Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined by Gordon Patzer
- October 2008 -- Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet
- September 2008 -- Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach
- July 2008 --- Hotel: An American History by Andrew Sandoval-Strausz
- June 2008 -- Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
- May 2008 -- The Cult of Pharmacology: How America Became the World's Most Troubled Drug Culture by Richard DeGrandpre
- April 2008 -- Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott
- March 2008 -- Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart by Ian Ayres
- January 2008 -- No Two Alike by Judith Rich Harris
- December 2007 -- Children At War by P. W. Singer
- October 2007 -- The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
- September 2007 -- The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo
- July 2007 -- Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem
- June 2007 -- The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs
- May 2007 -- A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
- March 2007 -- Made to Stick by Chip Heath
- February 2007 -- Another Day in the Frontal Lobe by Katrina Firlik
- January 2007 -- The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil
- October 2006 -- 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
- September 2006 -- The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology by Kim Vincente.
- August 2006 -- Journey of the Jahidist: Inside Muslim Militancy by Fawaz A. Gerges.
- July 2006 -- Moral Politics by George Lakoff. Rating: 3.5 cups of tea.
- June 2006 -- Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher. Rating: 3.6 cups of tea.
- May 2006 -- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Rating: 4 cups of tea.
- April 2006 -- What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank. Rating: 3.5 cups of tea.
- February 2006 -- The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki. Rating: 4.1 cups of tea.
- January 2006 -- Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground by Robert D. Kaplan. Rating: 2.75 cups of tea.
- November 2005 -- Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Rating: 4 cups of tea.
- October 2005 -- Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz. Rating: 4 cups of tea.
- September 2005 -- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Rating: 2.8 cups of tea.
- July 2005 -- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. Rating: 4.2 cups of tea.
- June 2005 -- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcom Gladwell. Rating: 3.5 cups of tea.
- May 2005 -- American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare by Jason DeParle. Rating: 3.75 cups of tea.
- April 2005 -- The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan by Ian Buruma. Rating: 2.9 cups of tea.
- February 2005 -- The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn by Diane Ravitch. Rating: 3.3 cups of tea.
- January 2005 -- The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith by Alan Wolfe. Rating: 3.5 cups of tea.
- December 2004 -- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Rating: 4.6 cups of tea.
- November 2004 -- The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Stephen Pinker. Rating: 3.9 cups of tea.
- October 2004 -- The Outlaw Sea: A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime by William Langewiesche. Rating: 3.4 cups of tea.
- August 2004 -- The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined Women by Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels. Rating: 2.2 cups of tea.
- June 2004 -- Blood of the Liberals by George Packer. Rating: 3.4 cups of tea.
- May 2004 -- Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect' by Daniel E. Moerman. Rating: 4.2 cups of tea.
- April 2004 -- Inevitable Illusions: How Mistakes of Reason Rule Our Minds by Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini. Rating: 2.5 cups of tea.
- March 2004 -- Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human by Matt Ridley. Rating: 4 cups of tea.
- January 2004 -- A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis by David Rieff. Rating: 2.7 cups of tea.
- November 2003 -- Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World by Bruce Schneier. Rating: 4.5 cups of tea.
- October 2003 -- Murder and the Reasonable Man: Passion and Fear in the Criminal Courtroom by Cynthia Lee. Rating: 2.75 cups of tea.
- September 2003 -- Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi. Rating: 3.9 cups of tea.
- August 2003 -- The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why by Richard Nisbett. Rating: 3.7 cups of tea.
- July 2003 -- The West and the Rest: Globalization and the Terrorist Threat by Roger Scruton. Rating: 2.6 cups of tea.
- May 2003 -- Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by by Peter L. Bernstein. Rating: 2.6 cups of tea.
- March 2003 -- Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande. Rating: 4.4 cups of tea.
- February 2003 -- Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam. Rating: 4.5 cups of tea.
- January 2003 -- The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead. Rating: 3.75 cups of tea.
- December 2002 -- The World We're In by Will Hutton. Rating: 3 cups of tea.
- November 2002 -- Afraid of the Dark: What Whites and Blacks Need to Know About Each Other by Jim Myers. Rating: 3.2 cups of tea.
- October 2002 -- Class Dismissed: A Year in the Life of an American High School: A Glimpse into the Heart of a Nation by Meredith Maran. Rating: 3.7 cups of tea.
- September 2002 -- Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy. Rating: 4.1 cups of tea.
- August 2002 -- Genome by Matt Ridley and He, She, and It by Marge Piercy. Rating (for both): 4.1 cups of tea.
- June 2002 -- Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson. Rating: 4 cups of tea.
- May 2002 -- Granta 77: What We Think of America. Rating: 3 cups of tea.
- April 2002 -- Crossings: A White Man's Journey into Black America by Walt Harrison. Rating: 3.3 cups of tea.
- March 2002 -- Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations by Michael Walzer. Rating: 4 cups of tea.
- January 2002 -- Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences by Edward Tenner. Rating: 2.9 cups of tea.
- December 2001 -- Stiffed by Susan Faludi. Rating: 4.25 cups of tea.
- November 2001 -- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Rating: 4.4 cups of tea.
- October 2001 -- That's Not What We Meant to Do by Stephen M. Gillon. Rating: 3.25 cups of tea.
- September 2001 -- Words and Rules by Stephen Pinker. Rating: 3.4 cups of tea.
- August 2001 -- The Moral Animal by Robert Wright. Rating: 3.25 cups of tea.
- June 2001 -- A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom. Rating: 3.3 cups of tea.
- Cancelled -- A Discussion of Guns and Gun Control
- March 2001 -- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Rating: 2.17 cups of tea.
- January 2001 -- It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States by Gary Wolfe Marks and Seymour Martin Lipset. Rating: 3.5 cups of tea.
- December 2000 -- Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Rating: 3.9 cups of tea.
- October 2000 -- The Gender Knot by Allan G. Johnson. Rating: 3.75 cups of tea.
- September 2000 -- The Spirit in the Gene by Reg Morrison, Lynn Margulis. Rating: 2.12 cups of tea.
- August 2000 -- The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong. Rating: 3.00 cups of tea.
- June 2000 -- The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay. Rating: 4.33 cups of tea.
- May 2000 -- The Cost of Living by Arundhati Roy. Rating: 4.17 cups of tea.
- February 2000 -- The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels. Rating: 3.67 cups of tea.
- January 2000 -- The Walking People by Paula Underwood. Rating: 4 cups of tea.
|
|