Philosopher's Cafe Books

Beginning in April, Philosophers’ Café’ is launching a new Book Salon Café series that offers an opportunity for in-depth conversations about a particular book chosen by a café moderator. The chosen books are easily accessible and have important links to current debates and the history of ideas.

The six book salons, which run at various venues from early April to late June, supplement the regular cafés.  Anyone with an interest in ideas is encouraged to read the book from the reading list and come join in the conversation.

All cafés begin at 7pm. They are free, open to the public, and require no registration. We hope to see you there!

The Book Salons Cafés

Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street by Tomas Sedlacek: Monday, April 8 at The Network Hub, 422 Richards Street, Vancouver

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano: Thursday, April 25 at Robert Lee YMCA, 5th Floor, 955 Burrard Street, Vancouver

What Money Can’t Buy by Michael Sandel: Wednesday, May 15 at The Heritage Grill, 447 Columbia Street, New Westminster

Politics of Urbanism: Seeing Like a City by Warren Magnusson: Tuesday, May 21 at The Vancouver Public Library’s Mount Pleasant Branch, Multipurpose Room No. 1, 1 Kingsway

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace: Wednesday, June 5 at Nature’s Garden Organic Deli, 8968 University High Street, Burnaby

The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon: Wednesday, June 26 at The Burnaby Public Library’s Bob Prittie Metrotown Branch, 6100 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following books came up for discussion:

Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization [large treatment of the subject by one of America’s reigning public intellectuals]

Frans de Waal, The Age of Empathy [an eloquent case for an innate tendency toward empathy and cooperation by an eminent biologist]

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following books came up for discussion:

Huston Smith, Why Religion Matters

Ken Wilber, A Sociable God [an integral sociology of religion by the master of integral philosophy]

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following book came up:

Colin McGinn, The Power of the Movies [highly recommended; intriguing “dream theory” of movie experience; insightful; well-written for a general readership]

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following books came up for discussion:

Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene [the book that made Dawkins a star apologist for evolutionary biology]

Rupert Sheldrake, The Science Delusion [a thoughtful challenge to ten dogmas of contemporary science by an accomplished scientist]

Huston Smith, Forgotten Truth [another excellent critique of scientism together with a defense of the Great Chain of Being]

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following books came up for discussion:

Ernest Gellner, Reason and Culture [not easy to find, but well worth the effort]

Ken Wilber, A Theory of Everything [an indispensable introduction to the most comprehensive worldview expounded in our time]

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following book came up:

Kevin Passmore, Fascism: A Very Short Introduction [historical and analytical; well done, like most of the titles in the Very Short Introduction series]

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following book was discussed:

Bart Ehrman, Jesus of Nazareth: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium [excellent contemporary interpretation by the well-known New Testament scholar]

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following books came up for discussion:

Roger Scruton, Beauty: A Very Short Introduction [perfect for anyone whose interest in aesthetics is less than deep]

Umberto Eco, On Ugliness [Both the Eco books are simply magnificent]

At White Rock Philosophers’ Cafe on this topic, facilitated by Charles Marxer, the following book was discussed:

Peter Singer, The Life You Can Save [the consequentialist argument showing that most of us are less generous than we should be toward the world’s poor]