Nonfiction Book Club

This group is for nonfiction readers who enjoy thought-provoking discussions.  We vote on a book every month across a wide variety of genres from among recommendations from our group. For more information or to get monthly emails with details about upcoming meetings, contact DianeCosner@gmail.com or 352-259-9168

The book chosen for September 15, recommended by Dwight Johnson, will be Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto. 

Description from the book cover:

After over 100 years of mandatory schooling in the U.S., literacy rates have dropped, families are fragmented, learning "disabilities" are skyrocketing, and children and youth are increasingly disaffected. Thirty years of teaching in the public school system led John Taylor Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling is to blame, accomplishing little but to teach young people to follow orders like cogs in an industrial machine. He became a fierce advocate of families and young people taking back education and learning, arguing that "genius is as common as dirt," but that conventional schooling is driving out the natural curiosity and problem-solving skills we're born with, replacing it with rule-following, fragmented time, and disillusionment.

A reading of the book by Dusty Rose:  

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsfwNXags_I&list=PLTdrKUNlDrybkfRN1e26bckHrJJRaKZIz

Upcoming titles:

Oct 20  The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

Nov 17 When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Dec 15 The Girl in the Middle: A Recovered History of the American West by Martha Sandweiss

Have you read a great nonfiction book recently that would be a good choice to discuss among friends who will take the time and consideration to read it thoroughly?  Hope to see you at the next meeting!