This course will start again in September on 3rd Mondays in the month and will run through to May 2027 

The  dates will be:

2026: Monday 21st September, Monday 19th October, Monday 16th November, Monday 14th December,   
               ( N.B. The December date is the 2nd Monday not the 3rd Monday to avoid being too close to Christmas)

2027: Monday 18th January, Monday 15th February, Monday 15th March, Monday 19th April, Monday 17th May

At each meeting we share reactions to, and discuss together, one selected non-fiction book. The books for the year are chosen to encompass a wide range of content areas including biography, history, nature and environment, travel and adventure, science, and more. Copies can be obtained from the library, or cheap second-hand sources. Members find that the shared discussion enhances appreciation of the book and its content.

Our meetings are held on the 3rd Monday in the month, from 2pm to approx 3.30pm,  at Elworth Cricket Club, London Road, Elworth, CW11 3BF.  There is plenty of parking and the room has comfortable seating..  Facilities include toilets and kitchen access.

2026 -2027 programme

2026:  

September 21st: Time to think - Hannah Barnes

October 19th: CIA Book Club: the best kept secret of the Cold War - Charie English

November 16th: The Finest Hotel in Kabul: a people's history of Afghanistan - Lise Doucet

December 14th: An Edible History of Humanity - Tom Standage

2027:  

January 18th: Head North: a rallying cry for a more equal Britain - Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham

February 15th: Russians among us: sleeper cells, ghost stories and the hunt for Putins agents - Gordon Corera

March 15th: This is for everyone: (invention of the World Wide Web) - Tim Berners -Lee

April 19th:   18: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives - Alice Loxton

May 17th:  A More Perfect Heaven: how Copernicus revolutionised the cosmos - Dava Sobel 

2025-2026 Programme:          
2025
15th September: Collapse - Jared Diamond
20th October:  What the Wild Sea Can Be - Helen Scales
17th November:  Patriot  -  Alexei Navalny
15th December: Endurance -  Alfred Lansing

2026
19th January: Broken Threads --Mishal Husain
16th  February: Islands of Abandonment -  Cal Flyn
16th March: Clinging to the Wreckage: - John Mortimer
20th April: The Anxious Generation:  - Jonathan Haidt
18th May: Too Much and Never Enough - Mary Trump

 2024-2025 Programme

Monday 16th September: Wild Swans - Jang Chung 

Monday 21st October:  Politics on the Edge - Rory Stewart

Monday 18th November: Unnatural Causes - the life and many deaths of Britain's top forensic pathologist - Richard Shepherd

Monday 16th December:  Wild Fell - Lee Scofield

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Monday 20th January: Empireland: how imperialism shaped modern Britain - Sathnam Sanghera

Monday 17th February: Pathogenesis: how germs made history - Jonathon Kennedy

Monday 17th March: The Examined Life: how we lose and find ourselves - Stephen Grosz

Monday 14th April: Power of Geography: ten maps that reveal the future of our world - Tim Marshall                                             (please note this is NOT the 3rd Monday in the month - moved because of Easter)   

Monday 19th May: A Life Discarded: 148 diaries found in a skip - Alexander Masters

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Programme 2023 -2024 

Monday 18th September 2023  - Hello World: How to be Human in a Machine in the Age of the Machine  by Hannah Fry

Monday 16th September 2023 -  A House Through Time : David Olusoga

Monday 20th November 2023 -  Do No Harm :  Henry Marsh

Monday 18th December 2023 - English Pastoral: an inheritance  : James Rebanks

Spring Term

Monday 15th January 2024 - The Invention of Nature : Alexander von Humbolt: the lost hero of science : Andrea Wulf

Monday 19th February 2024 - Auntie's War ( BBC in the second World War) ; Edward Stourton

Monday 18th March 2024 -  Walking the Nile; a journey on foot along the length of the Nile : Levison  Wood

Monday 15th April 2024 - How Britain really works: readable history of the British city, forces of industry, disease, crime and       class.  : Stig Abel

Monday 20th May 2024 - to be chosen later depending on availability between either:  Time to Think : Hannah Barnes or       Ultra-Processed People: Chris Van Tullekan et al

Programme for 2022 -2023

Monday 19th September         Cancelled due to Queen's funeral

Monday 17th October              Merlin Sheldrake:An Entangled Life

Sunday Times bestseller exploring how fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futures

Monday 21st November            Alistair Moffat: The Reivers

Covers the history of the conflict between England and Scotland over the border, 14^th to 16^th Century

Monday 19th  December           Kate Green: Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars

An account of a four-month simulation with six people living in a shared space.

Book exchanged with A Splendid Exchange due to sponsor's Holiday 

Monday 16th January              William Bernstein: A Splendid Exchange

A timely and readable reminder that the desire to trade is not just one of the oldest human instincts but also the cause of many of the most important moments of our shared history

Delayed from December 

Monday 20th February             Deborah Cadbury: Dinosaur Hunters

Going back to a time when amateur geologists, theologians and anatomists wrestled with understanding the significance of newly discovered fossils

Monday 20^th March                 Patrick Radden Keefe:  Empire of Pain

The secret history of the Sackler Dynasty whose fortune was made on marketing Blockbuster opioid painkillers in the US

Monday 17^th April                    Michael Sandel: Tyranny of Merit

Political Philosophy book where Sandel argues that to overcome the polarised politics of our time we need to rethink our attitudes to success and failure

Monday 15^th May                     Tristram Hunt:  Radical Potter

A biography of the great designer, entrepreneur, abolitionist, Josiah Wedgwood by Tristram Hunt, the present director of the Victoria and Albert Museum since 2017.

Programme for 2021-2022

Download programme:      pdf        Word document     

Books we have read in previous years