Retirees Association
Book Club 2023-2024
Below is the list of books read by the Book Club during 2023-2024. More information about the Book Club and the books read can be found on the club's home page at Book Club.
Friday, May 3, 2024
The May book was Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel. Anyone alive in the eighteeth century would have known that "the logitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day. One man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea. Longitude is a dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer (blurb from Amazon).
Friday, April 5, 2024
The April Book was Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule. In a forceful but humane narrative, former soldier and head of the West Point history department, Ty Seidule's Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the myths and lies of the Confederate legacy―and explores why some of this country’s oldest wounds have never healed. (blurb from Amazon)
WVURA Book Club
Friday, March 1, 2024
The March book was The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann. On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.
Friday, March 1, 2024
The March book was The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann. On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.
WVURA Book Club
Friday, February 2, 2024
The February book was The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife by Lucy Cooke. You've probably never considered if moose get drunk, or worker ants lay about. They do -- and that's just for starters. In this book, Lucy Cooke lays bare the secret -- and often hilarious -- habits of the animal kingdom.
Friday, February 2, 2024
The February book was The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife by Lucy Cooke. You've probably never considered if moose get drunk, or worker ants lay about. They do -- and that's just for starters. In this book, Lucy Cooke lays bare the secret -- and often hilarious -- habits of the animal kingdom.
WVURA Book Club
Friday, January 5, 2024
The January book was Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Malcolm Gladwell asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.
Friday, January 5, 2024
The January book was Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Malcolm Gladwell asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.
Friday, December 1, 2023
The December book was The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth, the River of Doubt, a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.
WVURA Book Club
Friday, November 3, 2023
The November book was The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell. The China Study is called the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted and its findings startling implications for diet, weight loss, and long term health. The China Study is hailed as one of the most important books about diet and health ever written.
Friday, November 3, 2023
The November book was The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell. The China Study is called the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted and its findings startling implications for diet, weight loss, and long term health. The China Study is hailed as one of the most important books about diet and health ever written.
WVURA Book Club
Friday, October 6, 2023
The October book was The Professor and the Madman: A Tale or Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. As definitions were collected for the dictionary, one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. And more surprising, Dr, Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
Friday, October 6, 2023
The October book was The Professor and the Madman: A Tale or Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. As definitions were collected for the dictionary, one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. And more surprising, Dr, Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
WVURA Book Club
Friday, September 1, 2023
The September book was The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness and Obsession by David Grann. Entertainment Weekly calls the book a
“horrifying, hilarious, and outlandish” collection of gripping true crime mysteries about people whose obsessions propel them into deadly circumstances.
Friday, September 1, 2023
The September book was The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness and Obsession by David Grann. Entertainment Weekly calls the book a
“horrifying, hilarious, and outlandish” collection of gripping true crime mysteries about people whose obsessions propel them into deadly circumstances.
August- Summer Break
July - Summer Break