Deep Time Reading Group: inaugural meeting

The inaugural meeting of the Deep Time Reading Group was a good time with lots of great ideas from all participants! Going forward, meetings will be held the first Sunday of the month at 2pm at Cafe Zing in Porter Square.

Participants: Gary Oberbrunner, Jon Kiparsky, Mary Mangan, Maxwell Kanter

Next Meeting: Sunday, November 2, 02025 at 2:00 PM

Books and topics discussed:

• Normal Women by Philippa Gregory — praised for historical detail.

• North Woods — about a plot of land in Massachusetts.

• Sarum by Edward Rutherford — similar concept, focused on London.

• Talking To My Angels by Melissa Etheridge (bio, audiobook) — good use of format with music included.

• A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

• 20,000 Years of Women’s Work by Elizabeth Wayland Barber — on textiles. A serious popular history. A more academic treatment by the same author: Prehistoric Textiles

• Could Should Might Don’t: How We Think About the Future by Nick Foster — describes four types of futurists: could / should / might / don’t.

• A book from the 1970s about the future: The Coming of Post-Industrial Society by Daniel Bell — currently reading.

• Attendees discussed the idea of Big History — noted it “starts with a story” so may be questionable, prone to cherry-picking only facts that support the narrative.

• New Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison (latest collection).

• The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick — “great book.” Discussed Dick’s works, the TV series adaptation (Gary recommends it highly) and more.

• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — strong endorsement from Jon as one of the best film adaptations (Blade Runner).

• Also read the Steve Jobs biography — not directly relevant to the group, but started a discussion on how biography and history intertwine.

• How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil — excellent.

• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari — excellent.

• Homo Deus (Harari) — more dated, not as insightful.

• How to Feed the World (Smil) — less compelling, way too much raw data. Too wonky even for me.

• Abundance by Ezra Klein et al — overrated; cherry-picks data and avoids serious counterarguments.

• Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson — powerful but hard to stomach for some (especially early on). Prophetic though. Reads like a government report sometimes (in a good way).

• New York 2140 (Robinson) — lighter “cli-fi,” enjoyable contrast.

• Quicksilver and Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson — all agreed these are enduring classics.

• Octavia Butler — emotionally challenging but highly recommended.

• N.K. Jemisin — also highly recommended. Unique vision, gorgeously written.

Selected Book summaries:

Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History

Philippa Gregory

A sweeping social history that reframes British history from 1066 onward through the lives, agency, and persistence of ordinary women.

Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years

Elizabeth Wayland Barber

A deep archaeological and anthropological investigation into how spinning, weaving, and textile production shaped women’s roles in early societies.

The Ministry for the Future

Kim Stanley Robinson

A near‑future climate fiction novel about an international agency striving to safeguard future generations via radical techno‑political innovation.

New York 2140

Kim Stanley Robinson

A speculative future of New York City drastically reshaped by sea‑level rise, where survivors adapt and reorganize in a half‑sunken urban world.

North Woods

Daniel Mason

A multi‑generation mosaic of stories tied to a single Massachusetts woodland property, tracing human and ecological change over centuries.

Sarum

Edward Rutherfurd

An epic historical saga following five interwoven families across millennia through the evolving land, community, and power of the Salisbury region in England.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari

Harari explores how humanity’s victories over famine, disease, and war might lead us to pursue godlike projects such as immortality, happiness, and superintelligence—and asks whether in that process we lose what it means to be human.

Abundance

Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson (2025)

Klein and Thompson argue that American liberalism has largely adopted a “scarcity mindset” that obstructs vital infrastructure, housing, energy, and innovation, and they propose a “politics of abundance” focused on building, inventing, and deploying.

Parable of the Sower

Octavia E. Butler

In a near‑future U.S. troubled by climate collapse, inequality, and social breakdown, a young woman with hyperempathy founds a new spiritual philosophy (“Earthseed”) as she journeys to lead others to safety.

The Broken Earth Trilogy (and other works)

N. K. Jemisin

Jemisin’s speculative fiction weaves richly original worlds in which geological, social, and power systems deeply intertwine, often exploring themes of oppression, transformation, and resilience.