
Lou Keep is my favorite undiscovered writer. He writes sam[]zdat, which is kinda about everything (think Slate Star Codex, if Scott Alexander was obsessed with questions of meaning & power).
Lately I’ve been captivated by his Uruk Series. The Uruk Series is about “modernity, nihilism, and power.”
It’s nominally a review of four books:
- Seeing Like a State – James C. Scott
- The Great Transformation – Karl Polanyi
- The True Believer – Eric Hoffer
- The Culture of Narcissism – Christopher Lasch
But the series is more expansive than just four book reviews.
I’d like to read the Uruk Series closely, and thought it would be fun to structure a reading group around this.
The group could be interesting if you enjoy questions like:
- Did modernity make things better or worse for most people?
- What do we mean when we talk about “adding value”?
- Why do well-intentioned, well-resourced governments sometimes hurt the people they’re trying to help?
For the first session, we’ll talk about the series introduction, as well as why we’re interested & what we hope to get out of the group.
Looking forward to seeing you,