June Book Club - The Premonition

Michael Lewis’ “The Premonition” drew nine of us into a lively discussion on Wednesday, June 15. Many of us were happily surprised by this book’s readability, particularly its focus on individuals, who are profiled engagingly (if perhaps a bit too uncritically). On the other hand, we objected to its lack of citations, an index, or footnotes, and felt that it falls into the category of muckraking, skillfully arguing a point of view rather than presenting a balanced look at our public health system. Nonetheless, his conclusion is sobering: we don’t have a system at all but instead a barely linked network, hampered by bureaucracy, politics and a dysfunctional CDC, that fails to properly utilize many of the talented and devoted people in the field.

We chose our movie for August’s Movie Night: “Victoria and Abdul,” from 2017, directed by Stephen Frears and starring Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. It’s based on the book of the same name by Shrabani Basu. We’ll meet in person at the home of Nisha Thatte-Potter (many thanks, Nisha), starting at 5:30 with a potluck dinner based on Indian and English dishes. Look for more information closer to the date.

Upcoming:

•  July 20: “City of Thieves” by David Benioff

• August 17: Movie Night: “Victoria and Abdul” by Shrabani Basu