Put me down for Graeber whenever the time is right. Since I saw all the positive press around The Dawn of Humanity I had decided a couple weeks ago to finally finish reading Debt: The First 5000 years after having started and put it down a couple years ago. (I didn’t feel right about skipping to DoH without finishing the earlier book first.)
I am definitely a fan, and I also hear Johnny’s point that we don’t necessarily need to give this book many sessions (as it is being covered elsewhere), but it might be more productive those of us have read it (when we have read it) could bring it into dialogue with other thinkers and approaches to possible futures whom we’ve also read: McLuhan, Hoftstadter, Bergson, Thompson, et al. However, not having read it yet, I can’t say for sure.
Graeber came up previouslyin looking at the Rojava cooperative movement among the Kurds between Syria and Turkey: In the heart of Syria's darkness, a democratic, egalitarian and feminist society emerges. And I think there must be some connection between appreciating the diversity of past forms of social organizations and the ability to imagine alternative futures (and presents), and moreover, as Lindisfarne and various other social experiments have attempted, actually modeling how different (preferable) futures could be enacted from out of our social and technological contexts.
I look forward to reviewing our options, and feeling into the creative and collaborative possibilities, and making at least a provisional plan on Thursday. Thanks for getting the conversation underway… though I must say that the notion of applesauce on pasta strikes me as a crime against macaroni. I can sympathize with your son-in-law. Then again, I suppose it really does take all kinds!