What we’re about
A book club for everyone, from passionate readers to people looking for a new topic to talk about. Books of the month are usually about some weird quirk of human behaviour, paradigms, culture, and thinking. Suggestions welcome!
Is fraud a bug in the system—or a feature?
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Sick of the brainrot and trying to read more? Looking to meet like-minded people or debate unlike-minded people? Or do you just want something to fill in your Wednesday night? Come down to the book club for humans!
This month we’re reading Lying for Money: How Financial Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World by Dan Davies.
- Synopsis: The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds.
Financial crime seems horribly complicated, but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what’s theirs. In Lying for Money, veteran regulatory economist and market analyst Dan Davies tells the story of fraud through a genealogy of financial malfeasance, including: the Great Salad Oil swindle, the Pigeon King International fraud, the fictional British colony of Poyais in South America, the Boston Ladies’ Deposit Company, the Portuguese Banknote Affair, Theranos, and the Bre-X scam. Davies brings new insights into these schemes and shows how all frauds, current and historical, belong to one of four categories (“long firm,” counterfeiting, control fraud, and market crimes) and operate on the same basic principles. The only elements that change are the victims, the scammers, and the terminology. Revealing some of the most famous frauds of the modern age, Davies explains how fraud has shaped the entire development of the modern world economy. - This review captures the main themes well
Notes
- We encourage you to support local book shops, though there are quite a few copies of this one currently available at TPL and online!
- To attend, you have to be a human (pets probably aren’t allowed at the venue ☹ )
- You can always come if you didn’t finish the book, but the discussion is based on having read the book (you will hear "spoilers")
- Open philosophical discussion, including for controversial topics, is welcome but be respectful
- Feel free to come 20ish minutes early and stay after to get to know people!
Note: Location is tentative and may change. The ticket cost is to cover fees for the meetup platform, any additional will be used for the group (book raffles, a pitcher, snacks, etc.)
If meetup's paypal option isn't working, you can pay in cash (just let me know you're coming over DM or in the comment)
Upcoming events (2)
See all- Lying for Money - 7:00pm Apr 30th Book ClubMadison Avenue Pub, Toronto, ON
Is fraud a bug in the system—or a feature?
---
Sick of the brainrot and trying to read more? Looking to meet like-minded people or debate unlike-minded people? Or do you just want something to fill in your Wednesday night? Come down to the book club for humans!This month we’re reading Lying for Money: How Financial Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World by Dan Davies.
- Synopsis: The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds.
Financial crime seems horribly complicated, but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what’s theirs. In Lying for Money, veteran regulatory economist and market analyst Dan Davies tells the story of fraud through a genealogy of financial malfeasance, including: the Great Salad Oil swindle, the Pigeon King International fraud, the fictional British colony of Poyais in South America, the Boston Ladies’ Deposit Company, the Portuguese Banknote Affair, Theranos, and the Bre-X scam. Davies brings new insights into these schemes and shows how all frauds, current and historical, belong to one of four categories (“long firm,” counterfeiting, control fraud, and market crimes) and operate on the same basic principles. The only elements that change are the victims, the scammers, and the terminology. Revealing some of the most famous frauds of the modern age, Davies explains how fraud has shaped the entire development of the modern world economy. - This review captures the main themes well
Notes
- We encourage you to support local book shops, though there are quite a few copies of this one currently available at TPL and online!
- To attend, you have to be a human (pets probably aren’t allowed at the venue ☹ )
- You can always come if you didn’t finish the book, but the discussion is based on having read the book (you will hear "spoilers")
- Open philosophical discussion, including for controversial topics, is welcome but be respectful
- Feel free to come 20ish minutes early and stay after to get to know people!
Note: Location is tentative and may change. The ticket cost is to cover fees for the meetup platform, any additional will be used for the group (book raffles, a pitcher, snacks, etc.)
If meetup's paypal option isn't working, you can pay in cash (just let me know you're coming over DM or in the comment)
- Synopsis: The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds.
- Short Reads Social: "Is Everyone Mentally Ill Now?" (May 14th)The Harbord House, Toronto, ON
Sick of making small talk at networking events or meetups? Looking to have more deep conversations with strangers but don't have the time to commit to a book or philosophy club?
Introducing Short-Read Socials! It's the same as any other networking event/social, we provide a topic and some prompting questions to get people started. This month's topic is mental health conditions and how people define them. Are people too quick to self-diagnose? Has the internet empowered people in handling their mental health or made them pathologize normal feelings? What even counts as mental illness?
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How does it work?- The event is pretty casual, where you can talk to anyone there with or without our prompt sheets.
- Open philosophical discussion, including for controversial topics, is welcome but be respectful :)
- If you've read/watched/heard anything related to the topic of the month, feel free to bring it in! Not necessarily physically, but you can if you want...
- If not, here are some thought-provoking reads to start you off (read as many or as few as you want):
- How anxiety became a catchall for every unpleasant emotion
- ‘Instagram therapy’ offers self-diagnoses, vocabulary and justifications, but it does not solve anything
- Ontology Of Psychiatric Conditions: Tradeoffs And Failures
- TikTok Gave Me Autism: The Politics of Self Diagnosis
- Inside the Battle to Define Mental Illness (click the '4' button to read the article, and if that doesn't work then enter this link [https://www.wired.com/2010/12/ff-dsmv/] into 12ft.io)
- Feel free to post other recommendations in the comments!
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Finally, Short Read Socials have a 'pay what you can' policy. They'll always be free to attend--but if you've been having a good time with us and want to pass along a couple of bucks to help cover Meetup platform costs for future events, there is a contribution bucket on the table that night and a Paypal link :)
