📚 Totnes Left Book Club – August Discussion
🗓 Wednesday 27th August, 7.30pm
📍The Snug, Bay Horse, Totnes
Free / all welcome / friendly discussion / bring thoughts, questions & possibly bear repellent 🐾
This month’s book: A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
A true story that reads like satire, this critically acclaimed book follows a group of hardcore libertarians as they attempt to build a tax-free, regulation-free utopia in a sleepy New Hampshire town… only to discover that cutting all public services has consequences — like attracting a growing population of dumpster-diving black bears.
Part investigative journalism, part dark comedy, the book exposes the absurdities (and dangers) of radical libertarianism when it’s taken from the internet into real-world governance.
Using the book as a launchpad, we’ll explore:
– The roots and rise of American libertarianism
– Silicon Valley’s love affair with techno-libertarianism (Thiel, Yarvin, Musk & co.)
– Seasteading, crypto-libertarian cruise ships & other billionaire exit fantasies
– Why libertarianism keeps trying to escape democracy
– Left-libertarian, anarchist and communal alternatives
You don’t need to have read the book to join in — we’ll offer a summary and use it to open a broader political and philosophical discussion, with a chance for everyone to share views, questions, and critiques.
Come along for what promises to be a thought-provoking (and possibly bear-fearing) evening.
Here is the full audiobook for free:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dive-into-a-full-audiobook-that-is-simply-heart-pounding/id1829252879?i=1000719310845
Or if you don't have time to listen to that whole thing – is a podcast interview with the author:
Also check out other Arts events in Totnes, Literary Art events in Totnes, Comedy events in Totnes.
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