The Compsoc Book Club

Our vice-president, Alex, has proposed that we run a Book Discussion Group this year (subject to sufficient declarations of interest), and is willing to run it. The group would be available to members, and would meet weekly. But let Alex’s proposal, the full text of which you can find online, speak for him:

Like many facets of the contemporary Information Age we seem to
be living in, the Oxford experience really has a bit of everything,
save one thing.

People – especially the technologically-minded science students
amongst us – do not seem to be reading books anymore.
People do not find the time, or the incentive, to read.

Most of us grew up in that spirit. The change had already started
when the television got into every home; but the real deal came
with Wikipedia, and, since then, we have all settled numerous times
for fast, quick-and-dirty, fragmentary and badly sourced knowledge.
I believe it is high time we attempted the opposite.

Hence, I propose that we found a Book Discussion Group (look
the definition up in Wikipedia). We are a largely technologicallyminded
society, but some of us are also interested in Computer Science
and related mathematics. However, regardless of background,
everyone is welcome to participate.

An initial list of possibilities, which includes the Pulitzer-winning “Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid,” the beginners’ classic programming text “Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs,” Stephen Wolfram’s notorious “A New Kind of Science,” and Andrew Hodges’ biography of Alan Turing, can be found on his complete proposal, available on our website.

Please e-mail Alex directly (alex.kavvos@univ.ox.ac.uk) to express your interest and/or suggest a book (see Links & Contacts section of this termcard).

The time and the venue of meetings will be decided collectively.