Book Group

Stories We Tell Ourselves: Making meaning in a meaningless universe, by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh

Throughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of what it all means: our place in a small corner of one of billions of galaxies, at the end of billions of years of existence. In this new book Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are. He examines what we know about the universe into which – without any choice in the matter – we are propelled at birth and from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from, and the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of life.

Thought-provoking, revelatory, compassionate and playful, Stories We Tell Ourselves is a personal reckoning with life’s mysteries by one of the most important and beloved thinkers of our time.

Meeting on Zoom on Wednesdays from 12-1pm, for four weeks from Wednesday 7th October to 28th October (discussing one part of the book each week). The link for Zoom is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84640576430

“An engaging, erudite explanation of how he came to be where he now stands and is a warning against the cruel righteousness of many belief systems” (Sunday Times)

“If every priest and imam, every MP and CEO, every person like you and me read this, then the world would be a better place. It is devastatingly humane. It blends science, philosophy and religion and admits the art (and artifice) in these avowedly objective forms. Erudition and empathy; I wept” (Damian Barr)

“Engaging and uplifting. . . . this personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what might be the answers to the world’s biggest questions is both playful and inspiring . . . The richness of this book challenged the short space of a review” (Daily Mail)

“Thought-provoking [and] stimulating . . . a sane guide through the turbulence of the modern world, one written with humour and self-deprecating pessimism” (Independent)

“There is much in this book to make you think, much to provoke argument for and against” (Scotsman)

“This may be the book I’ve been searching for, desperately, throughout most of my life . . . it represents a first step toward a new form of spiritual thought . . . What Holloway does most powerfully is dismiss certainty in all its forms, political as well as religious . . . Holloway brings a message of spiritual hope for all” (Herald)