Blue Book Club Meeting #2: Stubborn Attachments by Tyler Cowen
Book club meets January 25. Get ready to do the reading!
Summary: the Blue Book Club will meet on Sunday, January 25. Attendees will take an exam on the book Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals. If they pass, they will go on to attend the book club event itself. This is the second meeting of the Blue Book Club. For the first meeting, we read Breakneck.
The Blue Book Club officially begins in 2026!
After a successful launch in November, the Blue Book Club will return in January 2026, and continue regularly going forward. We started by reading Breakneck by Dan Wang, and we’re going to open the year by reading Tyler Cowen’s 2018 book Stubborn Attachments.
Why Stubborn Attachments?
It’s a book that makes a strong, moral case for economic growth. This idea, and the memeplex that surrounds it, is vital for human flourishing. It also has direct bearing on contemporary political debates surrounding abundance, state capacity, and the ability of our society to deliver. If you attended the first meeting of the Blue Book Club, you will undoubtedly see relevant connections between 2025’s Breakneck and 2018’s Stubborn Attachments. Does Cowen get it right? Does a member of the Blue Book Club have a better take on economic growth? We will find out!
Run of Show
12:00pm–12:45pm: Blue Book exam. You will take a handwritten exam on Stubborn Attachments. Pencils down at 12:45pm. You must earn 95% to pass. Most of the exam questions are contained in the final section of this post, though not all. Read well!
12:45pm–1:00pm: grading of the exams. While this goes on in a back room, all exam takers are welcome to socialize, have snacks, and enjoy themselves.
1:00pm–1:10pm: exams will be returned. Those who passed will stay, those who did not pass will leave at this time. But there is no shame in leaving! Better to die nobly upon the sword than shirk the battle. We hope to see you in the future.
1:10pm–3:30pm: based on the number of people who pass the exam, we will commence the main book club event. This might be a small group seminar, or it might be a full unconference. We’ll be prepared to scale as appropriate.
The Blue Book Exam Overview
What is the full title of the book, including the subtitle?
Who is the book’s author?
What year was the book published?
What is the author’s educational and professional background? What are they doing now? (You can answer this in different ways, with different emphases. Just answer in a way you think is relevant, that demonstrates familiarity with the author.)
Write out the table of contents exactly as it appears in the book (not page numbers, just the 10 items themselves). For the six numbered chapters, as well as the conclusion, please write:
A concrete, thematically accurate summary of the chapter (at least 1-3 sentences).
What are Cowen’s final conclusions in the book? (You don’t have to recite them entirely, but do explain his thinking.)
A few other questions to further check reading comprehension.
Note: Blue Book Club attendees should be prepared to show their books and preparation materials for inspection. A bare book with no notes (in the book or outside it) is not a good sign that an individual has engaged with the book deeply enough to respect the time of other Club attendees. You can mark up a physical book, or adapt the markup to a digital copy if necessary.
Other things you can do
Organize your own reading group with your friends prior to the meeting of the Blue Book Club!
Post about the book as you read! Tag your hosts: Priya , Andrew Rose, Daniel Golliher (Twitter/X, Substack, LinkedIn, wherever you can find us.)
Listen to this recent interview between Dan Wang and Tyler Cowen (December 2025) on Cowen’s podcast Conversations with Tyler. See how our first “Blue Book” connects with our second.