UPDATE: Our book polls will remain open for a full two weeks starting with this poll. We changed from reading/discussing one book every month, to one book every two months, and then eventually one book per quarter, but we never increased the duration of the polling period. Doing so might give members more of an opportunity to participate, and participation is exactly what we want.I'll try to get our quarterly polls up during the first week of the final month of each reading period so that they can stay up for the full two weeks AND end with plenty of time before the end of the current reading period. We want everyone to have plenty of time to order a copy of the winning book.I'll now edit our Home page where I had announced the winner and we'll keep this poll open until Sunday, June 26th.Please get involved in this reading and discussion people! Book discussions are what BookTalk is all about. 3rd Quarter 2005 (July - August - September)Official Book Selection PollThis is our Official Poll for selecting our 3rd quarter book for 2005. By "3rd quarter" we mean July, August and September. For those just joining, we read and discuss a new nonfiction book every quarter, so a total of four different books per year.Please read this entire post before you cast your vote!1. Please do NOT vote if you have not made at least 10 total posts to our forums.Our polls stay up for an entire week, so you shouldn't have a difficult time getting your post-count to 10 if you're new to BookTalk. But be aware that we only accept quality contributions towards your post-count. Spam won't cut it. This rule insures that the books that win our polls won because active members wanted them to win. I'm sure you can see the logic in this rule.2. And please do NOT cast a vote if you don't plan on reading and discussing the book.Even if you have over 10 posts, you shouldn't vote if you have no intention of being active in this 3rd quarter discussion. How do I vote?If you are an active member, as per #1 above, and plan on participating in this discussion, as per #2 above, you are permitted to cast a total of 3 votes. You can use your three votes however you see fit, which could mean assigning all three votes to just one of the book choices, or distributing the three points over the book choices according to your own interest level for each book. You should make a brief post to this thread telling everyone how you wish to distribute your three votes. Nothing further needs to be said, but you're welcome to be as verbose as you like. Just make it crystal clear how you are voting.It is inevitable that some people will either forget to cast all three votes or will not have read this entire post. They will simply vote on one book. If this happens I will be assigning all three of their votes to the one book they selected. You are permitted to change your vote during the voting period, but not after I close the poll. The poll is closed on the last day of the polling period, which will be 1 full week after the poll goes up. I estimate the close date to be next Sunday, June 19, 2005.I'd sincerely appreciate if you didn't exercise this right unless you think you really made a mistake, however, as it makes the polling process much more messy. But you retain the right to do so. This thread can be used as an open discussion of the books on the poll. You're welcome to try to sell people on a particular book, or dissuade them from another. We have 3 choices in this poll. Please think hard about what book will be the most educational, entertaining, and worthy of discussion. No matter which book wins we will be asking either the author, or a representative of the author, to be our guest in the BookTalk chat room. In the event the authors schedule doesn't permit a live chat we'll request an email interview. All members will be allowed to ask the author questions, and the entire interview transcript will be posted on our Transcripts Page. The member asking the question will see their name associated with the corresponding Q & A.NOTE:As always, we will need a few discussion leaders that are willing to be very active in the reading and discussion of the winning book. If you are up to the task please let us all know right in this forum by making a post and stating your interest in the position.Please don't nominate yourself if you will not be active. Being active means checking the forum just about every day and making posts regularly. Regularly means a few times each week at the minimum.Being a discussion leader does not entail being an authority on the subject matter or defending the author's position. You simply need to attempt to stimulate discussion. Interested? Let us know!And here are our 3 book choices for 3rd Quarter 2005. May the best book win! Drum roll please...Blink by Malcolm GladwellAmazon.comBlink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea. Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like. From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Best-selling author Gladwell (The Tipping Point) has a dazzling ability to find commonality in disparate fields of study. As he displays again in this entertaining and illuminating look at how we make snap judgments

3 for Blink.Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

3 for Blink

hey, this is a freethinker's discussion community. Can we have a book about freethinkers?! 3 Votes for freethinkers!

I would like to read the Freethinkers book, but since I suggested Blink, AND since I already checked it out of the library...well...I am sure you understand Gino my friend!Now...lay off the Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

2 for Endless Forms, 1 for Blink. Edited by: MichaelangeloGlossolalia at: 6/16/05 9:12 pm

3 votes for Free Thinkers. WW

6 Blink6 FreethinkersMichael, can you assign your votes mathematically? Please?Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

3 votes for Freethinkers! Chris

2 votes Freethinkers. 1 vote Blink.