Official Poll - March/April 2003 Book of the Month

Chris OConnor

Everyone

This is the official poll to select our book for March & April 2003. You MUST send me an email in addition to casting your vote here. I need to know who voted for what. This is the only way to keep this fair. If you vote in this poll and I don't have an email by the end of the voting period then your vote won't count. The poll will close on Monday, February 10th.

If you do not plan on reading along and participating in the discussions please do not cast a vote. BookTalk is a book discussion community, not just a book reading community. Seriously, please skip the poll if you have no intention of participating.

chris@booktalk.org <--- send emails here
Please be sure to include in your email your BookTalk name. Thanks!

So what would you like to read during March & April of 2003?

Chris

Results (total votes = 16):


The Philosophy of Humanism - by Corliss Lamont	2 / 12.5%

The Blank Slate - by Steven Pinker	5 / 31.3%

Atheism: The Case Against God - by Goerge Smith	2 / 12.5%

How We Believe - by Michael Shermer	1 / 6.3%

Atheism: A Reader - by S. T. Joshi	6 / 37.5%

Chris OConnor

Everyone

Please remember to send me an email and tell me...

1. Your BookTalk ID name
2. What book you voted on

chris@booktalk.org

This is so I know that we have a fair vote. As of 2-1-03 only Zach has emailed me with this information.

Thanks!

Chris

stevepainter

Chris my friend, I think you're staying up too late...

Quote:
As of 2-1-03 only Zach has emailed me with this information.

You posted that at 3:38:44 am on 1/31/03. Wait a minute - is this a message from the future?!?!

Get some sleep, pal.

NaddiaAoC

LOL Steve

Jeremy1952

I think this is a very odd list. It doesn't seem to correlate well with any of the discussions we've had about what everyone would like to read.

For myself, I'm reading three right now: Pinker, The Blank Slate; Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Axelrod, The Complexity of Cooperation. I'm having a hard time getting very worked up about any of the other books – the topics seem pretty parochial – so I may just abstain from the vote and read whatever the group chooses.

ZachSylvanus

Jeremy, they're all books off of the suggestions forum.

Most of us in chat have agreed that it's time to take a little break from science books, so we're going with a more philosophic set of choices for March/April.

xilog

I agree with Jeremy! that you have offered a poor choice this time.

I'm not familiar with these books, but from the titles it looks
to me like 4 out of 5 are about religion, which is not something
I'm interested in reading about.

I looked up the reviews of "The Blank Slate" on Amazon
and that didn't convince me I wanted to read it.

So I'm passing on this selection.

Edited by: xilog at: 2/6/03 8:25:22 am

ZachSylvanus

Xilog: This book group is about religion, science, philosophy etc. By restricting ourselves consistently to one type of book, we both limit our own experience, and possibly keep a group of people from joining or taking part. I'm sorry you think it's a "poor choice", and you aren't interested, but really...that's the way the chips fall this month (in your opinion).

Once we get more members, perhaps we'll be able to have two groups, one reading a science book, and one reading a philosophy book. Honestly, I couldn't be happier with the list. I'm burned out on science books, and I've got a fairly heavy courseload this semester, and there's only so much science I can take before getting set on edge.

Jeremy1952

Xilog:

Quote:
This book group is about religion, science, philosophy etc. By restricting ourselves consistently to one type of book, we both limit our own experience, and possibly keep a group of people from joining or taking part. I'm sorry you think it's a "poor choice", and you aren't interested, but really...that's the way the chips fall this month (in your opinion).

I didn't say "poor", I said "odd". The group may be about religion, science, philosophy, etcetera, but the final poll was four books on atheism and one on human nature.

I am open to having my mind changed on this, but my initial impression is that books on atheism are pointless. What can one add to Future of an Illusion?

Edited by: Jeremy1952 at: 2/2/03 8:24:20 pm

stevepainter

Quote:
I am open to having my mind changed on this, but my initial impression is that books on atheism are pointless. What can one add to Future of an Illusion?

An awful lot if you haven't read it.

Why didn't you suggest Future of an Illusion?

I do agree with Chris and Zach that we'd like to expand the selections away from science for a month or so. There's been some feedback that indicated that the succession of science books is turning off some participants. I certainly agree that the process isn't perfect but, hey, it's a work in progress. BookTalk isn't even a year old yet. Give it some time.

The fact is that it isn't possible for every book selection to be a book that everyone is going to be eager to read. There's nothing that's forcing everyone to read a selection that they have no interest in, but sometimes you find yourself pleasantly surprised by things that you really had no intention of reading. It never hurts to check a book out of the library and read a chapter or two. The worst that will happen is that you won't like it.

Honestly, in a way it's nice that some people are upset by the selections. At least it shows that you care and seem to have a long term interest in this group. Thanks for staying involved.

Steve

LanDroid

I was looking forward to a Dawkins book to balance the group evolution, but agree it's time to take a break from science. This looks interesting, maybe I'll read it on the side...

Need to research some of the candidates. I notice only one of the books in the poll was mentioned in the suggestion thread, so maybe I'll just vote for that...


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