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Penelope 
Stupendously Brilliant
Silver Contributor
Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 734
Gender: 
Location: Cheshire, England
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 Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:36 am Post subject:
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| Can these last few titles discussed, really be categorised as 'Fiction'? |
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Ophelia
Embodiment of Reason
Silver Contributor
Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 1267
Gender:
Location: France
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| Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:33 pm Post subject:
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What do you mean Penelope?
This is the non-fiction forum. |
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Penelope
Stupendously Brilliant
Silver Contributor
Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 734
Gender:
Location: Cheshire, England
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| Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject:
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Ophelia - I am so sorry - Today is obviously my day for getting everything wrong. 
I am going to sit quietly in a corner and read 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' - even though I know I am too late for the forum. |
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Mr. Pessimistic
Assistant Professor
Silver Contributor
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 3477
Gender: 
Location: NJ - www.myspace.com/mrpessimistic
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:36 am Post subject: Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea
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Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea - by Mark Kurlansky
I liked Kurlansky's "Salt: A World History". He is a very engaging writer.
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Book Description
In this timely, highly original, and controversial narrative, New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky discusses nonviolence as a distinct entity, a course of action, rather than a mere state of mind. Nonviolence can and should be a technique for overcoming social injustice and ending wars, he asserts, which is why it is the preferred method of those who speak truth to power.
Nonviolence is a sweeping yet concise history that moves from ancient Hindu times to present-day conflicts raging in the Middle East and elsewhere. Kurlansky also brings into focus just why nonviolence is a “dangerous” idea, and asks such provocative questions as: Is there such a thing as a “just war”? Could nonviolence have worked against even the most evil regimes in history?
Kurlansky draws from history twenty-five provocative lessons on the subject that we can use to effect change today. He shows how, time and again, violence is used to suppress nonviolence and its practitioners–Gandhi and Martin Luther King, for example; that the stated deterrence value of standing national armies and huge weapons arsenals is, at best, negligible; and, encouragingly, that much of the hard work necessary to begin a movement to end war is already complete. It simply needs to be embraced and accelerated.
Engaging, scholarly, and brilliantly reasoned, Nonviolence is a work that compels readers to look at history in an entirely new way. This is not just a manifesto for our times but a trailblazing book whose time has come.
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Lawrence
Experienced
Gold Contributor
Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 113
Gender:
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| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:36 am Post subject:
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I propose Thomas Sowell's The Vision of the Anointed I think his thesis statement is:
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| Dangers to a society may be mortal without being immediate. One such danger is the prevailing social vision of our time --and the dogmatism with which the ideas, assumptions, and attitudes behind that vision are held. |
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| Much of the continent of Europe was devastated in World WarII because the totalitarian regime of the Nazis did not permit those who foresaw the self-destructive consequences of Hitler's policies to alter, or even to ingfluence, those policies. In earlier eras as well, many individuals foresaw the self-destruction of their own civilizations, from the days of the Roman Empire to the eras of the Spanish, Ottoman, and other empires. Yet that alone was not enough to change the course that was leading to ruin. Today, despite free speech and the mass media, the prevailing social vision is dangerously close to sealing itsel off from any discordant feedback from reality. |
The Historian Arnold Toynbe believed the seven civilizations which existed before our own, all self-destructed from within, never from without. Do we really think Western Civilization will escape the mistakes of history when we apparently have failed to learn the lessons of history? Obviously I don't, which is why I'm writing my blog. |
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Saffron
Masters
Joined: 01 Apr 2008
Posts: 460
Gender:
Location: Purcellville, VA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:41 am Post subject: The Chalice & The Blade
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I'd like to recommend almost any book by Riane Eisler. A good beginning point might be The Chalice & The Blade.
http://www.amazon.com/Chalice-Blade-Our-History-Future/dp/B000GH2YT2/r ef=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207315819&sr=8-1
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Some books are like revelations, they open the spirit to unimaginable possibilities. The Chalice and the Blade is one of those magnificent key books that can transform us and...initiate fundamental changes in the world. With the most passionate eloquence, Riane Eisler proves that the dream of peace is not an impossible utopia. -- Isabelle Allende, author of The House of the Spirits --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
I also like the idea of the book DWill recommended, Embracing your inner fish - I think that was it.
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Saffron
Masters
Joined: 01 Apr 2008
Posts: 460
Gender:
Location: Purcellville, VA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:46 am Post subject: please excuse my public learning
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| Okay, I figured out how to use the quote box, but not exactly. Somehow my last thought ended up inside the quote box. On top of that, I incorrectly sited the title. Goes to show you my short term memory does not exist! |
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Ophelia
Embodiment of Reason
Silver Contributor
Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 1267
Gender:
Location: France
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:48 am Post subject:
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Aren't you being a little hard on yourself? 
I certainly didn't achieve this much in my first few postings. |
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DWill
Masters
Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 481
Gender:
Location: Berryville, Virginia
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:31 am Post subject:
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I could also support either of the books recommended by JulianTheApostate. The one on pharmacology is more specialized, perhaps, than the usual type of selection, but I happen to be interested in that topic and somewhat connected with it professionally.
The ways of thinking that we have, but which are unknown to us, is always a fascinating topic (this would be the Airely book).
Will |
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Saffron
Masters
Joined: 01 Apr 2008
Posts: 460
Gender:
Location: Purcellville, VA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:00 am Post subject:
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| I could get behind reading The Cult of Pharmacology. I think it would generate lots of discussion. I actually think we have a great list going. I'd be happy to read just about any of them. |
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