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Final thoughts?

#28: July - Sept. 2006 (Non-Fiction)
MadArchitect

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Final thoughts?

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We're coming up fast on the end of the official reading and discussion period. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to the conversations in this thread, and I wanted to give you all an opportunity to voice your thoughts about the book itself and the discussion that arose from reading it.Feel free to give us any sort of feedback that pops into your head. Was "A Peace to End All Peace" a good selection for discussion? Could the discussion have been structured better? Any complaints, comments, suggestions or kudos?For my part, my big complaint is that we didn't really get through the book as a group. I certainly intend to finish the book, and I'd certainly recommend it to others, but I have to admit that a less expansive book might have been better for a group reading like this. There's so much ground to cover that it's difficult to really agree on what points are worth discussing.Any other thoughts?
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Loricat
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Re: Final thoughts?

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I really appreciated the format of the discussion, only partly because I was overwhelmed by the abundance of detail. I really am a thematic kind o' gal...into broad analysis more than dissecting loads of minutiae. I will be finishing this book, but I really needed a break from it. Am I glad it was chosen? Yes. I found the discussion stimulating, and relevant. The book is an important one, I believe, because it is crucial to understand that period of history and how it helped shape the emotional soup that is the Middle East. "All beings are the owners of their deeds, the heirs to their deeds." Loricat's Book NookCelebrating the Absurd
Luis de la Fuente

Re: Final thoughts?

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I agree with MadArchitect when he says that we didn't act really like a group, and that's because the format of mini-chapters full of ideas and details doesn't help for the on-the-way discussion. We must be thankful anyway to MadArchitect for promoting the debate.I pretend, as both of you, to finish the book, but it will take some time. I personally found difficult to get into the story in the first four or five chapters. But later, when the war affairs started, the book gained momentum, and I find certain chapters very interesting, like the one where Churchill seizes the turkish boats or the story of Al-Faruqi.Fromkin is a great history-teller and I will certainly try to read other books from him.
MadArchitect

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Re: Final thoughts?

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I'm glad to see that others intend to finish the book as well. And I hope that you guys will continue to use this forum as a sounding board for ideas. Check in from time to time; I'll try to post some comments as well.
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