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January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

Collaborate in choosing our next NON-FICTION book for group discussion within this forum. A minimum of 5 posts is necessary to participate here!
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Jan_wow
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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Wow . . . lots of good books suggested. I'm not into politics so would struggle through that type of book but will read whatever book is chosen and contribute to the discussion as best I can.
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Chris OConnor

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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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Keep it going guys! Feedback on suggestions is vital.
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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I'd support LanDroid's suggestion, Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which is described as an "exploration of America's racial history", structured as a series of letters to the author's teenaged son. It sounds provocative enough that I can see the possibility of a good discussion. It was a finalist for the National Book Award and it's relatively short at 163 pages.

I would also gladly read Robert Wright's book, Why Buddhism is True, or J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy.

Here's David Brooks' piece on Hillbilly Elegy . . .

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/opin ... .html?_r=0
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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I am suggesting: "Would You Kill the Fat Man?: The Trolley Problem and What Your Answer Tells Us about Right and Wrong" by David Edmonds

Here is a quick review:
"If you are interested in the trolley problems which are a certain brand of thought experiments with a limited history this work provides a brief well written and interesting intorduction to the topic. There is a good bit of basic information here: who invented the trolley problem, what have been its most important iterations and variations, what thinkers (at least some of them) have contributed to the background for this kind of discourse, and a number of interesting specuations about how these problems might be used or addressed in the future. Among Edmonds specualtion perhaps the most troubling is the suggestion that we might use medicine to improve ourselves morally. I am pleased to say that I will likely not live long enough to see such things put into practice on a large scale. I would rather be killed by the state than submit to such a thing. Towards the end of the book, much to my surprise, Edmunds tell us what he would do with respect to the fat man - kill him or not kill him . Read the book if you want to know what he would do and why there is any question regarding the fat man's life.
Some prior interest in philosophy, particularly moral philosophy, is helpful, but the author assumes the readers knows very little. If you are not especially interested in philosophy, but you would appreciate an interesting and very thoughtful relatively easy read you might give it a try. There are a number of historical cases and examples in the book which are very well chosen and presented."


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZT0VJCY/re ... _ttl_sol_0
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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Suggesting Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.”

Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” is an interesting short collection of papers. The paper which provides the title of the book was written over forty year ago during an all too typical refugee crisis in a remote corner of the world. Singer asks a question by way of a moral parable intended to disturb the conscience of the reader. Briefly: no doubt the reader will save a child drowning in a nearby pond even if this ruins his clothes, so the reader should give money to a charity to save the lives of children facing imminent death in some distant land.
Singer offers a principle in connection with the “child in the pond” image: “if it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything morally significant, we ought, morally, to do it” (pg. 6). This principle is potentially useful if it motivates us to do more good in the world than we would otherwise do. Singer offers the parable and the principle to challenge and motivate the reader to do good.
There is also an agenda in Singer’s effort to ask whether modern people living in an advanced culture can live ethical lives while others face death by way of starvation and other preventable conditions which are the products of extreme poverty. Singer raises the question but he offers no definitive answer.
I am inclined to say that if we take Singer’s parable and principle seriously there really is no ground for a simple, moral, private life in an advanced culture. Why? Very simply, as things stand, one can never do enough to help the poor. Period. If one intends to live a “moral” life according to this standard then sell all you have and move to the poorest parts of India, Africa, the Amazon or some similar place and spend your time helping the poor. Some people actually do this, but most of us do not do it. Nevertheless, the development of an argument intended to push us to do more to help those in remote areas who suffer in extreme poverty is a good thing. I have seen this sort of pushing most often in the church and I am glad (and rather surprised) to see it in Singer’s argument.

https://www.amazon.com/Famine-Affluence ... ger+famine
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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Ta-Nehisi Coates, J. D. Vance, and Tillich would interest me. I am not keen on Wright as I have read two of his works in the past ("Nonzero" and "The Moral Animal") and am likely too familiar with his work. Smith is unknown to me, but it is of little interest. The feminist work is better than Smith, but I would not be enthusiastic about it. I have suggested Edmunds and Singer.
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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I admit upfront I have lousy reason for my recommendation, in that I saw Robert Wright speak at a bookstore in DC, bought Why Buddhism Is True and read it. Thus I'd be ahead of the game (but I do think others would find it worthwhile). Of the other suggestions, which all seem good, the one that intrigues is Jamison's biography of Robert Lowell. The J.D. Vance and Ta-Nehisi Coates books were also quite good, I thought.

Having retired recently and getting less socializing as a result, I've gotten into a couple of live book groups, which makes an interesting contrast with BT. We drink wine at one of them, for example.
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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Such a reason is not lousy. I would hardly recommend a book I had not read.
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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Great suggestions guys. So any final comments? I will look through this tomorrow and see if we have a clear favorite. Otherwise I will create a poll and run it for a few days.
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Re: January 2018 NON-FICTION book! We need one!

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LanDroid wrote:Hillbilly Elegy - I read that and strongly recommend it for understanding the Appalachian culture and a portion of Trump voters.
Just a note: I have now finished it, and Vance raises a number of issues relevant to socio-economic mobility in general. Psych and Soc stuff was more prominent for me than any insight into politics.
LanDroid wrote:There has been a bit of tension between maintaining BookTalk as a FACTS based discussion group (Freethought Atheism Critical Thinking Science) or attempting to expand it. Chris makes a convincing case to focus on FACTS books (other books don't generate enough posts.)
I am willing to be part of that, but the back and forth between atheists and traditional religionists usually leads me to post "we are asking the wrong questions here", which does not multiply posts. So I would probably sit on the sidelines more than usual for a discussion of the George Smith book. Of course that could be a good thing for getting people to view and post.
LanDroid wrote:Some of the suggestions above try to broaden the discussion. Toward that end, I'll recommend Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character by Kay Redfield Jamison.
Sounds interesting to me. Mental health seems to me a topic that gathers some interest as well, although people aren't as eager to put their two cents in. I like Lowell's poetry, but haven't read much of it.
LanDroid wrote:However, if we don't read the George Smith book, I seriously fear Chris is gonna blow a gasket - he's been selling that since the beginning of BookTalk!
How can I watch this occur?
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