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Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selection!

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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Chris OConnor

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Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selection!

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Official Book Selection Poll 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selection!Please read these directions BEFORE you vote! How many nonfiction books will we be reading?We will only be reading 1 nonfiction book in 1st quarter of 2006. In time, as our membership grows, we will tackle several nonfiction books concurrently.How long will the poll stay open?This poll is opening on Tuesday, December 6 and will be closing on Thursday, December 15th. This is a total of 10 full days.Who can vote?All active members are invited and encouraged to vote and participate in our book selection process, but please follow the following simple rules:Only cast a vote if you have 10 or more posts on our forums. If you don't have at least 10 you should have no problem jumping into some discussion threads and meeting this rather relaxed criterion.Don't vote if you don't plan on reading and discussing the winning book. And please understand that only one nonfiction book can win, but we are counting on you to actively participate independent of which book wins the poll. You matter and we need every member to participate.How do I vote?If you are an active member with 10 or more total posts AND you plan on participating in the Q1, 2006 discussion THEN 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 as stated above. 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. NOTE:As always, we will need a discussion leader that is 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 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. And here are our book choices for 1st Quarter 2006. Please read about all four before casting your votes. Think hard about which book will be the most educational, entertaining, and worthy of discussion. May the best book win!Drum roll please...Blink by Malcolm GladwellFrom 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
Jeremy1952
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Re: Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selecti

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Two votes for BLINKOne vote for VIRTUE AND VALUEI've already read BLINK but found it to be a marvelous work. If we select it I will probably read it again, certainly engage in the discussion. VIRTUE sounds interesting but I'm afraid it will be the sameold/sameold material that was covered in "WHAT IS GOOD" and "THE EVOLOUTION OF COOPERATION", which is, in my opinion, the seminal "must read" book in this field. RWANDA... Diamond discusses it at some length, in context, in COLLAPSE. Studying it buy itself seems like pointless self abuse to me. I already know US foreign policy is a messy disaster. What good will it do me to know it in greater detail? If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything. Daniel Dennett, 1984
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Re: Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selecti

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Two votes for "We Wish to Inform You..."One for "Value and Virtue..."Personally, I'm interested in reading "We Wish to Inform You..." not for anything it may have to say about American foreign policy but because I'm interested in Rwanda itself and its current political and cultural situation. Knowing more about the world never hurt much.As for "Value and Virtue...", I'm interested in morality and the changes it may have to undergo once it's divorced from religion. I don't know that I would have chosen that book for myself, but it may be worth reading. My one big concern is that this is one of those topics that is likely to make for unseemly conduct on the boards.
Jeremy1952
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Re: Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selecti

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The "Foreign Plolicy" remark referred to THE NEXT ATTACK.
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Ah. My mistake.
ldkrn

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Two for "The Next Attack."One for "We Wish to Inform You."
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Chris OConnor

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Re: Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selecti

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misterpessimisticHey! You're supposed to be keeping count for us. Chris
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Re: Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selecti

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whoo hoo! a real choice this time! I usually find one book and give it all three votes, but find myself unable to do so this time.Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe gets 2 votes from me. I'm of this ilk and am always looking for more ideas on why this view is true.We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families get 1 vote from me. I don't usually like to read/view things this horrible (especially if true!) but think I need to own up to it....
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riverc0il
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Re: Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selecti

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One vote for BLINKTwo votes for VIRTUE AND VALUEfinally have 10 posts and am looking forward to joining in on the next non-fiction reading and discussion.blink looks interesting though some reviews seem to indicate the premise is less well put together than the prose and storytelling, so it gets one vote. two votes for virtue and value as the subject seems very interesting in a country that's climate seems to trend towards indications that many people think value and morality are deeply tied to religeon. i suspect this book might drum up the most discourse, for better or for worse.after watching hotel rowanda, i do not have much interest in delving into the details of that brutal period of recent history. while a movie could never provide all the details, it provided enough that i got the picture and don't feel much inclided to further study of the subject.and no vote for the other book as i can't stomach any more information about the current state of affairs in middle east. i have done enough reading and research to have formed an opinion and have come to the conclusion that unless the subject matter is truly new and fresh information, further research and reading just makes me mad. regardless, i am on board which ever book gets the most votes! Edited by: riverc0il at: 12/7/05 8:04 pm
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Re: Official Poll - 1st Quarter 2006 NONFICTION book selecti

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Until Mr. P gets back around to it, here's your update on the vote so far:Blink: 3 votesWe Wish to Infom You: 4 votesValue and Virtue: 6 votesThe Next Attack: 2 votesThat represents the votes of Jeremy, ldkrn, ginof, riverc0il, and myself. -----------------"Ain't got a name, just a current address."
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