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What non-fiction book should we read next? (probably in Oct. & Nov.)

Collaborate in choosing our next NON-FICTION book for group discussion within this forum. A minimum of 5 posts is necessary to participate here!
ina
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The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society

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The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society

The Age of Empathy by Frans de Waal

Reviews:
http://www.economist.com/books/displays ... d=14361802
http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/empat ... forum.html

I have not read but, but it looks very interesting and I would like to read it soon.
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Grim

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Interesting choice, we just finished debating a De Waal book. Personally I found it rather shallow and self-contained. I would much rather engage in a Zizek title mostly because he is so awsome and much more relevant and reliable than de Waal has proven to be.

A new age of empathy?

I honestly think I would rather watch an Opera episode.

http://www.paradigmpublishers.com/books ... tID=180330

I especially enjoy that the book "[p]rovocatively analyzes American race relations by challenging the typical view of Winfrey’s 'transcendence of race' a rich analysis of what might seem a 'fluffy' subject."

Thanks for the suggestion.

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Robert Tulip

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Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of the Christ by DM Murdock (Ach

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DM Murdoch (Acharya S) is a controversial contemporary American writer who is dedicated to rational enquiry into mythology and religion. Here is a review she has just received of her new book Who Was Jesus? I'm sure she would welcome the opportunity to discuss this book on Booktalk.

From http://tbknews.blogspot.com/ (longer version of Amazon review)
Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of the Christ -
http://stellarhousepublishing.com/whowasjesus.html

An important and enlightening book
5.0 out of 5 stars (September 10, 2009)
By Donovan Haagensen (Johannesburg, South Africa)


At first, it would seem almost needless that the Bible should be examined and dissected to such an extent as to reveal its seemingly obvious man-made fabrication. After all, there appears to be no need to apply the same painstaking investigation into debunking the works of Hans Christian Andersen, or the Brothers Grimm, or C.S. Lewis, or any children's fairytales, considering that they have long been unquestionably accepted as fictional creations originating from the minds of the authors who wrote them. And it doesn't take a learned academic to spot the apparent similarity of the writing styles of these fictional tales and the texts contained in the Bible, the most predominant resemblance being the abundance of verbal exchanges between characters whose names, incidentally, change according to the language they’re translated into – something you don’t generally find in historical accounts.

But the difference is, innocent children's fables are not the basis for world-dominating cults or religions; and if they were, most people would surely think it to be absurd, fanatical, and outrageously extreme, or, in simple terms, just plain crazy. Yet, is it not just as crazy and ludicrous that millions upon millions of people on this planet are doing exactly that when it comes to these religious texts?

Sacred allegories historical events?

However, since the vast majority of the world actually believes these sacred allegories to be authentic records of actual events, it is therefore necessary to expose the folly of such gullibility in logical and easily understandable terms, which is what D.M. Murdock has quite clearly done (in this case, focusing specifically on the four Gospels of the New Testament) in her book Who Was Jesus?: Fingerprints Of The Christ.

"Murdock reveals the obvious erroneousness and fictional nature of the Gospels in a very rational and objective manner."

Not only has she revealed the obvious erroneousness and fictional nature of the Gospels, but she has "dismantled" and carefully laid out all the essential elements and clues on the table, so to speak, focusing on each individual component, and plainly demonstrating, in a very rational and objective manner, the indisputable facts, as well as highlighting the evident flaws. Even if the information she divulges seems obvious to anyone who has long been suspicious or sceptical of the content contained within the "Good Book", it is nevertheless a riveting and enjoyable read – uncomplicated and coherent, and free of condescension and convolution. Furthermore, she does not express personal opinions, make speculative judgments, or attempt to sway anyone to a particular school of thought, but instead applies the same acumen and impartialness that any scholar or scientist would be expected to employ in the investigation of any subject under examination. In short, Ms. Murdock’s conclusions, which are reached by use of logical deduction and rationale, appear to be incontrovertible.

"Murdock’s conclusions, which are reached by use of logical deduction and rationale, appear to be incontrovertible."

Personally, I believe that all it takes to be suspicious of the Bible’s claims is to read it with an objective approach, and it will soon become apparent that it does not follow the natural laws of logic, reason, common sense, or consistency, and very much of it has no correlation with the real world. In addition, it is written in a blatant puerile fashion, is replete with implausible events, and, more importantly, contains no dates whatsoever (which suggests to me that its writings are very unlikely to be historical records). Surely it would be naturally expected that anyone recording such events, or authoring the so-called letters, would include the dates in their accounts, such as any historian or custodian of historical records would do. And if "God/Yahweh" was indeed the actual guide behind these writings, then surely they would have been put down in such a way as to appear a lot more convincing and indubitable, and not riddled with confusion, vagueness, and ambiguity. Surely, these issues alone provide enough food for thought and legitimate questions concerning its validity.

If the same people who are convinced that these bizarre tales are inerrant truths are also capable of accepting the fact that children’s fairytales are clearly made up fantasies, then perhaps it’s about time that they apply the same logic when examining the Bible. And although this would normally be apparent simply by reading the Bible with an open mind, Ms. Murdock has gone the extra mile by not only stating the obvious, but also showing, in meticulous detail, how things just don’t quite add up (or, conversely, how certain things DO add up).

Regrettably, in this modern age, faith is just no longer an acceptable justification, when common sense and methodical enquiry demonstrate otherwise. And this is why it is important, if not essential, that more people read books by authors like D.M. Murdock, in the hope that these outdated and primitive notions will be appropriately seen for what they really are, that the "penny will drop", just as the Flat Earth was eventually rightfully "corrected".

Who Was Jesus? is an important book, essential in the ongoing enterprise of exposing the truth and enlightening the world, so that we may have a future where morals, ethics, integrity, and simple goodness are the order of the day.

D. Haagensen
Johannesburg, South Africa

Who Was Jesus? is available at http://stellarhousepublishing.com/whowasjesus.html
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Grim

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Who was Jesus? Only a man.
This reminds me of a particular song.

Classic. The best part is at the end when he owns Jesus for the dunk.
Thanks for the suggestion RT!

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Patrick Kilgallon
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I recommend J. Otmer's ADLAND. I think he will be glad to make himself available for book discussion of his book. Let me know if you want me to ask him and also please let me know how I should approach him with liason between booktalk and the author.
leona
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I would like to see us read "One Nation Under Gods; A History of the Mormon Church." I have read the book and would welcome discussion. They would have us believe that they are a mainstream Christian religion but this book shows that they are not. Whenever things don't go their way they have a "prophet" have a new "revelation" and change things. What an odd way for a large religion to evolve!
Lunaya

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www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Alexandra-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345438310#reader

I'm really enjoying Nicholas and Alexandra because it reads like a novel, but gives an actual historic account of the last of the Romanovs. You couldn't make up this kind of drama.
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Robert Tulip

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After President Camacho's comments, I couldn't resist reading A Beautiful Mind, about the Economics Nobel Prize winning schizophrenic John Nash, as I have had it on my shelf for a few years but haven't seen the movie.

Amazon site is http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Mind-Ma ... 0743224574

This book opens major question about the relation between genius and madness, the stigma attached to mental illness, and how Nash's contributions, including the Nash equilibrium of non-cooperative game theory, underpin research in diverse fields with complex dynamic natures, such as trade, genetics and politics. The story of his brilliance, his descent, his remission and his triumph is intimately tied to central themes in modern America - the role of RAND, Princeton, MIT, the cultural role of mathematics, and the ability to recognise outstanding intellect despite the failings of the individual.
Amazon.com Review
Stories of famously eccentric Princetonians abound--such as that of chemist Hubert Alyea, the model for The Absent-Minded Professor, or Ralph Nader, said to have had his own key to the library as an undergraduate. Or the "Phantom of Fine Hall," a figure many students had seen shuffling around the corridors of the math and physics building wearing purple sneakers and writing numerology treatises on the blackboards. The Phantom was John Nash, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who had spiraled into schizophrenia in the 1950s. His most important work had been in game theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large part of economics. When the Nobel Prize committee began debating a prize for game theory, Nash's name inevitably came up--only to be dismissed, since the prize clearly could not go to a madman. But in 1994 Nash, in remission from schizophrenia, shared the Nobel Prize in economics for work done some 45 years previously.

Economist and journalist Sylvia Nasar has written a biography of Nash that looks at all sides of his life. She gives an intelligent, understandable exposition of his mathematical ideas and a picture of schizophrenia that is evocative but decidedly unromantic. Her story of the machinations behind Nash's Nobel is fascinating and one of very few such accounts available in print (the CIA could learn a thing or two from the Nobel committees). This highly recommended book is indeed "a story about the mystery of the human mind, in three acts: genius, madness, reawakening." --Mary Ellen Curtin --

From Publishers Weekly
Nasar has written a notable biography of mathematical genius John Forbes Nash (b. 1928), a founder of game theory, a RAND Cold War strategist and winner of a 1994 Nobel Prize in economics. She charts his plunge into paranoid schizophrenia beginning at age 30 and his spontaneous recovery in the early 1990s after decades of torment. He attributes his remission to will power; he stopped taking antipsychotic drugs in 1970 but underwent a half-dozen involuntary hospitalizations. Born in West Virginia, the flamboyant mathematical wizard rubbed elbows at Princeton and MIT with Einstein, John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener. He compartmentalized his secret personal life, shows Nasar, hiding his homosexual affairs with colleagues from his mistress, a nurse who bore him a son out of wedlock, while he also courted Alicia Larde, an MIT physics student whom he married in 1957. Their son, John, born in 1959, became a mathematician and suffers from episodic schizophrenia. Alicia divorced Nash in 1963, but they began living together again as a couple around 1970. Today Nash, whose mathematical contributions span cosmology, geometry, computer architecture and international trade, devotes himself to caring for his son. Nasar, an economics correspondent for the New York Times, is equally adept at probing the puzzle of schizophrenia and giving a nontechnical context for Nash's mathematical and scientific ideas.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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President Camacho

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:P

Dude, I've finally printed out your essay on reconciling Christian beliefs with reality using fractal geometry. This is going to go well with the book I'm currently reading - From Dawn to Decadence by J. Barzun. The book is heavy with religious history.

With that said, I vow to learn fractal geometry in order to prove you are looney tunes. I'm going to write my own essay modeled on your own work, with my own unique formulas, and mathematically prove you're off your rocker. I'm going to numerically show that on a fractal scale of 1-10 (10 being the most cuckoo bananas) you are a certifiable 10.

I don't know if this is a self test of your intellect to see if round pegs can fit in square holes... or what. All I know is that this little pet project of yours is frothing at the mouth and needs to be put down. I'm not one for holding anyone back, but if I see someone about to step in some doodoo, I'm going to say something. ...and you're like neck high in doodoo.

my 2 cents.
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seespotrun2008

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These are all such good choices. What if we tried psychology? I would love to study Carl Jung. What about On the Nature of the Psyche ?

http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Psyche-Rou ... 575&sr=8-1
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