BookTalk.org

Make your nominations for our 4th Quarter 2005 book selection here!What would you like to read in October, November and December of 2005? We'll be finishing Susan Jacoby's "Freethinkers" at the end of September, so now is the time to begin a discussion of what book we want to read next.Any ideas?If you're a new member you might want to read our Book Selection Process page. It's brief and will summarize how books are selected here at BookTalk.We're looking for nominations pulled from our Book suggestions for quarterly readings thread, located directly above this Nominations thread. If you would like to nominate a book that isn't yet in our Book Suggestions thread you need to place it there first. As a community we review that thread and decide whether or not each suggestion is suitable for a quarterly reading. So let's hear your nominations! Edited by: Chris OConnor  at: 8/26/05 12:51 pm

Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo, by Sean B. Carroll was on our last poll. I would like to nominate it again as I feel that this book would generate much discussion at booktalk. There are reviews of the book posted in the last poll thread. However, I'd like to quote from a review I read in Discover Magazine by Karl Giberson. "Evo Devo has useated the earlier view that different animals are genetically constructed in very different ways, an idea that zoologist Richard Dawkins popularized... Since then, Evo Devo researchers have discovered that the eye gene of the fruit fly is in fact the counterpart of a human gene and that the same master gene, with small modifications, controls the development of an astonishing array of very different eyes, in animals ranging from flatworms to vertebrates."Many of us here are Dawkins fans and are familiar with his work. It would be interesting to see if this new research really does contradict the standing theory of the evolution of the eye. Maybe we could even host a debate between Dawkins and Carroll!!

Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology by David Graeber. (Book in PDF form)From the book:Quote:What follows are a series of thoughts, sketches of potential theories, and tiny manifestos

In the interests of broadening my own and others' understanding of the conflicts that we routinely see in the news, I'm nominating...The Fate of Africa, by Martin MeredithHere's a brief blurb:The value of Meredith's towering history of modern Africa rests not so much in its incisive analysis, or its original insights; it is the sheer readability of the project, combined with a notable lack of pedantry, that makes it one of the decade's most important works on Africa. Spanning the entire continent, and covering the major upheavals more or less chronologically

We talk about the war as if it were only being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is an interesting depiction of the global nature of what our troops are doing.Imperial Grunts : The American Military on the Ground by Robert D. Kaplanwww.amazon.com/exec/obido...7RAL16H02HFrom Publishers WeeklyAmerica is no less an imperial power than Britain and Rome in their times, claims veteran journalist Kaplan (Balkan Ghosts, etc.)

Harvard Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Howard Gardner's Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi is an intellectual feast of ideas, biography, history, and the social and cognitive sciences. Professor Gardner is best known for his Theory of Multiple Intelligences which serves as a model for human problem solving, communication, meaning making and value production. Gardner theorizes at least eight different modalities of human intelligence (verbal linguistic, math logical, music rhythmic, body kinesthetic, visual spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal, as well as an ecological/naturalist modality). In Creating Minds Gardner employs psychology, biography, history and the social and cognitive sciences to paint a fabulously sophisticated portrait of human creativity.Each of his case studies serve to embody the fullness of each Intelligence, and along the way provides a carefully consturcted framework for identifying and defining creativity. Likewise, Gardner's individual case studies are synthesized into a highly stimulating examination of the 20th Century.A great read by an extraordinary author. Edited by: Dissident Heart at: 8/30/05 11:52 am

My apologies for posting Fragments Of An Anarchist Anthropology and Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi without first posting them in the general book suggestions thread.

I really like the idea of Creating Minds.If the decision for a book is made by Sept. 14, I can get it while I am still in the States before I leave for home.Marti in Mexico

We're still in need of more nominations folks. Chris

I think we should tackle Howard Gardner's Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi.Gardner is one of the most well respected, prolific, and influential minds in the worlds of education, cognitive science, and developmental psychology. His expertise in the study of human intelligence certifies his astute guidance through our study of these seven rather extraordinary individuals.I think this interdisciplinary approach to understanding human creativity, bridging the humanities and the sciences, will be an excellent addition to the Booktalk mission of increasing our understanding of the world and the complexities of the mind.There are many ways that humans communicate, solve problems, find meaning, and create value in the world; our tools are diverse and wide ranging. Our ideas, theories, symbols, projects, ambitions, relationships, identities are all intertwined within this thing we call "mind". I hope we can take advantage of Gardner's "anatomy of creativity" and deepen our understanding and appreciation of what matters about the mind.