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Re: What non-fiction book should we talk about next?

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 6:22 am
by Harry Marks
I would prefer the Hoffer book. Although I don't consider Hoffer to be deep, he is surprisingly insightful and has a flair for rhetoric to help people see both the importance and the workings of his insights. True Believer was a great one.

I am okay with Dennett, but I am extremely familiar with the material that makes up the bulk of the book, and we have to get through that to have a proper discussion of the latter part, which is all I am interested in. (Even though S J Gould is a hero of mine, I think Dennett is right.)

Re: What non-fiction book should we talk about next?

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 7:51 am
by DWill
Dexter wrote:Hey guys, been away for a while.

I have a copy of Dennett, so I'll try to join in. I have to warn you, it's a long and relatively dense book, although I think worth trying to tackle. I started it before and never finished it, but I have a habit of doing that in general. I'd say the chances of keeping a discussion going is pretty slim, but hey, why not?
Welcome back. The tendency of book discussions to die is a reason to go for quality rather than quantity. Maybe, if the second half of the book is where things get the most interesting, as Harry Marks says, it's worth considering starting in the middle. I'm not an expert in evolution by any means, but I suppose I could keep up.

To Harry Marks:
Would you have a specific recommendation on where to start and how much of the book to talk about?

Re: What non-fiction book should we talk about next?

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 11:24 am
by Chris OConnor
Thanks for all the recent posts to this thread. We should have a book selected soon.

I think Gould's punctuated equilibrium has been largely discredited. I'm guessing PE is what you're referring to. I'm not a Gould fan personally as he annoyed me with his digression's about baseball and his condescending tone in real life. It seems his books were more of an effort to impress readers with his writing style than to communicate complicated topics to laypeople.

Re: What non-fiction book should we talk about next?

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 3:08 pm
by geo
I'm all set to read Dennet's book. I have no idea if we will get a good discussion going or not, but I see quite a few people who are at least willing to dip their toes in. Maybe we should have an extended discussion period?

Good to see Dexter back here. I think that deserves dancing banana #2 :bananen_smilies090:

Re: What non-fiction book should we talk about next?

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 11:03 pm
by Chris OConnor
I'm creating the forum for Daniel Dennett's book right now. Although I'm putting this as our March, April and May non-fiction book, you guys are welcome to start reading/posting whenever you're ready.