OFFICIAL POLL: Help select our NON-FICTION book for Jan., Feb. & Mar. 2021

[Chris OConnor]

OFFICIAL POLL: Help select our NON-FICTION book for Jan., Feb. & Mar. 2021

The simple rules...

Only vote if you will participate.
Please only vote if you actually plan to participate in the next NON-FICTION book discussion. We're not looking for your opinion of which book looks the most interesting. We're wondering which book or books you will actually read and talk about with us.

Vote for as many books as you like.
Vote for 1, 2 or 3 of the 5 books found in this poll. Vote for those 3 books you are willing to read and discuss with us. We'll read the one with the most interest so please don't vote for just 1 book if there are more than 1 book that you would enjoy reading and discussing.

Share your thoughts on why you voted the way you voted.
After casting your vote please feel free to make a post explaining why you voted the way you did. You just might influence other members to change their votes so please sell us on your choice.

Now here are your 5 choices...

BOOK 1: Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers by John W. Dean & Bob Altemeyer

BOOK 2: Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright

BOOK 3: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

BOOK 4: Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal

BOOK 5: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

[Harry Marks]

I'm good with any of these, and had a hard time voting. I think I would like a discussion of any one of them.

[Chris OConnor]

These are definitely some good choices. I'm almost done with The Autobiography of Malcolm X. My impression of him isn't very positive at this point.

[LanDroid]

I voted for Caste. I read it recently and think it's important - it explains so much in American culture. Few people think America has a caste system, but it becomes obvious after quick consideration. She includes some personal experiences, which I think weakens it a bit, but may help explain some of the effects of the caste system.

Also voted for the Buddhism book because that's a direction I've been headed - off & on - for a while.

Also voted for Franz deWall, just curious to see what he's saying there...

[Robert Tulip]

I voted for Caste. I read it recently and think it's important - it explains so much in American culture. Few people think America has a caste system, but it becomes obvious after quick consideration. She includes some personal experiences, which I think weakens it a bit, but may help explain some of the effects of the caste system.

I also think Caste would be the best selection. DWill just linked to this New York Times Review of it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/book ... tents.html

It’s an extraordinary document, one that strikes me as an instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far. It made the back of my neck prickle from its first pages, and that feeling never went away.

I like the echo of Freud's Civilization and its Discontents in the title, looking at race as a psychoanalytic problem.