LAUNCH OF THE MACHINE NATION BOOK CLUB

cactus flower wrote:

Quote :

Good questions - we will have our first chat at Sunday 27th April - 10 p.m. - although you are welcome to post on 'Collapse' any time from tomorrow, when I'll put the thread up.

It was meant to be today, but events overtook.

Try to leave the Sibin Reoite a bit earlier tomorrow night eh?!!

I have a question Cactus, I want to read that book ArdT mentioned about Craft. It's on the I like thread. So can I read that for the May book club? I cant't read Collapse cos I'm already reading a book, and if I try to read two I'll go bonkers.

so who's readin Collapse then ? Who's on the list? Who do i hafta read quicker than then ?

(I haven't a hope)

Auditor #9 wrote:

so who's readin Collapse then ? Who's on the list? Who do i hafta read quicker than then ?

(I haven't a hope)

Sure you're a mechanic or a chemist or something..you've got all day. Anyway if you're in Clare, you've got 6 hours on youngdan.

Unless The Banner is in a time zone of it's own, which might be appropiate, then he is 5 hours ahead. However with regard the book I am 2 years about ahead because I read it quite a while ago. I am assuming discussion begins when the book is read by those who are reading it.

I think we hafta read it by the End of April (yeah right it's massive) but we can post here about it as soon as we start.

i've a feeling everyone dies in the end. Is it a parallel between the trajectory of our civilisation and Rome?

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

I have a question Cactus, I want to read that book ArdT mentioned about Craft. It's on the I like thread. So can I read that for the May book club? I cant't read Collapse cos I'm already reading a book, and if I try to read two I'll go bonkers.

Sounds good Evo - shall we ask Ard -T if he would like to introduce the book, or would you?
And on Collapse, perhaps you might like to come along and ask questions of those who have read it?

Allow me to acquire the book first. I think it's an Amazon jobbie.

Sunday 27th? - as in Sunday week??!?

(*chucks Hitchens in the bin*)

Atticus wrote:

Sunday 27th? - as in Sunday week??!?

(*chucks Hitchens in the bin*)

It's very early - can we push it out a bit? I normally take about two months to read a book

How about before the next full moon party? There is nothing wrong with concurrent book clubs for the benefit of the slow ones as long as there aren't too many clubs...

Atticus wrote:

Sunday 27th? - as in Sunday week??!?

(*chucks Hitchens in the bin*)

Sorry, I should have asked Kate P about this. I am a novice now shown up

Suggest a week.

Bought the buke, will get cracking.

May I suggets the first Sunday of next month? It's twenty days away and the book's 525 pages long, leaving us with 26 pages a day or just over a page an hour.

Atticus wrote:

Sunday 27th? - as in Sunday week??!?

(*chucks Hitchens in the bin*)

Best place for him.

Atticus wrote:

905 wrote:

See, I knew this would happen. I went in to the bookshop to scout for Cactus Flower's book. I came out with two books: Ireland: Inventing the nation and The Enlightenment. Two books I have no need for, nor time to read. They'll go in the pile.

I have four piles. One is of non-fiction books I have yet to read, another is of fiction books I have yet to read. I can read a book easily enough; the trouble is re-reading it. So the next two piles are of books I have only read once, fiction and then non-fiction. Altogether we're talikng about a hundred books (I'll count when I get home).

At the moment I'm reading four books, one from each pile. Fiction non-read is Mo Scéal Féin by Fr. O'Leary. Fiction read-once is Nostromo by Conrad. The non-fiction books I'm reading are Things we Believe but Can't Prove, edited by a fellow named Brockman and Michael Collins by Tim Pat Coogan, which I've read before.

Ah, I know that feeling! While i said last night i'd start Collapse today, I actually picked up Chris Hitchen's anti-religion tract from the "pile" instead. Also there are Alex Ross' The Rest Is Noise, Tariq Ali's book of Saladiin and Jonathan Powell's N. Ireland book, among about 30 others. Agh! I keep buying books before getting through the last pile.

Having said that, brill idea re book club Cactusflower. I'll whizz through Hitchens (my back is up already anyway!) and get on to Collapse.

After last Sunday's time out for the full moon party, Book Club will be back in business this Sunday. One or maybe two more weeks more will see "Collapse" all wrapped up.

Does anyone have a suggestion for the MN Book Club's next book? There are a few books that I don't know already mentioned on this thread. We are looking for something thought provoking, non fiction and preferably easy obtainable and current. Please add any suggestions to this thread.

I'm reading this mad book at the moment, well almost finished

Very morbid, funny, and informative at the same time.

http://www.maryroach.net/stiff.html

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

I'm reading this mad book at the moment, well almost finished

Very morbid, funny, and informative at the same time.

http://www.maryroach.net/stiff.html

Looks interesting EVM. Any ideas why people seem so fascinated with dead bodies and forensics at the moment ?

People have always been interested haven't they. It's the end of the movie, the last chapter and verse.

We're all members of one big book club, where we all get to write one book.

Well, I've suggested Not Quite the Diplomat already, by Chris Patten; where he discusses the various geo-political issues of the time (2005). He goes on about the EU a lot and the constitution.

Sounds good. I'll look throught the threads, make a list and perhaps Audi might arrange a vote on which book people would like to read next.

Thanks 905

This is my suggestion for the moment. If there are suggestions could they be put on this thread or should we open a new thread? This one would do wouldn't it? Let's try to get a rake of books or maybe even ten together and have a vote sure it'll be mighty craic altogether.

If ye could could ye try to sell the book by putting your own pre-review (expectation) or link to Amazon or somewhere, s'il vous plaít?

Product Description
Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World, here turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Kurlansky's kaleidoscopic history is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.

Naomi Klein- TheShock Doctrine

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0141024534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211784650&sr=8-1


From the back cover -
Around the world in Britain, the United States, Asia and the Middle East, there are people with power who are cashing in on chaos; exploiting bloodshed and catastrophe to brutally remake the world in their image. They are the shock doctors.

Thrilling and revelatory, The Shock Doctrine cracks open the secret history of our era. Exposing these global profiteers, N Klein discovered information and connections that shocked even her about how comprehensively the shock doctors' beliefs now dominate our world - and how this domination has been achieved. Raking in billions out of the tsunami, plundering Russia, exploiting Iraq - this is the chilling tale of how a few are making a killing while more are getting killed.

_______________________________________________________

The Observer wrote: "lucid, calm, impeccably researched, gorgeously readable"

Back earlier in the thread, someone also mentioned Richard Sennett's book on Craft.

ouu I could go for the shock doctrine, Thanks atticus

Hmm, the Shock Doctrine. It's certainly interesting and it's in my list of read books that have to be read again. I was drawn to it by it's imposing bulk and reasonable price. Don't be daunted; I found it very accessable.

I wasn't crazy about some of her conclusions though; unlike Diamond there's no self-doubt no hint that maybe I'm wrong on this. I always find such a position to be suspect.

Reviews were mixed, based on the politics of the critic. Tom Clonan wrote a glowing review in the Irish Times (on the strength of which I bought it), I generally find him very reliable.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/weekend/2007/0929/1190938505497.html
Last Saturday's IT gave a mini review:

Quote :

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise Of Disaster Capitalism
Naomi Klein
Penguin, £8.99
No Logo author Naomi Klein's latest book is nothing less than a one-volume Truth Commission on neoliberal economics. Klein relates how the right-wing economist Milton Friedman, along with his "Chicago School" disciples, debauched the intellectual and moral currency of their profession by inflicting upon country after country a sociopathic programme of "planned misery" - all in the name of the "free" market. She also draws up a pretty damning rap sheet against Bono's guru, Jeffrey Sachs, for his role in administering "shock therapy" to Bolivia, Poland and Russia in the 1980s and 1990s. Klein's apparent unawareness that Karl Marx spotted the "disaster logic" of capitalism a long, long time ago will cause some on the left to twitch, while no self-respecting laissez-faire devotee will fail to chuckle at her bleeding-heart assumption that the collateral agonies of the poor - and their children - actually, well, matter. Daragh Downes

I would disagree with one point in this review, I think she does acknowledge the Marx's 'disaster logic' and gives the Bolshevik revolution as an early example.

I'd still prefer Patten's book, it's not as long and polarising.

I'll be finished Stiff in a few days, so I wouldn't mind giving Klein a read. The Patten one would be too political for me I think.