The Dark Mod Book Club

[Maximius]

We spend too much time here already, yapping on and on, myself excluded. We should pick a book and read it, organize our far flung chats into a potent self educational resource. We can take as long as we like, I'd say a month per book would be a fair pace. No pressure, actually not much new other than putting some order to what we are doing already. I think it could prove to be a really valuable experience. What do you guys think? I realize everyone is busy as hell too, but we do all seem to find the time to read different stuff, so lets just get it on the same sheet of music, get some synergy going.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

Since my arrival on earth I'm still struggling to catch up on all the pre-20th century reading material.

[demagogue]

I'm game.

Just right now it may take me a little bit to get settled into a new job, though.

After that it'll be better.

Edited March 3, 2007 by demagogue

[Maximius]

I'm game.

Just right now it may take me a little bit to get settled into a new job, though.

After that it'll be better.

 

 

Most excellent! As always, the philosophizers lead the way!

 

Being the first into the breech, you get to pick the topic. No pressure, believe me I'm busy too and school approaches like a fell host on the horizon. Just something like a chapter or two a week I'm guessing, whenever you are ready to start.

[Macsen]

I am also game. Demogogue, I've been settled into my job for a year now - it doesn't make it any easier.

[Maximius]

The ranks swell! What sunlit peaks do you gentlemen wish to ascend?

 

The only suggestion I want to make is that we stick to non-fiction, I've nothing against fiction but something like this is really much more useful to me when its dealing with more specific disciplines. Is this a problem for anyone?

Edited March 4, 2007 by Maximius

[Vadrosaul]

I'm coming to the end of Name of the Rose, which I have so far not liked, not fond of the vague theological history the author keeps adding into the narrative, making the murder mystery almost secondhand.

 

As long as an interesting title is suggested, I'm game

[Komag]

I might be interested but I would prefer fiction

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

Knowing now that it's non-fiction kind of attracts me. Not fully though.

[Maximius]

I'm just honestly not a huge reader of fiction, even good fiction. Its not a big deal really. We could just have two clubs, one fiction and one not. I can only commit to non-fiction readings though myself.

[Nyarlathotep]

I'm game, but I'm rather skittish, on the principle that I'm not sure I'll have sufficient time.

[Maximius]

It depends a lot on what we pick to read. Some history and philosophy texts can be read through rather quickly, if you read only the beginnings and endings of chapters and identify key arguments, then skim to those specific areas and read that stuff. Its probably very unlike reading for one of the sciences or some of the technical disciplines. Its the endless argumentation that follows that chews up most of one's time.

 

And remember there is no real limit on how we can schedule the readings, a chapter every two weeks is pretty slow but its also pretty manageable. I have lots of stuff of my own to do so I would not mind a really laid back pace.

 

I have a few suggestions for the non-fiction side of things. The reason I mention these books is because they are all available online for free, besides being great books that is.

 

This is a book of economic history, very well written, actually readable and thats no small thing for an economic history treatise. Its called "Superimperialism" and its a description of the rise to ascendancy of the American empire and some of the reasons for its staying power. Its not a partisan piece, although some might think so, it takes a hard look at the record and its not pretty. Its a kind of world history too, its a lot of things really but the history it describes is pertinent to everyone. It was required reading in the Federal Reserve at one point, here is the link:

 

http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0303cri...imperialism.pdf

 

This is an analysis of the real beneficiaries of the "Nanny State." The Nanny State is a slur used by US conservatives to attack the notion of a state providing any sort of care for its citizens other than mail service and the military. In fact, the wealthiest members of US, and the world for that matter, are the group that benefits the most from the state. Its a pretty partisan piece obviously, and also probably not of super interest to all as its mostly concerned with domestic US policy. Not entirely though.

 

http://www.conservativenannystate.org/cnswebbook.pdf

 

Just some suggestions that are handy, this is not any sort of push to define the agenda.

[demagogue]

I like fiction and nonfiction, and would even consider alternating.

But it seems that non-fiction is the head-runner here so far.

 

Other book clubs I've seen run by members giving recommendations and then voting.

We maybe don't need to be so formal, but it wouldn't hurt to have a few ground rules.

 

I agree that it's a good idea to stick to good discussion-provoking books that aren't too technical but allow for lots to talk about ... philosophy, politics/policy, history, economics, sociology of science. Another idea is books that are inherently multidisciplinary, because they tend to explain the basics for each field and try to find connections.

 

I had a good first list*, actually, but they weren't free.

And maybe Maximius is on to something starting with free, online books, to get some momentum going with this.

 

I'll think more about it.

But for now I can list some archives that I like, although these tend towards articles, not books.

 

Global Policy Forum (topics on globalization): http://www.globalpolicy.org/

David Chalmer's epic collection of online papers on all-things "consciousness": http://consc.net/online.html

Two economics archives I like are econpapers.repec.org, and http://www.econlib.org/library/archive.html (that latter tending to the political right. For good karma I'll throw in http://www.marxists.org/reference/index.htm, lol; while nothing is easier to kick around than a Marxist, at least their archive is pretty well stocked with stuff that's hard to find elsewhere).

Stanford's encyclopedia of philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/

(I also like semanticsarchive.net and arxiv.org, but those are going to be probably too techy).

 

The advantage of articles, though, is that the commitment is less for each one, and you can line up like 5 articles in a row on a topic, to get a more diverse spread of perspectives, and see how a debate is shaping up. (it's sometimes fun when a class posts its readings online to go through them for the same reason).

 

Oh, recommendations that are free online but not too technical. These are tougher to find than I thought...

- Ariel Rubinstein, Economics and Language unites probably my two favorite subjects in one book on the relationship between the two (http://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/el.html)

- It might be fun to line up a few articles (4 or 5) on the free will debate: http://consc.net/online2.html#freewill , one essay every week or two (or any one of the subtopics from that list, for that matter, if we want something more focused; the *Chinese Room* argument, the Turing Test, whether consciousness exists and what is it, etc.

 

I'll think about it some more.

The Nanny State book looks interesting just because the administrative state dominates in so many areas of life these days; it's a topic that seems too over-neglected (with half baked arguments) or misunderstood given how important it is (well, that and I myself concentrated in administrative law at law school).

 

 

 

 

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* My first list of non-free books, for the record :

 

Dennett, Freedom Evolves (2006, arguing that what we call "free will" is a product of natural selection)

Dan Dennett, Consciousness Explained (1992?)

 

(We could talk about stuff like consciousness or free will, usually fun topics; he's a provacative writer; it's science based; not too technical; but still lots to talk about.)

 

The latter reminds me of one fun idea I had before (although its a longer commitment), which is to look at two books that argue opposing theses, and then on top of the discussion about the books themselves, there's a discussion about the underlying debate, who makes the better case, etc.

 

E.g.,

 

Dennett's Consciousness Explained (which argues that experience is derived from functional properties of the brain; no new physics needed) versus Chalmer's Conscious Mind (which argues that experience is an irreducibly basic element of the universe; new physics needed)

 

Another pair is Pinker's The Blank Slate (which argues that much of what we call "human nature" is set by natural selection, debunking the old Locke "blank slate" idea and the political implications that come with it) versus The Adaptive Mind (I'll look up the author's name), which argues that human nature is more like the immune system, set only to adapt to its environment but not really hard-coded.

 

Two others I was just thinking on my own were Don Ross's Economic Theory and Cognitive Science and Elementary Particles (forgot the author), but maybe too technical here.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

It's a nice thing they're free and online because I wasn't planning on lugging around a 4 pound hardcover in my backpack for the occasional time I have nothing better to do. I always have my Palm and on it always 10+ books just because it's convenient.

[Maximius]

So, anybody have an suggestions for a starter?