Saturday, February 4, 2012

February Meet Up

Richard Dawkins and his non-fiction book 'The God Delusion' so grabbed our attention on Thursday evening, that our second read, The Men Who Stare at Goats, barely got a look in (ironically).

Proof in itself of the power of religion. In fact it was clear to me that my attempt at an analysis of the text, in written form no less, was superfluous to requirements and probably inadequate (and I'm not complaining here). So, my attempt at introducing more structure to our meetings was a flop! Hey ho, that's the way it goes.

But we had a great evening, with three new members - Mark, Glenys and Katalin making a substantial contribution alongside Joe, David and Janine (Janine's appearance was a lovely surprise since we thought she was in the NT!). What a pooling of knowledge and insight there was.

David, who, relative to me at least, is a walking encyclopaedia, had me fascinated whilst he patiently explained the details of History, Biology, and Geography that gave background to the book. Details I missed when I was apparently too busy daydreaming in the classroom 35 years ago.

It seems that we're a relatively small informal group, who enjoy the unpredictable flow of conversation that emerges in the cosy environment of The Three Monkey's and that this is what sets us apart from other book clubs. I like it that way. I just hope that our members do too. Am I right, or am I wrong?

Anyway, this month, for our meeting on 1st March the reading is:

The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

Sorry David - I know you're not impressed. David recommended the following (click the links):

The Existential Jesus
Reflections of Consciousness in The Bicameral Mind!

and, not a book but interesting:
Hammurabi







I found both of these were available at the library.

2 comments:

  1. Wrong Jesus book (sorry, it was Existential Jesus, not Essential Jesus -- http://elibcat.library.brisbane.qld.gov.au/uhtbin/cgisirsi/vYlayuBO3A/ZZELIBCAT/147220026/9 or http://www.amazon.com/Existential-Jesus-John-Carroll/dp/1582434654/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329994908&sr=8-1) and that's the followup to the Jaynes book I had in mind.

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  2. Ok David, I have changed it - I suppose their had to be a 'The Essential Jesus'!

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