Book Club Proposal

[QuickTwist]

I don't know why but I don't have the patients to read either fiction or nonfiction. Very short attention span regardless of how interesting it is. Film is not a option either, I just get too board to sit in one place for too long. I am very severely ADHD. Does this mean I am not INTP? I don't think so but am open to the possibility.

 

[BigApplePi]

A book discussion is a good idea seems to me. Agreeing on a book among INTPs might be a little like herding cats. Suggest those books picked already be identified. You might want to pick a chapter or at least identify which book before you comment. That way you could have a number of books going with readable branches out on each allowing for varied interests.

You could list books by number: 1, 2, 3, etc. Then post: Book 3. Here are my comments.

Display Mode = Threaded Mode would work better than Linear Mode IMO.

 

[The Introvert]

//in

(post for notifications and such)

 

[Helvete]

just misread this as boob club proposal. i'm too tired and need to go to bed aha. but i'd be up for both; boob club more as i could sit back and watch. anyway book club seems cool, only problem is finding time now as im working again... anyway, i'll check back sometime and see what goes down

 

[Absurdity]

//in

(post for notifications and such)

I think we'll make a new thread for De Landa's book. Keep your eyes peeled.

 

[TBerg]

For those interested in how I might relate to Christianity, these videos start from a place I can understand: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=peter+rollins&sm=3

They are clear without being dogmatic. I am still basically agnostic and atheist, though.

I also think that it is these internal heretics who provide checks on cultural juggernauts without provoking cultural wars in which everyone loses sight of truth.

 

[TimeAsylums]

Well then, as usual the perceivers let it fall apart

jk

Recommended we all read ->

Kurzweil's How to create a mind, wiki

book

 

[Puffy]

You're asking an INTPf group to collectively read a 1000 page book; yeah, good luck with that.

 

[kora]

Oh this is such a good idea, I'm in.

 

[Socratic Honor]

i highly recommend the apology/crtio/phaedo of Socrates

 

[kora]

i highly recommend the apology/crtio/phaedo of Socrates

@Tberg @everyone else
I was actually planning to read those, can we do a book club week with these? And after, godel escher and Bach which I think was already mentioned too. It's quite long so we should make it 2 weeks.


Oh, has the book club fallen apart due to p ness? I think Tberg should SET the book and everyone who wants to read it can. PM Tberg to say you are in or something, Then report back to talk about it next week.

 

[Jennywocky]

You're asking an INTPf group to collectively read a 1000 page book; yeah, good luck with that.

Maybe it's on tape somewhere...?

(or just direct USB/FireWire feed into the brain?)

 

[scorpiomover]

Recommended we all read ->

Kurzweil's How to create a mind, wiki

book

Not such a fan of Kurzweil. Often found myself finding criticisms of his ideas, when others here seemed to idealise him. Probably would end up in loggerheads.

 

[TimeAsylums]

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gödel,_Escher,_Bach

By exploring common themes in the lives and works of logician Kurt Gödel, artist M. C. Escher and composer Johann Sebastian Bach, GEB expounds concepts fundamental to mathematics, symmetry, and intelligence. Through illustration and analysis, the book discusses how self-reference and formal rules allow systems to acquire meaning despite being made of "meaningless" elements. It also discusses what it means to communicate, how knowledge can be represented and stored, the methods and limitations of symbolic representation, and even the fundamental notion of "meaning" itself.

In response to confusion over the book's theme, Hofstadter has emphasized that GEB is not about mathematics, art, and music but rather about how cognition and thinking emerge from well-hidden neurological mechanisms. In the book, he presents an analogy about how the individual neurons of the brain coordinate to create a unified sense of a coherent mind by comparing it to the social organization displayed in a colony of ants.

"GEB is a very personal attempt to say how it is that animate beings can come out of inanimate matter. What is a self, and how can a self come out of stuff that is as selfless as a stone or a puddle?"

If the book is worthy of reading at all, may recommend the second book

Hofstadter seeks to remedy this problem in I Am a Strange Loop by focusing and expounding on the central message of Gödel, Escher, Bach. He demonstrates how the properties of self-referential systems, demonstrated most famously in Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, can be used to describe the unique properties of minds.

Relevant:

• Strange Loops
• (Is-ought) Meta-circularity
• Scott Aaronson's lecture: Gödel, Turing, and Friends
• Kurzweil's "pattern recognizers" a few posts up

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

Why is this thread dead? Anyone up for reading a book? I'm fine with whatever

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

I also prefer film, and would join that if there was such a club.

Why not make one then? im in for a film club too

 

[Absurdity]

Why is this thread dead? Anyone up for reading a book? I'm fine with whatever

I probably could if it wasn't too long and I could fit the reading obligations around my work schedule.

Reading a few things at the moment already.

 

[Yellow]

I just finished my "to read" list of novels. I'm in.

How do we pick a book?

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

I probably could if it wasn't too long and I could fit the reading obligations around my work schedule.

Reading a few things at the moment already.

umm same i have a shitload of designs and papers to do, so preferably a book not longer than 350 pages

How do we pick a book?

how about people suggest books here and then someone does a poll? the books that dont make it on this poll go on to the next poll and so on

 

[TBerg]

I guess I left this thread die. Now that zerkalo has resurrected it, can I make a suggestion?

No Place Left to Hide, by Glenn Greenwald.

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

an enquiry concerning human understanding
by David Hume

also, i was reading minima moralia(only read a few pages) weeks ago then put it on hold...so im putting it up too

 

[Yellow]

I've never gotten around to some basic novels like A Clockwork Orange or Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I've read An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. But Minima Moralia and No Place Left to Hide would be new to me.

 

[TBerg]

No Place Left to Hide would allow us to study something that has very real implications but that has been in the darkness of human ignorance for so long. One of those implications concerns everything that we do here online. It would allow us to gain technical as well as political knowledge, thereby giving us a more practical peer into the workings of foreign and domestic policy.

Then we could move onto Minima Moralia in order to gain insight into what would become part of the basis of vanguard criticism of society, sometimes from an extreme leftist prism. It would also sometimes be a sublime piece of work.

I would also like to incorporate the Leviathan and Aaron Swartz into the mix sometime.

Reading the whole Quran would be instructive, too. I have only read the extended excerpts from my world literature anthology.

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

ok great. and about aaron swartz, one of the documentaries u linked in the other thread about net freedom is very highly rated on topdocumentaryfilms.com(uhh i think it was called the internet's boy) and ive been meaning to watch it for some time now

 

[Absurdity]

Meh I'll pass on Greenwald.

I took a course on the Qur'an. You lose a lot in translation.

I'll have to look the others up. Prefer nonfiction since I'm already reading a bunch of fiction (unless you want to read Moby Dick with me...).

 

[Yellow]

I'll have to look the others up. Prefer nonfiction since I'm already reading a bunch of fiction (unless you want to read Moby Dick with me...).

I haven't read Moby Dick since I was a kid (and likely too young to fully appreciate it) so, be up for that. In fact, I think I have it sitting on a shelf somewhere.

 

[TBerg]

Google is your friend in figuring out how to obtain a copy of the book, BTW.

 

[TBerg]

Absurdity, what Qur'anic misconceptions can you remember?

And, could you recommend a translation? Mine is by Maulana Muhammad Ali, who is from a background of Ahmadiyah.

 

[Frankie]

This is a really good idea. Why don't we make separate threads for each book, and discuss it only on that thread. It'll be easier to reference (and for newcomers to follow up too). Also, I think we need a predetermined list that is not made by anyone in this forum so as to remove bias. I also think it'll be easier to follow chapter by chapter so that everyone gains a concrete understanding of the book as a whole, with different ideas from others. That's my idea anyway but I'm totally in (well, maybe not totally, I still have four textbooks to read)

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

Frankie, what books do you suggest?

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

I'll have to look the others up. Prefer nonfiction since I'm already reading a bunch of fiction (unless you want to read Moby Dick with me...).

I have trouble committing to long fiction books...but im kinda interested in melville after reading pierre or the ambiguities

 

[Frankie]

Frankie, what books do you suggest?

I would love to read Dante's divine comedy (esp the inferno) in a group.

 

[TBerg]

I would love to read Dante's divine comedy (esp the inferno) in a group.

That also sounds like a good addition to the mix. Has anyone started reading any of the books?

 

[Yellow]

That also sounds like a good addition to the mix. Has anyone started reading any of the books?

I thought we were supposed to pick the book before we start reading.
this is why we'll never take over the world...

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I would much love to read Moby Dick as well, that and Ulysses. I'm not good at breaking down reading material into suitable chunks to analyze in depth, and my time management is not satisfactory at the moment.

And the short story collections of Philip K Dick.

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

Wouldn't the thread die again if we decide to read sth like ulysess? It needs much dedication and patience I suspect most of us can't offer

I thought we were supposed to pick the book before we start reading.
this is why we'll never take over the world...

how about we keep suggestions open for like 2 more days, so more ppl can join, then someone makes a poll to pick one?

 

[TBerg]

Bump for the announcement of the last day of nominations and seconding of nominations and the points of information for such nominations.

I will post a poll tomorrow.

 

[Yellow]

I'll throw in The Disappearing Spoon by Sean Kean. I started it a couple years ago, and I got busy and forgot about it. It was a fun book.

 

[The Introvert]

OK, so I like this idea too.

But we have to actually pick ONE (1) book to start with. We can and should make a list of books people are interested in reading.

BOOK NOMINATIONS

- Moby Dick - Herman Melville
- Minima Moralia - Theodore W. Adorno
- A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
- Dante (Inferno, particularly)
- The Disappearing Spoon - Sam Kean
- Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes
- The Prince - Machiavelli

Of course there are others. I say we hold a vote here to decide on which book we want to read, and from there we can create a thread in which we can talk about it. Everyone else with me?

I vote for Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes. People have been talking about Moby Dick and I would also like to read that, although if I am correct it's a pretty long book and will take a while to get through. Maybe starting the INTPf book club on a smaller and more manageable work will help actually get things started (not that Leviathan is a good pick for that either...)

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

yellow read An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding so i'll substitute it with minima moralia

 

[Frankie]

Leviathan for me too. Where's the poll?

 

[The Introvert]

The thread creator would need to add a poll post-submission, which I don't think is possible. Plus it'd only be a one-time poll. We just need people to comment here, maybe we can sort out a new thread in the meantime or after we actually choose a book. A mod's assistance would probably be useful for that (I'm looking at you, Absurdity).

Zerkalo, you nominated another book without giving your formal vote: do you wish to cast a vote, or do you abstain? We can certainly add your suggestion to the list in place of the Hume nomination. Also, I've added in Machiavelli's The Prince for possibilities. My vote still remains on Leviathan, though.

OFFICIAL POLL COUNT:
Leviathan - 2
Everything else - 0

See post #89 for the running collection of nominations!

 

[TBerg]

Sorry, guys. I could not figure out how to make a poll, and then I had some family stay the night and had to help host them. The Introvert seems to have done a good job of filling in for my neglect. I would just humbly add support for the Leviathan.

 

[Polaris]

A preliminary poll has been added. Can be amended if anyone wishes to add a book. I also voted Moby Dick.

Leviathan would be second choice.

 

[The Introvert]

Cool, thanks Polaris!

When do you guys think the 'deadline' should be to vote? (if at all)

In hopes that this actually turns into a thing, one needn't be upset if their first choice isn't picked right away.

 

[Polaris]

No problems. Also, if anyone has Adobe Digital Editions or a Kobo, Kindle or any other ereader that accepts ePub files, there's a free copy of Leviathan here.

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

Cool, thanks Polaris!

When do you guys think the 'deadline' should be to vote? (if at all)

In hopes that this actually turns into a thing, one needn't be upset if their first choice isn't picked right away.

4 or 5 days to vote seems right...imo

 

[redbaron]

Moby Dick bitches.

 

[Yellow]

So can we safely start reading Moby Dick? Will there be chapter assignments and a general timeline?

 

[TBerg]

So can we safely start reading Moby Dick? Will there be chapter assignments and a general timeline?

No votes at all for a few days. I have downloaded my copy of Moby Dick.

Does everyone else have a copy already?

I would be up for a pace of sixty pages a day. What about everyone else?