Unless otherwise noted, the Bookclub will meet on the 3rd Thursday of every month. You must confirm your attendance and call for the location of the meeting, as it may change from month-to-month depending upon the participants.
Check our MeetUp site for current changes and information regarding this and other events at:
APRIL BOOK CLUB SELECTION
Date/Time: Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 7:00 PM Location:
LIVING ROOM CAFE, 5900 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego CA 92115 619-286-8434 Three blocks west of College Avenue RSVP: Call Michael : 619.590.0491 or use the Meetup site
Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free
by Charles P. Pierce
Review by Stephen Amidon (books@observer.com):
The
pastor from Pennsylvania put it best. On the eve of a trial to
determine the legality of a local school boards decision to teach
intelligent design alongside evolutionary theory, the Rev. Ray Mummert,
a leader of the anti-Darwin brigade, made national headlines with a
statement that cut straight to the heart of Americas culture wars.
Weve been attacked, he protested, by the intelligent, educated
segment of our culture. In an increasingly divided nation, where one
is asked to take sides on every issue from the creation of the universe
to the first ladys triceps, it was perhaps inevitable that people
should be required to make a stand on the subject of being smart.
Charles
Pierces Idiot America is a lively and, dare I say, intelligent study
of this ongoing assault on gray matter. Weve chosen up sides on
everything, he asserts, fashioning our public lives as though we were
making up a fantasy baseball team. This new civil war almost always
boils down to a clash between intellect and feeling, or what Mr. Pierce
labels the Gut. The Gut is a moron, as anyone whos ever tossed a golf
club, punched a wall, or kicked a lawn mower knows, he writes. The
Gut is the roiling repository of dark and ancient fears. The problem
is, it currently has a stranglehold on a hefty slice of our major
mediatalk radioas well as that traveling circus known as the G.O.P.
People
who believe that the educated intellect should guide public policy are
liable to rely on facts, science and logic as their weapons of choice.
Their general is James Madison, who, according to Mr. Pierce,
considered self-government no less a science than botany. It required
an informed and educated and enlightened populace, or else all the
delicate mechanisms of the system would come apart. Team Gut, however,
relies on bluster, superstition and bullying to wage its campaigns. Its
field commanders are broadcasters like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh,
who deploy a battle plan Mr. Pierce calls the Three Great Premises of
Idiot America. The first of these states that a theory need only sell
books or elevate ratings in order to be deemed valid. The second
maintains that anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough.
And finally, a fact is defined as that which enough people believe.
Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it.
MARCH BOOK CLUB SELECTION
Date/Time: Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 7:00 PM Location:
LIVING ROOM CAFE, 5900 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego CA 92115 619-286-8434 Three blocks west of College Avenue RSVP: Call Michael : 619.590.0491 or use the Meetup site
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic
by Chalmers Johnson
A staggering tale of American hubris and self-destruction
In Nemesis, the third installment in his Blowback trilogy, Chalmers Johnson analyzes U.S. imperial overreach and the threat it poses to the republic to our very democracy. He offers a striking description of the trap that the grandiose dreams of Americas leaders have led us into. Drawing comparisons to the Roman and British empires, Johnson explores in vivid detail the likely unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy. What does it mean when a nations main intelligence organization becomes the president's private army? Or when the globe's sole hyperpower, no longer capable of paying for the vaulting ambitions of its leaders, becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all time? Or when dreams of domination take off for the heavens?
A staggering tale of American hubris, Nemesis details the world of secrecy surrounding Capitol Hill from government-sanctioned domestic spying, to unacknowledged CIA prisons, to the dubious budgeting to back it all up. Johnson documents the crippling militarism that has left what was once the greatest industrial power in the world producing mainly weaponry and the corruption of a toothless Congress that is undermining checks and balances so crucial to American democracy. In his stunning conclusion, Johnson suggests that a coming financial bankruptcy could herald the breakdown of constitutional government in America a crisis that may ultimately prove to be the only path to a renewed nation.
Bill Moyers: There's one book in particular I would put in everybody's stocking if I could. It's not new - it was actually published three years ago. But I read it again this month, and found its message more relevant than ever. This is it: NEMESIS: THE LAST DAYS OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
FEBRUARY BOOK CLUB SELECTION
Date/Time: Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 7:00 PM Location:
LIVING ROOM CAFE, 5900 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego CA 92115 619-286-8434 Three blocks west of College Avenue RSVP: Call Michael : 619.590.0491 or use the Meetup site
The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition
by Lewis Carroll; edited by Martin Gardner
"Clarkson Potter published The Annotated Alice in 1960, and Gardner published the sequel More Annotated Alice in 1990. Here, Gardner combines and expands both to produce The Definitive Edition. This presents the full texts of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, and "The Wasp in a Wig," a "suppressed" chapter of Looking-Glass. Each of these texts is accompanied by a lengthy marginal commentary that identifies historical and literary references and allusions, explains Carroll's logical and mathematical puzzles, and interprets colloquialisms and idiomatic expressions. Gardner's commentary is sufficiently detailed to be informative without burdening Alice with excessive pedantic baggage. The Definitive Edition also includes Tenniel's original illustrations and an exhaustive annotated list by David Shaefer of Alice on the screen. This is a happy contribution to those who appreciate Lewis Carroll." -Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, GA
The latest Hollywood version of "Alice in Wonderland", staring Johnny Depp, hits the theatres in March 2010. Read and discuss the book before catching the film!
JANUARY BOOK CLUB SELECTION
Date/Time: Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Location: LIVING ROOM CAFE, 5900 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego CA 92115. 619-286-8434. Three blocks west of College Avenue. Meetup site: ()
RSVP: Call Michael : 619.590.0491 or use the Meetup site.
"God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"
by Christopher Hitchens
Hitchens contends that organised religion is "[v]iolent, irrational, intolerant, allied to , , and , invested in and hostile to , contemptuous of women and toward children", and that accordingly it "ought to have a great deal on its conscience." Hitchens supports his position with a mixture of personal stories, documented historical anecdotes and critical analysis of religious texts. His commentary focuses mainly on the , although he also touches on other religions such as and . Bruce DeSilva of the wrote, "This time he's outdone himself [....] A spate of atheist screeds has arrived in the bookstores lately, but Hitchens' may be the best since 's (1927), laying out the essential arguments with force and precision [....] He makes his case in the elegant yet biting prose we have come to expect from him [....] Hitchens is the reincarnation of , the penultimate social critic of the first half of the 20th century, who used words like gunshots and considered most Americans 'boobs'." DeSilva goes on to opine that "Hitchens has nothing new to say, although it must be acknowledged that he says it exceptionally well."
The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego is a non-profit educational organization.
