Proposed Group change for 2017

[Ted]

Proposed new format for the Transition Group

[Ted]

Hello Transition Group members.

It's occurred to me that rather than do next to nothing, we might try this.

I want to encourage each member (who has any desire to participate in the Group) to choose one book from our bookshelf to read and review in calendar 2017. This would be a read by you only. No group reads (although anyone can organize one if they want, but they are very difficult to do with non-fiction books.)

I will send out a message to all group members and try to get everyone to check in on this thread.

Let's just play this by ear and see what develops.

[Barbara]

Ted, I would like to read Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World", which I have had on my reading list for years. Barbara.

[zed]

I will need to find something relevant.

[Antonomasia]

I never like to promise anything for advance reading projects, and the next few months are looking even more uncertain than usual for me, but The Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update is in my Currently Reading, and hopefully will finish before the end of this year... so if you're willing to count slightly early contributions...
(And several months ago I read Six Degrees.)

I also have The Ecology of Wisdom: Writings by Arne Naess and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond unread. Would really like to read these but will have to put reading on the back burner soon.

I'd also like to recommend my friend Alex's very good recent review of Cadillac Desert which hasn't yet got the attention it, IMO, deserves.

I have never been a fan of set group reads and think this is a much better plan than the usual formats for those - choosing something from a long list of books over a greater span of time gives way more flexibility.

[Ted]

4triplezed wrote: "I will need to find something relevant."

Take your time, glad you checked in ... may I call you 4trip?

Barbara wrote: "Ted, I would like to read Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World", which I have had on my reading list for years. Barbara."

Great! It's all yours Barbara. (I have the book too).

[Ted]

Antonomasia wrote: "I never like to promise anything for advance reading projects, and the next few months are looking even more uncertain than usual for me, but The Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update ..."

Thanks for that detailed reply, Antono... whatever works for you is great.

[Ted]

Going on the few replies received almost immediately, I'll add a couple general comments here in the next day or two.

[Sue]

I'm thinking either Flight Behavior or Desert Solitaire. Not sure when I will be able to read either (or possibly both) due to an upcoming move, etc. but after the first quarter or so seems very possible.

[zed]

Ted wrote: "4triplezed wrote: "I will need to find something relevant."

Take your time, glad you checked in ... may I call you 4trip?

Barbara wrote: "Ted, I would like to read Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted..."

You can call me that Ted lol. I notice that Antonomsia has mentioned Collapse by Jarred Diamond. I have that sitting unread on the shelf so am happy to get on with that.

[Traveller]

Hi all!
What a good idea, Ted! Since I already own and have partly read, I am inclined to choose The Environmental Ethics and Policy Book: Philosophy, Ecology, Economics, but that book is rather outdated, so I might give it a short review and...hold on - are we allowed to do more than one book, and are the reviews going to be posted here on the group site or will we be linking to them in a special thread, or how is this going to work?

[Ted]

Traveller wrote: "Hi all!
What a good idea, Ted! Since I already own and have partly read, I am inclined to choose The Environmental Ethics and Policy Book: Philosophy, Ecology, Economics, but that bo..."

Hi Traveller! I need to thank you about something, so let me do that first.(view spoiler)[ iirc, you were the friend who invited me to join the Powell Dance 12-month read. Having now read the last eight books on your schedule (having read four previously) I am so grateful to have been invited to participate, and thus sort of semi-immersed in the series for eight months, finishing it probably years before I would have otherwise. Thank you thank you thank you!! (hide spoiler)]

Of course you're allowed to do more than one read and review.

If one looks into our bookshelf, and finds a book of interest, the last column to the right shows the date added. Then to the right of that you can click on "show activity". That takes you to a page which shows all members of this group who have read, rated, reviewed or just have the book on a shelf.

That's always there. But I think I would like to propose that when a member starts reading a book "for the group", a separate topic be made for that book in this folder, that the person reading can use for comments during the read (if desired), and provide a link to their review when that's finished. Naturally that topic stream could be used for discussion, but so too could the comment stream for the review itself, so those are options.

I think the book you mentioned is not on our bookshelf now, so could you add it? Make a new shelf if you want to, and also be aware that I've put a lot of books on multiple shelves, so that is not only allowed but encouraged.

[Ted]

And Traveller, since you have been running a Group very competently (more so than I) please suggest anything that might work out better than what I said above. Particularly about how we handle each individual book that gets read?

I see that to the far right in the bookshelf, there's also an "edit" button that brings up an Edit Group Book window, where you can assign a folder to a book. Would that be something we would want to do?

[Ted]

4triplezed wrote: "Ted wrote: "4triplezed wrote: "I will need to find something relevant."

Take your time, glad you checked in ... may I call you 4trip?

Barbara wrote: "Ted, I would like to read Carl Sagan's "The D..."

Okay, that's great. We'll get this other stuff about folders and topics etc sorted out, don't let any of that impede you in any way.

[Ted]

Sue wrote: "I'm thinking either Flight Behavior or Desert Solitaire. Not sure when I will be able to read either (or possibly both) due to an upcoming move, etc. but after the fir..."

Okay, Sue, that's great. I'm keen on both those books, I think I may have the first one.

[Antonomasia]

Please don't assign me to any books / folders in advance. If and when I finish and review a book from the list, I'll post. Presumably it's fine if more than one person goes for the same book at different times.

P.S. Anto for short is fine.

[Mary Ann]

Thanks, Ted. I'll read Joanna Macy's. world........Self..... Glad to have found this group.

[Ted]

Antonomasia wrote: "Please don't assign me to any books / folders in advance. If and when I finish and review a book from the list, I'll post. Presumably it's fine if more than one person goes for the same book at dif..."

Sure, same book is fine for more than one.

And I don't mean to be assigning people to books, I really couldn't care less if someone actually reads and reviews a book that they say they'd like to read, even if they say they will read it. No rules here, no reason to make people feel pressured, or feel bad if they can't complete a planned read.

Frankly, I'm thrilled that anyone has even posted on this thread, that's certainly enough to keep me happy! 8 )

I'm only trying to make things a little easier for someone who does "plan" on reading something, to have a special place to post for that particular book. Even if nothing is ever posted there, no problem.

It is possible to assign a member's name to the discussion of a book. I think before I would actually do that I would check with the person; perhaps those commenting in this thread could weigh in on whether that is something that should be dispensed with?

[Ted]

Mary Ann wrote: "Thanks, Ted. I'll read Joanna Macy's. world........Self..... Glad to have found this group."

Mary Ann, that looks like a really interesting book. That would be a great one to contribute something about!

[Jan]

Maybe Douglas Adams or E. O. Wilson.

[Ted]

Jan wrote: "Maybe Douglas Adams or E. O. Wilson."

Any of those would be interesting, Jan. Thanks for dropping in.

[Traveller]

Hi again. :)
Okay, what we could do is this: How about: anybody can post here if they would like us to open a thread for any particular book, which anybody who knows how to link the header of the thread to the book itself can then do. (In this folder).

(I wouldn't mind opening the threads, actually, if that carries your approval, Ted?)

Btw, the Vanderveer book that I mentioned is on our bookshelf - you added it on 2015/08/18, Ted.

[Antonomasia]

A book that looks worth checking out (not on the group shelf): Extracted: How the Quest for Mineral Wealth Is Plundering the Planet: A Report to the Club of Rome

[Ted]

Traveller wrote: "Hi again. :)
Okay, what we can do is this: Anybody can post here that they would like us to open a thread for any particular book, which anybody who knows how to link the header of the thread to th..."

Traveller, I'd love for you to do that, though I should write down somewhere how to do it. Maybe at some point you could message me (or just write it here in a comment) about the steps needed. I always get the thread & topics and folders mixed up, and how you start new ones.

So the book is there? Well, good enough then.

[Ted]

Antonomasia wrote: "A book that looks worth checking out (not on the group shelf): Extracted: How the Quest for Mineral Wealth Is Plundering the Planet: A Report to the Club of Rome"

Sounds good, I'll add it.

[Dave]

I am actually finally reading Six Degrees, by Lynas, but will be reading several more this year from your list, Ted. I've read many of them, but will read more and from suggestions I see from group members,

[Ted]

David wrote: "I am actually finally reading Six Degrees, by Lynas, but will be reading several more this year from your list, Ted. I've read many of them, but will read more and from suggestions I see from group..."

That's great, David, and be sure to write a little something about them also, if you have the time. I found Six Degrees sort of a scary read, especially of course the later chapters.

[Ted]

I've finally taken the time to find a 2017 Transition read for myself. Bill McKibben's Deep Economy. The book is about ten years old now, but it won't be dated at all (well, it could be dated if he was too optimistic ten years ago, but that's a different issue.)

Hope to start it soon.

[Antonomasia]

Is this the best place to post interesting looking books we haven't read ourselves?
An excellent review from a GR friend https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... which may well persuade some to read The Shock of the Anthropocene: The Earth, History and Us

[Ted]

Antonomasia wrote: "Is this the best place to post interesting looking books we haven't read ourselves?
An excellent review from a GR friend https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... which may well persuade som..."

Well it was a good place to get my attention, since I was notified about your post. I'm going to look at the review, then add the book to our bookshelf. Thanks Antonomasia.