What Books Would You Like To See As Future Selections?

[d4]

Our first two book selections were a bit dictated by the fact that the authors will be coming to speak to us within the next two months, but our third selection will be decided by a poll on this group (as long as enough people vote). Sophia took notes on the suggestions that were mentioned at the first meetup and those will be typed and added on here soon. Please use this thread to nominate books for our first official democratic selection.

Also, if you are particularly interested in a book that someone mentions, feel free to second someone else's nomination. We may have to narrow down the choices for the first poll based on interest expressed within--if we have 30 different options, it's more likely we'll all vote for different books and that defeats the purpose.

It's not necessary, but it would be helpful if you mentioned if you have read and/or own the book that you are recommending. It's just nice to know if a lot of people already own a book, but haven't read it or would be interested in re-reading it as a group.

You can simply type out titles and authors or you can click on the link that says "add book/author" which is located above the comment box. Using this option, you can search for a book or author and GoodReads will add it as a link--it's especially helpful if you don't feel like summarizing the book yourself since GoodReads is a database that already has each book synopsis--as well as user reviews and ratings.

For example, our first book selection is The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony by Will Tuttle.

I can also list books by cover or the author's pic. (Click on "add book/author": search and then change the default "link" option to "cover.") This is just if you want to make your post pretty for those of us with short attention spans. Example:

[d4]

I will start.

My top 2 nominations I would love to read as a group are:


I have read both of these books. I think The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change would make a good third selection as a break from animal rights-dominated books.

(I briefly discussed at the meeting that I personally feel like we should try to have the group as accessible to people of different opinions and lifestyles as possible so that we can encourage others to expand their knowledge and compassion, and not just reinforce our own views.)

I believe Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life would make an excellent selection to help set the tone for future selections. It certainly expanded my compassion beyond issues of which I was already aware.

Other books I have read and would recommend:


The books I haven't read and are interested in reading are waaaaay too many to list, but so I will just wait for others to list theirs and second any nominations in which I'm particularly interested.

I would also like to note that when you click on a title, if any of your friends have read, reviewed, or added it to their to-read list, it will show up before all the other hundreds of reviews (in some cases--not all books are that popular). This is why I encourage people in the group to add one another. Once those new to the site start updating which books they have and haven't read, it may make it a lot easier to gauge which books the majority of us are interested. For those of you who accept my friend request, just try not to be offended by my somewhat frequent use of profanity in reviews--I've been using this site before this book club was organized. I'll be keeping my posts within the group rated PG. I won't take it personally if you choose not to accept a friend request from me--unless we're actually close friends in person, in which case I will have some non-PG things to say to you the next time I see you. ;)

[Daniel]

Those sound like great selections Dara, The one by Safran Foer and "the Story of Stuff" are both on my Amazon wishlist, and I've read "The Way we Eat" (very good). Might I suggest Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment..." (very good reminder as to why most of us have chose the veg life style in the first place). Also I'm reading another book right now called "the World According to Monsanto" that is pretty intersting and I'm surprised more people don't know what an unethical company the agricultural giant really is.

[Jessi]

I second the Most Good book next.
Daniel - I watched a documentary about Monsanto a couple years ago... scary stuff, huh?!

[d4]

My family farms Monsanto. :/ Pretty sure growing up with all those chemicals around probably damaged me in some way. Oh well!

[d4]

Jessi nominates The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood.

[d4]

Jessi, was that documentary The Future of Food by any chance? Because I'm watching it now, free on their website. I'm only 30 minutes into it and it is TERRIFYING.

I mean, I knew a lot of this from watching Food, Inc. and reading John Robbin's Food Revolution, but this documentary really lays it all out. I will probably buy a copy to mail back home although I doubt it will do any good there since Monsanto pays the bills.

This seriously scares me. My family farms Monsanto crops, meaning they fed me Monsanto corn only all the time. My mother fills the freezer up with it and uses it year-round. As a kid I worked in the fields that were sprayed with those chemicals. The tractors' sprayers were filled in my front yard; the chemicals would run off into our soil, and our water came from our own well--drinking, bathing, washing clothes and dishes in most likely contaminated water. Odds are just not for me on this one.

I'm interested in the book on Monsanto as a book club selection. Those without time to read the book could still watch the documentary (streaming online in high quality FREE) and contribute to the discussion.

This stuff bums me out hardcore though. I seriously want to drink right now. Whenever we choose this book, we better plan it well so that we have something uplifting as the following book choice. :/

Fringe better be a good episode tonight or I'm knocking back some vodka. I'll take any kind of escape from reality I can get.

[d4]

Not necessarily for our third selection, but I'd like to suggest The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams. I haven't read it, but I adore his more famous work Watership Down. The Plague Dogs is a work of fiction that follows two dogs who escape an animal research facility. I think it would be a good break from the writing style of nonfiction books.

[d4]

These are some of the other books that were mentioned at our first meeting:

[Amanda]

Ofmatt (dara) wrote: "Not necessarily for our third selection, but I'd like to suggest The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams. I haven't read it, but I adore his more famous work Watership Down. The ..."

I like this idea!

[d4]

Here's a list that Sophia adapted from an extensive list on humaneeducation.org. (I'm pretty sure Sophia is just giving me busywork now.)

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for posting all of these, Dara! Seeing that we chose World Peace Diet for February and Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows for March because the respective speakers were in Orlando, I think we should go with a lighter read for April.

My suggestions are , , , (which is a picture book!).

I feel that all of these book choices would encourage us to reflect on the choices that we make everyday when we decide what to eat, wear, buy and support. I've read these selections (except for Story of Stuff, but I saw the video) and I believe that they educate and empower readers to make humane choices that positively impact other people, animals and the planet.

[d4]

I just wanted to remind everyone that if you click on a book, your friends' reviews will be listed before everyone else's. So if you have Sophia on your friends list and click on some of the books she had me type out, you'll realize that she gave quite a few of them 1 and 2 star ratings. I *guess* she recommended books to punish us. ;)

[Iveta]

Hello everyone. I would like to suggest the following book: "Trafficking for Begging: Old Game, New Name". Here I make the case for begging and the exploitation of beggars as a form of human trafficking. Neglected issue. By far the first book that takes up the topic. So let's see if there would be interest in this human rights issue here.

[Iveta]

And just a quick news on human trafficking. Hollywood couple Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore join the UN in an anti-trafficking campaign. UN victims fund tries to allocate $1 million to front line NGOs.

Kind of cool. Read more at http://bit.ly/g7Y8ry

[Jessi]

That sounds like a really interesting book, Iveta. It would be good to read something about human rights too.

Dara, - no, the Monsanto documentary I saw wasn't Future of Food. I think it was this one: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-wo...

[Britt]

my top two choices are the story of stuff and most good least harm!

[d4]

Jessi wrote: "That sounds like a really interesting book, Iveta. It would be good to read something about human rights too.

Dara, - no, the Monsanto documentary I saw wasn't Future of Food. I think it was this ..."

I watched this a couple of hours ago. I needed something to help me fall asleep. ;) As far as production value goes, The Future of Food is a lot better. Of the two, it's definitely what I would recommend to most people. It's a shame--there is definitely some good and interesting information in The World According to Monsanto (film), but watching it requires overlooking some very boring film techniques. (I'm supposed to watch someone Google? Really?) On the plus side, it focused on different aspects of the same story so watching it didn't feel redundant. You should watch The Future of Food though, it's free to view and it has better video quality as well: http://www.thefutureoffood.com/online...

[d4]

The poll to determine our May book selection is up! Vote here: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/45...

[d4]

It Happened On the Way to War by Rye Barcott:



I just finished reading this book & I'd like to throw it as a recommendation for the group. :) It's a memoir: Rye Barcott co-founded the nonprofit Carolina For Kibera (CFK) while as an undergrad at UNC enlisted in the Marines. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Barcott used his resources in the U.S. to aid leaders in Kibera. The book also discusses his miltary service within the Marines and the seemingly contradictory nature of promoting peace in Kibera while fighting a war in Iraq.

I think the group would like this book. The author is easy to relate to and there's humor in his story, too. It has a positive message about a horrible situation. I think it might be good to show a case where yeah, everything is fucked up, but here's what someone is doing about it. Things *can* change, etc.

It was just realized this year so it may be harder to find used copies, BUT a portion of the proceeds go to CFK and I would be a bit shocked if anyone read the book and afterwards didn't want to help CFK in some way.

[[deleted user]]

I'll be using any books that we haven't read yet in January's book poll. Thanks for your suggestions!

[Stacy]

This is the book I am reading that I mentioned at the book club last night... although I'm apt to vote for the other book shown to us later on!

[Stacy]

Oh, and GoodReads recommended this one which sounds pretty cool too.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks, Stacy for the suggestions!

[d4]

I just started this book--it's an anthology of essays--and I'm only still in the introduction, but it looks very promising:

[[deleted user]]

Definitely keep adding the books that you'd like to read here or on the Facebook group!