Knowledge and History

We have read several books that have provided historical information in both non-fiction and historical fiction books. We have read about presidents Washington, Lincoln, Garfield, Teddy Roosevelt, Kennedy, and the ex-presidents club. We have learned about the civil war, WWII, Vietnam, and the first marines. We have learned about Sherman's march, abolitionists, pre-WWII Germany, post WWII America, and 1927 America. We read about Olympic athletes, Newton, cowboys and indians, the LAPD, Cuba, failed civilizations, and "Nearly Everything". Although the amount of knowledge is considerable, as pointed out in the book The Shallows, the difficult part is finding it with our random access memory.

John H's Fab 5

My five favorite books are the following:

End of Faith
Endurance
Quiet
Muzzled
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

END OF  FAITH
For years I have struggled with the hypocrisy of organized religion. I went to 16 years of Catholic school and finally realized that for me the Catholic religion was a religion of smoke and mirrors. It was hard for me to understand how life choices, political decisions, and murdering people  were a result of what the Bible contained. When I finished reading End of Faith, it was clear to me that all organized religions were at one time or another, attempts to get people to behave and believe in a certain way, no matter how drastic  the methods were. Unfortunately, that included killing and torturing people if they did not want to believe in the chosen religion or because they participated in another organized religion.  I found myself very angry after reading this book at fellow human beings who lost their way in an effort to sell their beliefs. Pretty sad chapters in our world history.

ENDURANCE
Recently I was out in my patio reading as the sun was setting. I realized I was getting cold and immediately went into the house to get a wrap. When I came back out I suddenly  thought about the book Endurance and what the men in that book experienced. I just started laughing at myself and thought about what it would be like to be in their situation. I couldn’t imagine sleeping in a wet sleeping bag in sub zero temperature for months on end. Neither could I imagine eating only whale blubber for the same length of time. I was so impressed with the fortitude, strength, and determination of these men. At no time did they complain or give up. Each time I thought it could not get any worse for these adventures, they were thrown another horrible challenge with which they had to deal. Truly amazing that they all made it back to civilization.  Shackleton  was such a competent and dedicated leader that he lost not one man on this incredible journey. So the next time you feel a little chill or hear your stomach rumbling because you haven’t eaten in several hours, think about what these incredibly brave  men endured and you too will chuckle at yourself.

QUIET
I sure wish I read this book in high school! It would have given me a much better understanding of what makes up an introvert and how, knowing that fact about myself, I could have navigated school and life more effectively. I finally figured out that I was an introvert but it was after my days in school. Sitting in class, paying attention, but not contributing to the class discussions, caused me to feel some sense of guilt. Had I read this book earlier, I would have realized that this is who I am and it was OK not to feel compelled to jump into discussions. My personal challenge in my career was that I was an introvert doing a job the required me to be an extrovert. I think that took a lot of extra energy at times, but over all, it was well worth the effort. The author suggest that whether you are an introvert or extrovert, your job is to figure out what you are meant to contribute to the world and make sure you contribute it. He says we should spend our free time the way we like, not the way we think we are supposed to. Feeling guilty about being either an introvert  or an extrovert is just wasted energy and will get in the way of enjoying our lives to the fullest.

MUZZLED
Although this book was written in 2011, it definitely applies to the world today, and especially what has been happening with the election in the past 18 months. Now that Donald Trump has been elected president, the content of this book becomes even more important. The election has caused the United States to become anything but united. If we don’t start to listen to each other, we will never find a way to coexist comfortably in the area of politics. Although we all bear some blame for this lack of understanding and accepting each other’s perspectives, I think the press and the pundits bear a great deal of the blame. What is presented is a war between the two (or three) parties and the fight should be as contentions and nasty as possible….after all, that’s what sells.  The author points out that we get the media we deserve. He thinks we are all in on the joke of watching and listening to the gossip and nonsense that passes a real news. We all need to do something to make sure we get real news and not the dog and pony show that sells and presents only one side of a situation. And the only things that we generally choose to  listen to and believe are the things we believe in already. We all tend to surround ourselves with people who are like minded. And that is fine  except this  causes us to not listen to other’s perspective. It is not at all easy to change this trend, but if we don’t, we will continue to go along with a muzzled country.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO
This is the only book that received a score of 5 from every member. I think it was because it was a well thought out and interesting plot, cleverly presented, and the characters were interesting and well developed. There were many twists and turns and just when the reader felt he may have figured out the ending, the author threw in another unexpected twist. It was a compelling read that required that reader to pay close attention and not put his mind in auto pilot which can be easily done in many mysteries. The movie was entertaining and well done, but the book was a real work of art.

David's 5 favorites

Well, I’m still the “rookie” in our group, having started in 5/03, and continuing to look forward to our meetings.  I’m especially appreciative of the “stretching” that membership in the club has meant for me.  Reading books I never would have chosen, and thinking about their effect on me has been a wonderful education, and the discussions are always interesting to me.  So, I started this exercise trying to pick 5, but here’s the 12 and the categories I settled on.

First, Fiction
Cloudsplitter by Banks
Human Stain by Roth
Girl Tattoo by Steig
Man in the Basement by Mosely

Second, Finding Meaning
End of Faith by Harris
Moral Landscape by Harris
Staring at the Sun by Yalom

Third, Learning Perspectives
Lattitudes and Attitudes by Friedman
World is Flat by Friedman
World is Hot by Friedman
Varieties of Scientific Experience by Sagan
Unaccountable by Makary

Now the tough winnowing.
1. Human Stain.  The great American novel for me.  I’ve read all Roth’s work, and this is the best.
2. Cloudsplitter.  The best of Banks that combines history, character study, religious zeal, and tragedy.
3 .End of Faith.  This book and author came along as I was undergoing a sea change in my faith, and has been enormously helpful for me
4 .Staring at the Sun.  An important book that helped me to consider my mortality.  Yalom has been a mentor in my professional growth.
5. The World is Flat.  I always feel informed by Friedman, this positive look at the future of the world is my favorite.

Psychology

Since Dr. Jones joined the group in 2003 we have read several books that have a psychological theme. The books that come to mind are The Schopenhauer Cure, Blink, and a First Rate Madness. There is a psychological aspect to many other books we read such as the survival instincts in Endurance, Into the Wild, and the 33 Buried Miners. There is also the trauma of war in books like The Things They Carried and Killer Angels. Having a psychologist in the group has helped us all read more into both the non-fiction as well as the fiction books.

Religion and Spirituality

The group is made up of men raised with various religious teachings and levels of belief. We have members with Catholic, Mormon, and various other Christian backgrounds. One member even trained to be a minister, however no one is currently active with a church. We have read books that have challenged organized religion including Under the Banner of Heaven and End of Faith, as well as a few philosophy books and fiction novels such as DaVinci Code and Dissolution. Overall I would say that the group generally places reason over faith, however there is level of spirituality as well. We have read books about human spirituality including Life of Pi, Stillness Speaks, The Moral Landscape, and The Social Animal. We have read several books on mortality including Tuesdays with Morrie, Being Mortal, When Breath Becomes Air, The Last Lecture, and Staring into the Sun. As a group we have been able to openly discuss difficult questions concerning the meaning of life and each of us have come away with our own special understanding.

Stanley's top 5

These are my top 5 and why:

Tuesdays with Morrie – A wonderful and touching account of a supportive relationship between two men of very different ages and backgrounds.

The Greatest Generation – An account of the amazing contributions made by the (mostly) men who returned from WWII and worked very hard to make the U.S. a strong and highly respected country.  Yes, we know that there was a segment of our population that, mostly because of racial issues, did not completely share in our “middle class” affluence.  But overall I consider the post war period, in which I had the opportunity to live and work, a golden age for the U.S.

The Perfect Storm – A very well written and exciting account of the ocean disaster that befell a vessel due to the convergence of several weather patterns.  The term, “Perfect Storm”, has become a descriptor of some very important events.

Don’t Think About an Elephant – A very interesting discussion of how words and actions can direct the thinking of people.

The World is Flat – A very incisive (to me) early introduction (2005) to the global changes underway in our world and the effects that there were, and will have on our society

Food and Drink

The standard fair at the launch of the book club over 18 years ago was sandwiches and basic beer, wine, and soda. Over the years it has evolved to everything from soups and stews, to pot roast and comfort foods, gourmet dinners and fancy recipes, ethnic and theme foods, to take out and restaurants. Stan has been our soup and stew man, Bob and Uli have provided creative culinary offerings, John and Mo have provided the ultimate comfort food, David, Dave, and Paul have been branching out, and now being from out of town I have resorted to restaurants. The nice wines and beer and sodas have always been great. Often the menu has been in theme with the chosen book and sometimes the decor has been as well (thanks Mo). The obligation of hosting, as well as book selection is not taken lightly.

Business

Given the nature of our book club, meeting monthly and not all prolific readers, several of our early books were short business books. The shortest was about 50 pages in Who Moved my Cheese. We have also read Lexus and the Olive Tree, Blink, Drive, Moneyball, Freakonomics, Outliers, Macrowikinomics, and Abundance. We have read about the failures of business in The Big Short and the potential future in The Post American World. Each of these books have provide us with insight into the workings of individuals as well as business.

Funny that only Paul is still meeting with a regular business group and Bill is in search of a new business. Dave is still relieving doctors once a week, and there is considerable volunteer work being done by several members. Nonetheless there is some serious brain power available in the group if we can locate the information.

True Adventure

This category has some great true life survival stories including Endurance, Into the Wild, Perfect Storm, and Touching the Void. War related stories like Black Hawk Down, Lone Survivor, Zanzibar Chest, The Pirate Coast, Killer Angels, Kite Runner, Three Cups of Tea, and Unbroken. As well as sports stories including Seabiscuit and the Boys in the Boat. Even treasure hunting in Ship of Gold and the Deep Blue Sea. All these books were exciting page turners.

Fiction and Literature

Just over a third of the books we have read to date have been fiction (72/206). Some of our books, such as Devil in the White City, Slaughterhouse 5, Dissolution, In the Garden of Beasts, and The March, I would classify as historical fiction. A few other books were comedies such as Bad Monkey and Blowfish. We read children and young adult books including Education of Littletree, Holes, Catcher in the Rye, Harry Potter, Life of Pi, Thunderbolt Kid, and Hunger Games. We read a few classics such as Ivan Ilyich and the Sun Also Rises, as well as some contemporary renowned authors. Our suspenseful books included Kiss the Girls, Friend of the Earth, The Plague, Dust and Shadow, DaVini Code, and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. There were also some pleasant stories such as My Losing Season, A Sad Affair, The Tender Bar, and The Art of Racing in the Rain.

Clearly we have read a wide variety of fiction books.

Science

We have read a few books on science, medicine, and space with a chemical professor and a medical doctor in the group. Science books include The Varieties of Scientific Experience, How I Killed Pluto, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Grand Design, Isaac Newton, Stiff, and Taste. Dave knew the guy who killed Pluto and Stan had us do our own taste tests. It certainly helps to have a scientific perspective to some challenging concepts provided by the likes of Hawking and Sagan.

The Environment

The environment has been my personal topic of obsession over the years with Upsizing, Southern California - An Island on the Land, The Control of Nature, The Once and Future World, The Earth is Hot, Flat, and Crowded, The World Without Us, Getting to Green, Friend of the Earth, and Countdown among the selections. The topic of climate change, the future of the planet, and what can we do about it are discussed pretty regularly by the group with concern for the future generations. Maybe there are solutions to problems presented by books like Countdown that have not yet been considered, as the book Abundance would imply.