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.

John S Favoites

Several years ago I selected my five favorite books as A Short History About Nearly Everything, Holes, End of Faith, The World is Flat, and Night of the Avenging Blowfish. Since then we have read many books that I have found to be equally enjoyable. I would put my favorite books in the same following categories:

1. History and interesting information
2. Children and young adults
3. Thought provoking
4. Important issues and events
5. Fun reads

I enjoy learning new things and no book had more general information than A Short History of Nearly Everything. We have read several historical books involving the presidents and politics, conflicts and wars, and adventures. We have also read books on science and the cosmos. It is difficult to choose a favorite in this category since each one addresses a different event, so I am stinking with Bryson's book over Endurance, Ship of Gold and the Deep Blue Sea, Killer Angels, Garfield and so many more. Bryson is such a good writer that he is able to present a tremendous amount of information in a book that is both enjoyable and understandable.

The children and young adult category has a few really good reads from The Education of Little Tree, to Harry Potter, to Holes, to Hunger Games. Even though Hunger Games is a young adult book I will have it edging out Holes. The series of books are exciting page turners based on a scary futuristic world.

The thought provoking books include Dave's psychological additions, studies on human nature, and religion. Many of our fiction books fall in this category. There is always Tuesdays with Morie and When Breath Becomes Air. I still find End of Faith extremely powerful and put it ahead of the rest in this group. The book addressing the disturbing consequences of religious extremism.

The books on important issues is similar to the previous category but a little more concrete. Stanley introduced us to a few books on politics that have help explain some things and Dave brought in a couple on medicine. Friedman's books on globalization and the middle east have been high on my list. I also liked Zakaria's book, Zanzabar's chest, and the recent books Muzzled and Hillbilly Elegy. However I have to pick one of the environmental books. There have been a several including The Once and Future World, Upsizing, and Getting to Green, but I will go with Countdown. Countdown takes on the urgency of the taboo subject of overpopulation.

The final category is fun reads and this includes so many really good books. John H. bought us many exciting and manly books and Bob bought us a variety of fun stories. I still like the silly comedies like Blowfish, Me Talk Pretty Some Day, and Good Monkey. I really liked The Art of Racing in the Rain and The Art Forger, but I will go with the groups only perfect 5, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The book had interesting characters, settings, suspense, and story line.

Politics

The group is made up of half Democrats and half Republicans. A couple of the wives are actively involved in local and state politics and we each have our opinions. There are no Trump supporters in the group, however there is a varied level of support for Hillary. We have read books about California politics, immigration, the primary system, and several presidents. Political books include Don't think about an Elephant, California Crack Up, Mexifornia, Let the People Rule, Garfield, The Limits of Power, The President's Club, The Big Burn, and Getting to Green. 

We have shared our political thoughts from the end of the Clinton administration, though the Bush W. years, and now through the rest of the Obama years. We have discussed the effects of 911, the Iraq war, the recession, global climate change, immigration, and a host of other local and national issues.

The current selection of Hillbilly Elegy helps to give a perspective on the latest presidential election. Speaking of the latest election, Bob wrote: The white middle class workers voted from their fear that their place in our society is shrinking. That fear is not likely to be changed by President Trump. But we now can add the fears of 20 million who will lose their health care, the 3 million Muslims and other minorities who will fear their place in America, the fear of 15 million Hispanic families who have undocumented members of their families, the fears of our global partners who fear a move to isolation and the fear of consumers that regulations protection will be dismantled. As our new President might say, Sad. Several of us have since weighed in on the event and are generally surprised and disappointed with the outcome. 

In the meeting following the election the group discussed the direction of the nation. The book Hillbilly Elegy did not provide much insight for the plight of blue collar workers in America. It is a nice story about what one individual can do with a few good role models and some military training. America and the world will continue to evolve with greater diversity, automation, and globalization regardless of the recent election. Blue collar jobs will continue to disappear and we discussed Musk's idea of a universal basic income. In the mean time we will have to endure some bumps in the road.

Book club is a unique opportunity for eight guys to openly discuss politics in a lively yet civil forum.

Members

The No Name Book Club is made up of eight men between 62 and 80. When we started 18 years ago we were all working professionals consisting of a medical doctor (Dave), lawyer (Bob), psychologist (David), head master (John H), college science professor (Stanley), entrepreneur (Bill), business consultant (Paul), and accountant (John S). We are now mostly retired but actively involved in many pursuits. Member hobbies include wood working, golf, traveling, surfing, bird watching, gardening, spending time with kids and grand kids, and reading. The group includes highly successful individuals that are experts in their field, not to mention their accomplished children.
Politically we are all over the board from fiscal conservatives (Paul and Bill) to progressives (Bob, Stanley and David). Dave, John H, and John S are somewhere in between. Each of us have our own causes and passions. Stanley is a strong supporter of public education, science, and local politics. John H is an expert on primary and secondary education. John S is deeply concerned with the environment. Bob is an advocate for the under-served working class. Paul and Bill believe in the power of innovation and technology. Dave and David continue to be passionate concerning the fields of medicine and mental health.
As a group we are able to discuss issues openly from different points of view with respect to each other's feelings. It has proven to be a great way to get a different perspective on issues. Lastly they are all nice guys that you enjoy hanging out with.

No Name Book

Alright, here is my plan for a coffee table book for the No Name Book Club. I have set up something on Blurb with the following suggested Chapters:
Introduction
History and members
Food and drink
Politics and other major topics
Fiction
Book ratings and our 5 favorite books
Epilogue
The idea is to post each of the chapters on the blog and encourage input from everyone. We already have a start on History, Book Ratings, and Other major topics. The final product will be a 8 1/2 by 11 hardback book with a minimum of 20 pages. Please update your book ratings and I welcome your input and suggestions.

Hillbilly Elegy

I recently saw J.D. Vance on PBS discussing his book. The following is link to a TED talk https://www.ted.com/talks/j_d_vance_america_s_forgotten_working_class?language=en and a link to an article by David Brooks http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/opinion/revolt-of-the-masses.html. I see he also was on CNN, ABC, NBC, and covered in the New Yorker as well. He is getting a lot of attention and helps to explain the phenomenon of Mr. Trump.

From Bill...

About the Book 

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 

"You will not read a more important book about America this year."—The Economist 

"A riveting book."—The Wall Street Journal

"Essential reading."—David Brooks, New York Times

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility.

But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history.

A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

Dissolution

Dissolution of the Monasteries occurred in England under Henry XIII and his chief counsel Thomas Cromwell from 1536 to 1541. The Protestant Reformation is sometimes seen as the end of the Middle Ages (476-1517). Henry XIII was the second in the Tudor line in England and established the Church of England to separate from the Pope and the Catholic Church. His wife #2 of 6 was Ann Boleyn who he accused of high treason, incest, and adultery so he could move on to #3. He also killed off philosopher Thomas Moore, a couple of other wives, and many others. This is before the Age of Reason.

"The Bible says God made man in his own image but I think we make and remake him, in whatever image happens to suit our shifting needs." Matthew Shardlake

Here is a link to more pictures http://www.photoshow.com/watch/fS5cb8HQ

Thank you David for choosing Countdown

Weisman addresses the taboo issue of overpopulation from the perspective of every corner of the world from Palestine to Iran, England to Italy, Costa Rica, the Philippines, China, India, Pakistan, and Niger. The topic is put in political and religious context and from the perspective of globalization. The world population was pretty stable for 200,000 years at 1.6 billion until 1900. With less infant mortality and nearly double life expectancy we now stand at 6.9 billion with 10 billion projected by 2100...but it does not have to be. As the Mormon woman from Utah said, "There is not a single problem on Earth that wouldn't be easier if there were fewer people." Weisman's challenge is "Do we have the will and foresight to make decisions for the sake of descendents we will never know?"

15th Anniversary

Don't look now, but the next meeting will be our 15th anniversary!

I hope that doesn't mean I need to break out the crystal.