Vote on what to read next for book club
Here are the choices for our next book-club read:
Vaclav Havel’s The Power of the Powerless: Written in 1978, Václav Havel’s meditation on political dissent – the rituals of its suppression, and the sparks that re-ignite it – would prove the guiding manifesto for uniting Solidarity movements across the Soviet Union. A portrait of activism in the face of falsehood and intimidation, The Power of the Powerless remains a rousing call against the allure of apathy.
Neil Postman’s The Disappearance of Childhood: Childhood as a social artifact at risk of being abolished by changes in media culture. Its origin was closely linked to the printing press and the growth of literacy, which made possible the segregation of groups into children and adults. Television, however, tends to eliminate the divide between childhood and adulthood, since its imagery offers a kind of undifferentiated access rather than using words to segregate audiences according to age or level of development.
Suzanne O’Sullivan’s The Sleeping Beauties: Suzanne O’Sullivan—an award-winning Irish neurologist—investigates psychosomatic disorders, traveling the world to visit communiÂties suffering from these so-called mystery illnesses. From a derelict post-Soviet mining town in Kazakhstan to the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua to the heart of the MarÃa Mountains in Colombia, O’Sullivan records the remarkÂable stories of syndromes related to her by people from all walks of life. Riveting and often distressing, these case studies are recounted with compassion and humanity.
Leon Festinger’s When Prophecy Fails: Classic work of social psychology, published in 1956, detailing a study of a small UFO religion in Chicago called the Seekers that believed in an imminent apocalypse. The authors took a particular interest in the members' coping mechanisms after the event did not occur, focusing on the cognitive dissonance between the members' beliefs and actual events, and the psychological consequences of these disconfirmed expectations. (If you’re not sure why I’d include this, just trust me…)
Given how insanely busy the next month will be for me—and given that it’s already mid-September and people need a month to read—we will meet next in mid-October.
If you’re new around here and wondering how to join, you can read all about book club here:
