BOOK CLUB: Nominations for May book.

[crispini]

Nice fresh thread! Allow me to reiterate: we're starting the nominations afresh. Everyone gets one nomination and unlimited "seconds" and a book must be nominated AND seconded to get on the poll.

And, un-selected choices from previous months CAN be renominated!

[katmondoo]

1. " Overworld"

"The Life and Times of a Reluctant Spy" by Larry J. Kolb

[Coexist]

2. Homegrown Democrat

I still want to read that one.

[CrispyQ]

3. I nominate: "Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic" by John De Graaf

Very good book about America's #1 epidemic.
I thought this might be a timely choice considering the new bankruptcy bill that is likely to pass. I remember one section where the author states that America traded in their citizenship to become consumers. It's a great book.


"Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic" by John De Graaf

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1576751996/qid=1110411941/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-5791353-5651937?v=glance&s=books&n=507846


snip...

In their eye-opening, soul-prodding look at the excess of American society, the authors of Affluenza include two quotations that encapsulate much of the book: T.S. Eliot's line "We are the hollow men / We are the stuffed men," which opens one of this book's chapters, and a quote from a newspaper article that notes "We are a nation that shouts at a microwave oven to hurry up." If these observations make you grimace at your own ruthless consumption or sigh at the hurried pace of your life, you may already be ill. Read on.
The definition of affluenza, according to de Graaf, Wann, and Naylor, is something akin to "a painful, contagious, socially-transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more." It's a powerful virus running rampant in our society, infecting our souls, affecting our wallets and financial well-being, and threatening to destroy not only the environment but also our families and communities. Having begun life as two PBS programs coproduced by de Graaf, this book takes a hard look at the symptoms of affluenza, the history of its development into an epidemic, and the options for treatment. In examining this pervasive disease in an age when "the urge to splurge continues to surge," the first section is the book's most provocative. According to figures the authors quote and expound upon, Americans each spend more than $21,000 per year on consumer goods, our average rate of saving has fallen from about 10 percent of our income in 1980 to zero in 2000, our credit card indebtedness tripled in the 1990s, more people are filing for bankruptcy each year than graduate from college, and we spend more for trash bags than 90 of the world's 210 countries spend for everything. "To live, we buy," explain the authors--everything from food and good sex to religion and recreation--all the while squelching our intrinsic curiosity, self-motivation, and creativity. They offer historical, political, and socioeconomic reasons that affluenza has taken such strong root in our society, and in the final section, offer practical ideas for change. These use the intriguing stories of those who have already opted for simpler living and who are creatively combating the disease, from making simple habit alterations to taking more in-depth environmental considerations, and from living lightly to managing wealth responsibly.

[Emboldened Chimp]

4. The Boys on the Bus, by Timothy Crouse

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812968204/qid=1110478891/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-2102425-0329423?v=glance&s=books

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Political spin-doctoring has become something of an art form in the last few decades. It was less artful in the early years of the information age, and Crouse's entertaining look at the attempts of both the Nixon and McGovern '72 campaign staffs to control the media seems almost comical, so poor were they at the image-and-sound bite manipulation that now defines our politics. Crouse is a serious-minded journalist, however, and his firsthand report on how political news is made and shaped remains important reading. Check out Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 for a more madcap view of the same matters.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description:
Cheap booze. Flying fleshpots. Lack of sleep. Endless spin. Lying pols.

Just a few of the snares lying in wait for the reporters who covered the 1972 presidential election. Traveling with the press pack from the June primaries to the big night in November, Rolling Stone reporter Timothy Crouse hopscotched the country with both the Nixon and McGovern campaigns and witnessed the birth of modern campaign journalism. The Boys on the Bus is the raucous story of how American news got to be what it is today. With its verve, wit, and psychological acumen, it is a classic of American reporting.

[Caution]

5. Bad News by Tom Fenton

Full title:

Bad News : The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News, and the Danger to Us All

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
What makes this discourse on the current state of broadcast news such a gripping read is not that it critiques the establishment—it's the specific nature of Fenton's complaint. The author, who's been reporting for CBS News for 34 years, accuses the industry not just of having a political bias, but of being supremely lazy and incompetent. Fenton shares his own opinions, but buttresses them with sharp interviews from the Big Three (Brokaw, Rather, Jennings) and elder statesman Cronkite, who, not surprisingly, is most forthcoming, admitting he doesn't even watch the CBS Evening News anymore: "Nothing there but crime and sob sister material." Fenton lays out the hows and whys of what he sees as the problems present in today's news media (largely broadcast news) with exacting logic. After the end of the Cold War, an unfortunate confluence of factors—including the lack of a pervasive threat that might keep audiences attuned to foreign news, a growing herd mentality within the media, and "cutbacks, bottom-line fever, and CEO-mandated news criteria"—resulted in an industrywide dumbing-down and a decline in ratings. Along with this well-structured explanation of what's wrong and how to fix it, Fenton also provides a convenient guide to the biggest underreported stories and why they're important. (Mar. 1)

[erpowers]

6. Nomination

I would like to nominate the book "Why Do People Hate America?" I think this book could generate some very good discussion.

[crispini]

7. Well, nobody's seconded anything,

but I guess since we have less than 10 noms we can put them ALL on the poll! :) Why not?