I Will join this prestigious society of book lovers.

I'm joining! Following the convention: I will follow Jason in the list above.

I vote for 1) In Defense of Food (I'm currently on a food crusade) or 2) The Screwtape Letters (I'm in a huge religious-reading phase). I read The Trial already. Very good and very Orwellian, or should I say Orwell is Kafkanian?

I would vote for 1) In Defense of Food, 2) The Tyrannicide Brief, and 3) The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, in that order. In defense of food sounds pretty interesting... but then so does the Tyrannicide brief. However, I have strong suspicion that you have already read all of these.

It's good to have you back on the radar. We were soon going to have to hold an emergency meeting regarding your immediate dismissal from the book club.

I've already read Too Fat to Fish and think it would feel it sort of incomplete in regards to Mr. Lange's recent struggles.The Immortal Game sounds like a painful read to me but alas it is your choice and I would read. I've wanted to read In Defense Of Food for a while and actually already have it.

How long has it been taking on average to get through one book? I Already have my book selected.

Who is Dew?

Oh and isn't it Juraj's pick? why is he voting on your books?

I already said that I would waive my pick, and I still stand by that. However, if I do have to choose something, then why not "In defense of Food"? Seems to be the popular choice. I know you have read it already, Leo, but I guess you wouldn't have put it on the list if you didn't think it was good. I also noticed it's on a few "best of 2009" (or was it 2008) lists. I saw it a few times and wanted to pick it up, but always opted out for something else...

So I guess I cast my official vote for "In Defense of Food", yet again.

I second that motion Juraj. I vote for "In Defense of Food." Len, if you REALLY didn't want to read it again, you wouldn't have put it on the list. Let your inhibitions go and drop that archaic belief that re-reading it is wrong. You're reading it again!

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan?

Thanks!

I'll take it as my pick...

I've placed my order...

So... what book is next?

I just want to start this discussion already since it usually takes me a little longer than you guys to get the book...

Who has the next pick?

I've ordered mine. We'll wait to start up on this until Thompson, Dew, Maur, Jon, etc. have finished In Defence of Food and commented.

OK.. I have just ordered as well... Seems somewhat "biblical"...

Currently, I'm reading "13 Things that don't make sense"... it's pretty interesting and a short read as well. However, I have read way too much about varying scientific constants, the unification of the theory of relativity, and dark matter/energy lately...

They still have bookstores? I'll order mine from amazon today.

I wont be done reading the Hemingway book on time and it has been brought to my attention that we won't be reading my choice because of this. So I am passing the torch to the next person on the list.

Cheers!

In the time of the butterflies by Julia Alvarez.

We will order it shortly, should take about a week to get it.

Sounds like a good read. Here's a brief write-up from Amazon: From the author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents comes this tale of courage and sisterhood set in the Dominican Republic during the rise of the Trujillo dictatorship. A skillful blend of fact and fiction, In the Time of the Butterflies is inspired by the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who, in 1960, were murdered for their part in an underground plot to overthrow the government. Alvarez breathes life into these historical figures--known as "las mariposas," or "the butterflies," in the underground--as she imagines their teenage years, their gradual involvement with the revolution, and their terror as their dissentience is uncovered.

I am going on my honeymoon tomorrow for a few weeks, so I won't be able to start till I get back. I will see how far everyone is when I get back, and decide whether I will have to forfeit my next choice or not.

It's Juraj's pick, given that he finished Hell's Angels.

I just updated the choice order the other day, getting rid of the "members" who went 5 or 6 books without reading any (Thompson, Bradley, Justin, etc.).

Sorry guys... I've been out of Switzerland for a few months now and I have not been diligently keeping up to the gossip on this forum. In addition, I am studying for an exam that I am writing in Sydney on December the 5th, so I have been pretty wrapped up with reading that. I don't suppose any of you would be interested in reading "Ethical Standards and Quantitative Measures" as your next pick...

Due to this little predicament, I will have to make my book selection by simply walking into the nearest bookstore I can find here in New Zealand, and picking one that seems interesting. I was thinking of letting you guys choose and then going to my pick later, but then I realized that since I plan on travelling until March, I won't really be able to get my hands on anything I order online (if you guys make some obscure pick).

So... I will simply march into a bookstore and pick one with a pretty picture on it!

Alright... I went to the damn bookstore that closes at 17:00, and after spending about 30 minutes there carefully browsing through every single book in their selection, I could still not find anything that I was interested in reading that wasn't too long. I bought myself the book "No Logo" just out of frustration, because I need something to read while travelling and I thought the anti-corporate drivel will be a nice change to my professional exam that I am writing in a few days.

However, I will not subject you guys to that since it is fairly lengthy... Perhaps I will have better luck in Sydney this Saturday... Sorry for the delay... I would really like to read "Nothing to Envy" since it seems pretty interesting... I'll try to look for that.

Juraj,

Although you're killing me, I very much appreciate the status updates--way to keep us in the loop!

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (she wrote No Logo.)

OMG I checked and it's 700 pages...nevermind.

Jason, again... My sincere apologies. I understand that it sucks having to wait. If you guys want to speed things along, just skip my turn and I'll pick a book when I can. Maybe that will be easier for you guys. If I can't find the next person's pick, I will just sit one out and read my 400+ page "No Logo".

Or tell you what. Why don't we just all go through the 15k "secret" documents on Wikileaks?

I've read No Logo before. Just throwing that out there.

Alright... SUPER Freakonomics it is!!! Read Freakonomics... liked it... hope this one is just as goo...

I know this is the epitome of an "airport bookstore" selection, but I didn't want to drag out this process any further.

Hope you guys haven't read it yet!

So you guys alright with it?!?!?

Got my copy last night. Let's do this!

Sounds good. I'll order my copy asap.

Yeah... this is the sequel. I recommend reading Freakonomics as well if you haven't read it. But the topics are different in the two books. It's essentially doing the same thing but on different topics as the first one. The guy is pretty smart. He was able to identify cheating teachers in the standardized testing for US high schools just by looking at datasets. But he got in some trouble when he discovered and published the fact that installing dvd players in vans saves more kids than installing baby seats (kids stay still while watching a dvd and 80% of the childseats are installed incorrectly or something like that), so you can imagine how the media jumped on that...

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it and that it sparks some debate on the forum...

Nah man... I wasn't saying read 2 books. I picked Superfreakonomics, having already read freakonomics. Both are fine as a stand-alone book, but both have a lot of interesting points made. For example, the last chapter in freakonomics was great. It dealt with naming kids and what the patterns are and whether it affects your life, etc.

Anyway, I read the intro already and most of the first chapter, and it seems like it will be similar to the first one.