Discussion of Guns Germs and Steel

We met August 28th to discuss Guns, Germs and Steel.

In attendance were:

Dave & Mary
Darryl & Barbara (and a guest)
Jack & Shelia
Susanna
Catherine
Alice
Jeremy (and a guest)

A warm welcome to the guests, I hope you consider joining the bookclub!

Our poem was selected by Dave, who shared a poem featured on NPR, "Again, A Solstice" by Jennifer Chang.

Guns, Germs and Steel is our first non-fiction selection. This one was selected for August back in June, and prior to starting this selection, about half the club indicated they were looking forward to this read, and about half the club indicated they were not looking forward to it but would try it. In the end only one member completed the book, several members read between several chapters and about half the book, and a few members chose to skip this one.

Due to scheduling issues, this read was given 7 weeks, which it turns out was a good thing. Of the members who started the book, most (perhaps all?) found it slow going. At least two members said they found the book very interesting and planned to continue on with it independently of the club. In conversations with members who didn't make the meeting, a similar sentiment was expressed, regarding finding the book interesting and intending to read it.

The discussion was animated, focusing in part on evaluating whether the author substantiated his ideas in the book well enough, and on the qualifications the author brings to the subject matter. Questions of author bias were discussed as well, particularly with regard to his apparent preference for groups and societies he had spent years living among.

A 3-part documentary film series was produced about this content as well, and a couple of members watched some or all of the documentaries. One comment expressed was that the personality (ego?) of the author seemed to heavily influence the content of both the book and the documentary.

We touched briefly on the list of questions picked up from the publisher, but didn't go into depth on the questions.

As discussed in the previous discussion post of Gone Girl, the club is vague on purpose, selection criteria, and selection method. The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy was selected for October, in part because it seemed the most "Halloween-y", with its association with fairy tales, terror, evil, and children lost in the woods.

Two suggestions about club mechanics have been put forward that make good sense and we should consider adopting going forward. The first is to keep the source of suggestions anonymous, so that folks may feel more comfortable suggesting things that might not conform to what we collectively think the club "wants to read". I personally like that suggestion very much. The other is a "show of hands" regarding the process of selection, to confirm the group members individually feel the selection process was satisfactory, which I also like very much.

We had selected Til We Have Faces for the next read back in July.  That meeting is scheduled for September 25th.