Vote for the July 2012 philosophy book of the month

[Scott]

Please use this topic to cast your vote for the July 2012 book of the month. The poll will be open for 10 days from the time of this post. Whichever book has the most votes by then will be the July 2012 book of the month. You can click on the following links to learn more about each book:

Death (The Open Yale Courses Series) by Shelly Kagan

The Rich And The Rest Of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West

Implausible Beliefs: In the Bible, Astrology, and UFOs by Allan Mazur

Many Worlds?: Everett, Quantum Theory, & Reality edited by Simon Saunders, Jonathan Barrett, Adrian Kent, David Wallace

God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion by Victor J. Stenger

I know I'm new here, but I'm going to go ahead and vote for Cornel West and Tavis Smiley's The Rich and the Rest of Us. I'd love to participate in discussion of philosophy in the service of moral action. West in particular has always been a great source of philosophical debate in past communities I've been a part of.

The book of the month I would vote for would be "The Philosophy of Laughter" by John Morreall.

I feel that the one about poverty is a pressing topic in need of exploring. According to the World Health Org., there are almost 1,000,000,000 men, women & children starving!

Interesting, that does stress the seriousness of the issue.

A quick review of the choices ( at amazon and other sites- I have not read any), has led me to conclude- 1 All of the authors ( except one) are obviously highly biased in their opinions which would make for either depressing or enthusiastic reading depending upon the bias of the reader. 2 the book on poverty is seemingly an obvious statement of social need - and further philosophising about something so obvious detracts from the need to get off our behinds and do something ! 3. The question of death will continue to be a highly relevant factor of the human condition. While biased it probably deserves further discussion - if only because of its psychological importance. This is therefore my choice. 4. The work on other worlds ( an unbiased author) is not a primary source- but a biographical account and therefore of unreliable validity when discussing Everett's ideas.

[Scott]

Schaps, thanks for the background. I think there may have been a misunderstanding regarding the book about Many Worlds. I realized now that the link wasn't working, I can't edit the poll but I fixed the link in the post. Here it is again:

Many Worlds?: Everett, Quantum Theory, & Reality edited by Simon Saunders, Jonathan Barrett, Adrian Kent, David Wallace

You say is biographical, but I'm worried you may be thinking of a different book. This book, as I understand it, is a collection of argumentative essays/papers by different thinkers arguing for different points. In fact, the 'authors' are actually just editors compiling this different writings into one spot.

... the book on poverty is seemingly an obvious statement of social need - and further philosophising about something so obvious detracts from the need to get off our behinds and do something...

I haven't read the book, but every book I have read about poverty has helped me better understand the dynamics of poverty and to thus be in a better position to "get off my behind" in a more productive way.

All philosohy could be considered something that "detracts from the need to get off our behinds and do something" if we focus too much on thinking and not enough on doing.

Not in school and cannot afford random purchases - ahh, the wonders of capitalism.

The winning and highly speculative (ahem) science book "Many Worlds?: Everett, Quantum Theory, & Reality", will, soon be included in a topic in such books as "Implausible beliefs", and the "Folly of Faith".

People seem doomed to accept, search for and believe magical and outlandish solutions. The history of Science is littered with abandoned theories, worn out paradigms and defunct cosmologies.

Not in school and cannot afford random purchases - ahh, the wonders of capitalism.

I am wondering if posting the selection of books a month in advance( and not 10 days as it is done now) help?

It could give us enough time to try to gather it from the different libraries!

So instead of publishing the selection for the month of August in July, if it is done in June (and voted for in the first week of July) we could have enough time, to gather the books (from a library if we cant afford buying them) and actually read all of them before we select one!

I feel that the one about poverty is a pressing topic in need of exploring. According to the World Health Org., there are almost 1,000,000,000 men, women & children starving!

I have to agree with you on that one for sure Newme.