Trice’s Comments (group member since May 04, 2018)

Trice’s comments from the The Pelicans’ Nest group.

Christopher wrote: "I did. I never saw your question. It was a fun and insightful book."

Fun is an interesting descriptor for a book on politics - what made it so?

P.S. if you’re not seeing replies to comments, you might check your settings to see if you’ve asked goodreads to message you when someone replies

Irene wrote: "I also have an electronic copy but have not started it. I was waiting to see some activity in this thread."

Hi Irene, new reads starting in October of you want to join

Christopher wrote: "Have many of us read this yet?"

there were some people discussing it some in one of the facebook groups before our party election - I don't know if any of them made their way over to goodreads. I have an electronic copy of it but haven't picked it up yet.

Have you read it, Chris?

Tai-chi wrote: "Update: made some progress on the book. Kuyper (still a young man) is now a Calvinist and has left pastoral work (and church politics) for Parliament."

interesting! this is telling me how little I really know about the man.

anything standing out with the writing, organization, style, good quotes, etc? or about Kuyper so far?

How's it going with this?

Tai-chi wrote: "Wanted to follow up on this. I'm done with my Mongol Wars book

how was this one? what angle did it take on the material?

and have started on the Kuyper book!"

Is that the Bratt book about Kuyper? That one looks good, though Chuck has also added a bunch of books by Kuyper to the bookshelf that look excellent too

John K's proposed ground rules for this discussion:

1. Do the reading. If you didn’t read, you may listen to the discussion, but don’t comment yourself. If you read part of it, keep your comments to the part of the discussion pertaining to the part you read.
2. The primary goal is to understand what the author is saying. The secondary goal is to evaluate what we think about it and how it applies. Understanding comes before forming opinions.
3. Similarly since the goal is understanding, it is not about winning arguments. For you Platonists out there, it’s dialectic, not eristic. This is a free and disciplined exchange of ideas. People are allowed to run out an argument, even if it doesn’t end up working. People are allowed to change their minds and adjust or refine statements they made earlier, and the most current articulation of someone’s argument is what’s on the table. We won’t play ‘gotcha’ by saying, “You said x, therefore you must think y.” Ask a question and let your interlocutor clarify his or her position.
4. This is a charitable discussion. We will think well of each other and assume good intentions. If it gets intense at times, that’s okay, but stay within the bounds of charity. Having fun and laughing is appropriate, as long as it’s not negative humor and it doesn’t get the discussion off track.
5. Cite the text. When there is a disagreement or lack of clarity, go back to the text and bring up the specific passage that needs to be clarified.
6. Let’s leave ASP topics and controversies to other groups and focus the conversation here on the book itself.


My Suggestion: if you want to include application to ASP, perhaps start a separate thread, with the reminder of the need to be civil and listen well

Hi all,
Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything is another one up for group reading, per discussion in the convention group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ASPprivate/permalink/192988481326243/).

Are you reading it?

Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything
by Becky Bond and Zack Exley

Hi all,
there's discussion in the convention group about picking up this book for a group read starting next week - not sure about coordinating things, but thought we could start a thread here, too, to connect to our goodreads shelves.

Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World
by Chris Lowney

A couple books that have popped up on the facebook groups recently:

Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat by James D. Bratt (with a review in Books & Culture)

Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World by Samuel Moyn

Desmond wrote: "I'm interested, but I'm much more likely to participate when there is an audio version of the book available."

are you looking at one of the books already on the bookshelves for a read soon, or others?

And while I'm here :) I'm wondering if you guys are interested in trying a group read? Or discussing what kinds of books are next up on your reading radar? I have a lot I keep trying to get to, but I'm mostly open to diving into something of shared interest.

There's a new Ian Bremmer book out about globalization and current domestic political trends around the world (like the last US presidential election), Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism, and this one does, indeed, have an audio version out. Looks interesting and gets into economics and foreign and domestic policy issues that are highly relevant - not sure how Bremmer's views would interact with Christian Democrat "theory" (if one can say there is one distinct line of theory)