Science and Natural History discussion

Hi!

Always looking to improve. So; any feedback about our Group would be greatly appreciated.

Either here in public or by message is fine.

Myself I'd very much like someone to take the head as a kind of discussion leader for our monthly group reads, to incite some discussion.

I can't really do it myself as I haven't, and probably won't for some time, be able to follow the Group Reads. My Kindle broke and life away from keyboard is somewhat busy.

So does this group only read one book a month? If so, I think that's way too long. Many of the books could be read in about two weeks.

Connor wrote: "So does this group only read one book a month? If so, I think that's way too long. Many of the books could be read in about two weeks."

We only select one Group Read a month. And participation is in no way mandatory. For some, maybe even most, of the books we have had I'm inclined to agree that a whole month is more than required, current one excepted. Having a book a month I think is the general norm here at goodreads, I'll look a little into how others do it.

In general there haven't been any discussion of how our members want things, so I've just been organizing along the lines of one book a month announced at the beginning of the month or preferably the week before. Leaving it entirely to the poll and the members which book it becomes.

We could change it up a bit, having smaller reads on a tighter schedule, either in parallel or instead of a monthly group read, but I'd be wanting to hear from more members about it first.

Gill wrote: "I'm new to the group, but would find more than one book a month a bit intimidating. I would love to read more and hoped that joining would encourage me to carve out some time."

New or old member doesn't matter. Your opinion however does. And that is a concern I share somewhat, especially with books of any greater size.

Good luck with carving out some time for reading.
Any ideas for how we could help with that, you let me know.

I do agree that some for some books one month is about enough time. However I think the time should be porportional to the length of the book. A 300 page can be finished in well under a month. The same can't be said about a 700 page book. The time should allow you to read around 20-30 pages a day and be able to finish within the alotted period. So for a 300 page you would set it for like 2 weeks, and so on.

Connor wrote: "I do agree that some for some books one month is about enough time. However I think the time should be porportional to the length of the book. A 300 page can be finished in well under a month. The ..."

How would you envision the selection process?

One book each month in this group is perfect. This allows me to read other books and write. I need more time to write. What is the selection for April?

Steven wrote: "One book each month in this group is perfect. This allows me to read other books and write. I need more time to write. What is the selection for April?"

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements is up for April. Just haven't sent out the message, haven't been well, but not sick enough for it to be much of an excuse.

Hi,hope you are still interested in feedback.

Re. the quantity of books to read each month. I can understand that for those who belong to a number of groups, reading one book for each of their groups might be enough.

However, I belong to Book Vipers, which has 3 books a month: one classic, one fiction and one non-fiction, but importantly it's up to the members how many of those three they read; there is no pressure to achieve all three.

For those who would like more than one book to read to read each month from this group, my suggestions are to: Firstly, have one science and one natural history. S&NH members can then choose whether to read one or both, and there is a bonus in that neither of these exciting subjects has to be left off in any one month.

Secondly, for those who are really keen, quarterly or say yearly challenges are a good idea. To spark off debate and ideas on challenges, here's a couple of mine:

Read one book a month for each of the elements - the whole book wouldn't have to be about just one element, but it should have a substantial chapter or content involving element.

Read one book a month for each of the major animal groups, i.e. amphibians, mammals etc.

These could easily be made to fit into a timeframe, such as a year, by allowing longer than a month for each one.

These are just initial ideas, I'm sure discussion will throw up more suitable ones.

Krisstopher, can you make a new folder called Neanderthal for me? There are several of us who are going to read a book together and make many meaningful. comments.----Steve

Steven wrote: "Krisstopher, can you make a new folder called Neanderthal for me? There are several of us who are going to read a book together and make many meaningful. comments.----Steve"

Done.

The Forest Unseen is a second reading for me, since I nominated the book. I have not yet posted my review on Goodreads and will refrain from doing so until after the group read. I managed to get the review published the The Migrant, Journal of the Tennessee Ornithological Society.

Ray wrote: "The Forest Unseen is a second reading for me, since I nominated the book. I have not yet posted my review on Goodreads and will refrain from doing so until after the group read. I managed to get th..."

Second for me and parts of the group as well, was Group Read July 2013

Sorry for the redundancy. I will refrain from nominating books again until I am more familiar with the group and previous selections.

Not necessarily a wrong thing. Keeping previously read books from nomination raises so many questions that would need defining answers (like how long ago would it have to have been read before it can be back in nomination, etc). I think it is a valuable read and we were warned that it was an oldie. I'd never heard of it and appreciate reading it. So there's no problem. At least not for ome. If you stop nominating, I could miss other valuable books.

Ray wrote: "Sorry for the redundancy. I will refrain from nominating books again until I am more familiar with the group and previous selections."

Please don't. It's my responsibility if we get too much redundancy, and those who I know read it liked it enough that I don't think they'll mind too much. In general choice is good. And everyone should feel free to suggest books.

Andree wrote: "Not necessarily a wrong thing. Keeping previously read books from nomination raises so many questions that would need defining answers (like how long ago would it have to have been read before it c..."

My concern is the amount of rereads, I think three consecutive are too much. One of them is my fault, as a book wasn't properly announced and as such was allowed again. The two others probably would be allowed due to age anyway.