You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a little disturbed at the world at the moment. Seems like there are a lot of ignorant people all over the place, doing silly things as they are scared, mainly as they don't understand.

So I have decided, we are not going to be like those silly people. We are going to understand things. What things? I hear you ask. Well... you know. THINGS!

What I would like you to do this month is to pick up a non-fiction book. It can be about anything, but anything *you* would like to know more about. Under-water basket weaving, to building spaceships, to a biography of a hermit monk from 1200.

Just no fiction (and may be check that the author hasn't sold it as non-fiction and then made up “facts” to sell more books. Looking at you Mr Ebola-guy). And, I want you to tell us an interesting fact you learnt from your book. We can share the intelligence and beat ignorance together!

General Rules:
1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may NOT be combined with the Year Long Chunkster Challenge.
3. The book must be read between November 1 to November 30, 2014 (based on your own time zone).
4. The book must be over 150pp long.
5. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose, but only the highest scoring book will apply.

Scoring

3pts - Fun Fact shared!

Topic
5pts – A topic you haven't read about before.
4pts – Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths.
3pts – Human Culture, Language, History.
2pts – Biography, Autobiography, Memoir.
1pt – Related to a hobby you do. Explain/share.

Cover (on the version you read)
5 pts – Has a bonfire on it.
4 pts – Cover is mostly orange.
3 pts – The Title is in blue.
2 pts – Author's name is bigger than the title.
1 pt – Has a mask on the cover.

Pages
5 pts - 600 - 1000 pages
4 pts - 500 - 599 pages
3 pts - 400 - 499 pages
2 pts - 300 - 399 pages
1 pt - 200 - 299 pages  

Bonus Points (count once): 
5pts – Mentions a horse race (for the Melbourne Cup).
5pts – Mentions a referendum (in honour of St Andrew's Day, official national day of Scotland).
5pts – Mentions a Scorpion.
5pts – Mentions a Centaur.

Ooh, love the challenge. I have a couple of those non-fiction lying around. This should help.

I began looking and found in my bookshelf-

Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

Ooh, I'm excited about this one. :))

Great challenge. I have several non fiction books, so this is a great way to read some of them.

The Dinosaur Heresies: New Theories Unlocking the Mystery of the Dinosaurs and Their Extinction is my choice! Great challenge!

This is good. I have lots of non-fic on the tbr but they always get shoved aside for the fiction books. Now an excuse to get at least one read this month. thanks, ruslka. :)

Debra wrote: "The Dinosaur Heresies: New Theories Unlocking the Mystery of the Dinosaurs and Their Extinction is my choice! Great challenge!"

Read that one way back when....

I think I'll read The Language of the Goddess.

I also figured most of us would have read an awful lot of fiction last week for the Toppler. Mix it up a little!

Rusalka wrote: "I also figured most of us would have read an awful lot of fiction last week for the Toppler. Mix it up a little!"

Yeah, I have some good non-fiction books on my shelf that I just never seem to get to.

I may take this month as a way to knock a bunch of these of my tbr.


Young Stalin (oldest on my tbr and needs to go)
13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi (definitely reading this one!)
The Children's Blizzard
DogTown: Tales of Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Redemption
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic

ETA: I forgot I own this one and have been wanting to get to it for a while: Black Hawk Down.

My audible binge did produce 1 Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

Nope 2 also got The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren. This is definitely a new topic for me

Travis of NNY wrote: "My audible binge did produce 1 Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders"

That's a great book, Travis.

Great, I love this challenge! I have so many to choose from, not sure yet which I will pick; probably one of these:

Hiking Through: Finding Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail
Coroner's Journal: Stalking Death in Louisiana
Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat
When the Air Hits Your Brain: Tales of Neurosurgery

I have a few non-fiction books but I tend to avoid them as it always takes me forever to work my way through them. But a challenge will keep me focused (hopefully). I'm midway through one on North Korea but I can't use that one as it's already started. Knowing what I'm like, I think I should choose a short book. And something topical too. So I think I'm going to go with Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé

Brilliant idea Rusalka - and so true. Haven't decided which book to read just yet, but I'm definitely in.

Now THIS is a challenge. I'm off to see what I can find.

Woohoo! I have a book about my favorite goalie in the NHL that I have been wanting to read but hadn't gotten around to it :-) It is Brodeur: Beyond the Crease

I am really excited about this challenge!

I think I will read The Twelve Caesars by the Roman historian Suetonius.

Also Rusalka, would you count online courses as a hobby?

I practically never read non-fiction. I can't remember the last time I did. Probably when I was in college. I think I remember reading Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Journey of Faith and Hope for a book report my freshman year.... that's been more than a few years ago now. :)

I look forward to finding something to fit this challenge!

I coincidentally just purchased The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan so I'll be reading that for this challenge.

I've been thinking about my book choice - knowing me as well as I do, even with a challenge, I'm thinking a book on Gaza will be heavy going and won't have any feel good factor or happy ending. I'm thinking I might have to go with something a bit lighter. So other options are:
A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets
Narrow Margins
Bloody London: Shocking Tales from London's Gruesome Past and Present
Seven Years in Tibet
The Psychology of Dexter
The Thrift Book

I won't rule out my first choice but I'll choose nearer the time I think.

EDIT: other possibles:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

This is funny! Just this morning I was thinking about a non-fiction book that had been recommended to me a while ago, This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart. I was wondering when I would actually read it if I didn't have incentive to move it up. And now I do. :)

This sounds interesting. Why should it have a bonfire on the cover - is that because Guy Fawkes day is in November?

With the points system, when it goes down from 5 to 1, if the book fits more than one of the criteria (say it had a bonfire on the cover and also a mask) would you get the points for each of the criteria it fits (so 5 points plus 1 point in this example) or just the highest one? (With the page numbers, of course you can only select one, but I'm thinking with the topic and the cover.)

Normally we can score for multiple criteria if it fits it unless it's different this time round!

Sometimes we pick things arbitrarily. And other times, there may be more of a reason behind it. Rusalka can tell you if she was thinking of Guy Fawkes day when she chose to give points for a bonfire.

You get points for each criteria that applies in each section.

My tbr list is getting longer after perusing the books everyone is reading for this challenge. Some good ones. Look forward to more to come!

Does a goalie mask count?

Does a surgeon's face mask count?

Awesome idea! The world is so interesting, it's going to be hard to pick just one!

And so many intetesting suggestions made here :)

Rusalka, if I for example read fiction about WW2 before but not non-fiction, would I still get the 5 points for reading something new?

What's the name of that book again about a woman whose cells (?) were taken without her knowledge and used in the advancement of medicine or something like that?

Peggy, sounds like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I haven't read it tho it's on my tbr list.

Ah yes, that's it! Thanks TJ :)

My possibilities so far (not finished seaeching yet):
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Road to Woodstock
Orange Is the New Black
Centuries of Change: Which Century Saw The Most Change?
The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust
Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
The Boy on the Wooden Box

If you want to know about a fascinating man Steve Jobs is an excellent book. For a different side of WWII try No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt - The Home Front in World War II I cannot recommend these 2 enough

One I just read for toppler that everyone should read The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary i mean we all just take the dictionary for granted

Interesting challenge! I will be looking through some biographies.

I can second Travis on recommending the Steve Jobs book bio. Interesting material presented in good straight-forward prose.

If my ILL comes in on time, I'll read Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin

Tejas Janet wrote: "Peggy, sounds like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I haven't read it tho it's on my tbr list."

Oh I got that one too. Choices, choices.

I've been meaning to read the Henrietta Lacks one for ages - it sounds really interesting.

Travis of NNY wrote: "One I just read for toppler that everyone should read The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary i mean we all just take t..."

That is a really good book - the original UK version has a different title: The Surgeon of Crowthorne. (It's the same book, but the US gave it a different title.)

Are there no author points this time by the way?

Henrietta Lack's story is very good!

By the way, is this challenge the equivalent of the Madame Tutti Fruiti challenge in October? Is there a different challenge each month? (I'm still trying to figure out how the challenges work.)

Gail wrote: "By the way, is this challenge the equivalent of the Madame Tutti Fruiti challenge in October? Is there a different challenge each month? (I'm still trying to figure out how the challenges work.)"

Yes, Gail. It's equivalent to Madame Tutti Frutti challenge. There's a different challenge each month.

Ah okay - thanks. Sounds fun. Are they always unexpected, so you don't know what they will be until they are announced?

They are always for one whole month, and usually announced around one week before.

You can see all previous challenges in this section as well, to get an idea. They are very varied!

Thanks, Peggy - I'll take a look.