MAP Book Club - Rigged (1 Viewer)

[RobF]

The poll is done, and our first book is:

Rigged: America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference by David Shimer.

Rigged

The definitive history of the covert struggle between Russia and America to influence elections, why the threat to American democracy is ...

www.goodreads.com

Thanks for the suggestion to @MT15! The goodreads link above has links to sellers.

Please post below if you're joining in for this book, and update when you've got your copy, so we know when everyone who's reading this one is ready to go and we can get stuck in. (No rush, I think I suggested originally giving everyone a week or so to get hold of a copy).

We'll use this thread for discussion as well. This book is split into two parts (part one, The Hidden History, part two, 2016), with eight chapters in part one and five in part two, so we can try and loosely structure the pace and discussion around those, depending on who's in and how fast we all want to go.

Discussing: Chapter One (Enter Lenin) and Two (The CIA in Italy) starting Thursday 25th.

 

[Dragon]

I'm in. Just downloaded the book to my kindle

 

[Sandman]

I'm in. I got the book.

 

[MT15]

I have the book too. Ready whenever you guys are.

 

[RobF]

My copy should be arriving tomorrow.

 

[insidejob]

I just ordered it but the delivery date is 2/22 at the earliest...

 

[RobF]

I just ordered it but the delivery date is 2/22 at the earliest...

I think as long as people have posted here and we're not talking weeks, we can wait, so as many people as possible are involved and not playing catch up. In future if this takes off we can line up the next book while we're finishing the first to give people more time. And that's not that bad really. I nearly ordered the paperback version here, until I noticed the delivery date was October 14th (since it's not published until then)!

 

[insidejob]

I think as long as people have posted here and we're not talking weeks, we can wait, so as many people as possible are involved and not playing catch up. In future if this takes off we can line up the next book while we're finishing the first to give people more time. And that's not that bad really. I nearly ordered the paperback version here, until I noticed the delivery date was October 14th (since it's not published until then)!

I ordered a used copy. I've spent nearly $300 in books over the past two months since I've been laid up after a car accident that has my ribs made of titanium now and can't really do much with the pandemic so I just really have to start watching my spending. Especially after having to buy a new car too. If it comes in late, y'all can start and I can play catch up. I'm a fast reader. And yeah, once we get going, we should/could pick the next book like halfway through the book we are currently on and then no one will have any issues getting it.

 

[MT15]

We can wait until the 22nd, that is perfectly fine. No big deal.

 

[Dragon]

I do it the easy way whenever I can - that is kindle.

I have a LOT of books and a small house.... So unless it is a book that I KNOW I want in hardcover, then electronic is the way things have to be

 

[t_rav_82]

I’m in. Don’t have a copy yet but will get one before the 22nd so perfect start date for me.

 

[t_rav_82]

Got my copy today.

 

[insidejob]

I do it the easy way whenever I can - that is kindle.

I have a LOT of books and a small house.... So unless it is a book that I KNOW I want in hardcover, then electronic is the way things have to be

I have a Kindle Fire somewhere that I haven't seen since I moved and I refuse to buy another one because the second I do...

 

[RobF]

I do it the easy way whenever I can - that is kindle.

I have a LOT of books and a small house.... So unless it is a book that I KNOW I want in hardcover, then electronic is the way things have to be

I should really do that as well. I have a kindle. I have a house with too many books in it. But nine times out of ten, I go to get a book, I look at the kindle price, I look at the physical book price, and my brain just says, "Hey, that physical book's definitely better value, you should get that." Which is why I have too many books in the house. Stupid brain.

Anyway, my physical copy has arrived.

 

[insidejob]

So my copy came in on time today and, being the forward thinking genius that I am, I didn't stick it IN my briefcase but UNDER instead (for reasons still unknown to me) and forgot to grab it when I left the office. I'll get started on it tomorrow evening at the latest. I could get lucky and be done servicing these three clients who've had me running for about 8 days straight now and have some free time during the day that I could start reading with but I ain't holding my breath.

I'm just happy that it came in on the first day of its delivery window. The window was today to like 3/4 or something insane.

 

[MT15]

So I think we are ready, then, and I have asked Rob to lead. Neither of us really have done this before, though, so if someone else has experience with leading a book club, we would be willing to let them lead. Or we can just decide amongst ourselves how we want to proceed.

 

[DaveXA]

So I think we are ready, then, and I have asked Rob to lead. Neither of us really have done this before, though, so if someone else has experience with leading a book club, we would be willing to let them lead. Or we can just decide amongst ourselves how we want to proceed.

I haven't been a book reader in a long while. So, I'm just sort of watching from afar. I might eventually get around to reading again though. We'll see.

 

[RobF]

I think everyone has their copy now (even if it's in their office), so we can get started.

I'll update the top post as we go so everyone can see where we're up to.

For how we want to proceed, I think the only key thing with a book club is to make sure everyone has had an opportunity to read what's currently being discussed. So while people can read ahead if they want to, naturally, in terms of the discussion, it clearly doesn't work so well if there's two or three people talking about the end of the book while the rest are only halfway through.

So then it's just a case of determining the pace. Book clubs that meet every month will tend to read whole books between meetings, weekly ones might do parts or chapters, but we're online here and can 'meet' as often as we like, so we can pick whatever pace suits us and the book. We might not want to break it down too much though (because some people read every day, but some might get most of their reading done at weekends, for example, and in that case adding more to the discussion on a weekly basis makes sense).

Since we're mid-week, I suggest we start with the introduction and the first couple of chapters (Enter Lenin, and The CIA in Italy). That'll also give us an idea of how deep the chapters in this particular book are and how much discussion we're getting out of each one. We can start discussing those in a couple of days once everyone's had a chance to read them. Then we'll add in more to the discussion as we go (e.g. the rest of part one over the next week).

And if anyone does have any particular thoughts on the pace (e.g. if anyone does only have time to read at weekends), do just comment here or message me if you prefer. The main thing is for everyone to be as involved as they want to be.