some options and some priorities

Brothas!

we are building a discussion board of extraordinary magnitude! I'm very excited about this project, and think it holds great possibility for the future, as well. Kudos to both of you guys for initiating this. It's a great gift.

OPTIONS
Drew sent an email out about what subject we're covering. Eric correctly asserted that we "kind of" chose Postman, but just for the heck of it, here's a few other options:

• No Logo, by Naomi Klein: a look at how "branded" western culture has become, and its effects
  
• The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. A Kniffin favorite! and it's short...
  
• The Rise of Christianity, by Rodney Stark: the best book done on the early church in the last decade or so.
• The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, by Leslie Newbigin: some unique perspective on how postmodernism might effect the church's approach to influencing society
• The Millionaire Next Door, by Stanley/ Danko: money is practical. I also wouldn't mind discussing the spiritual aspects of this book
  
• Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, by Ron Sider: seems just as (if not more) relevant today as it was when it was written, around the time Drew was born.

To this list, of course, is Postman's book, which has the advantage of being eerily prophetic for our day, despite being written in 1985. Postman is no Christian, but has some incredibly Christian perspectives.

Which to choose? I would suggest that we decide using the following criteria, which has to do w/ the structure and purpose of the discussion. I still think Postman is the best choice, but consider the following before choosing for yourself...

PRIORITIES
There is really only one priority: that "we need toe-toe concentwation". Another way of putting this is that I want to COMPLETE WHAT WE START. I don't want to go 1/2 way through something. I don't want to fizzle out. I just think it's important that we finish what we start. I would honestly rather discuss a newspaper/magazine article completely than just throw some blithe comments at a book we don't have time to read.

That being the only real priority, here's some sub-priorities to help us accomplish it:

• it should be a book we have time to finish: thus, it depends on how much time we actually have. it also depends on how long the book will take to read. here, it will help to have something that some of us have already read and can just review.
  
• ... a book that we have enough interest to finish: this is closely connected to the first priority. if we're interested, we're much more likely to 'have the time' to do it. Again, it is better to err on the side of shorter/more-manageable than trying to bite off more than we can choose.
  
• ...a book that is dividable into a manageable schedule: what's our 'attention span' for one book? I would guess that we could sustain interest for ~6-8 weeks. Thus, the book should be dividable into 6-8 sections we could commit to reading. (maybe we should try to read it in a shorter period of time... just the Christmas holidays? I don't know...)
  
• ...a book that we could generate discussion about: probably the best part of a project like this will be the interacation between our ideas, not the original thoughts. I propose that each of us would commit to making a comment at least once per week we do this. the book would have to generate some opinions. of course, this is usually not a problem for Kniffins.

CONCLUSION
thus, "let's do this one with feewing". Let's do something that will be meaningful and memorable. I don't want it to be burdensome or an obligation- not with you guys! I'm open to anything that you guys think would meet this critieria.
The first thing is to decide on the book. I think Postman fits all the criteria mentioned above for the three of us, and moreover is pretty readable. We could divide him up any number of ways, and I think all of us would have plenty to comment on w/ him. But if he's too long/boring/???, let's come up with a better option. Honest input is needed here.
The second order of business is to decide on a format. We need a reading schedule/timeline: how much time do you guys want to commit to this, and how long do you think we'll be realistically interested in this? Like I said, I'm guessing no more than 8 weeks. We also need a commitment level- what's the minimum each of us has to agree to?
Finally, I'd like to know what your expectations are. what do you want to get out of this? I realize this is 'my' present, but if I'm the only one doing this, it's not going to be very fun. I want to know where y'all are at and what you'd like to get out of this. that might affect our priorities.

Those are my initial thoughts. We could only finish 1/2 of the book... that's no pwobwem... but, it would be WONG. How does that sit with y'all?