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About the ILSR:
The International League of Skeptical Readers. You doubt? You'll like it!
The International League of Skeptical Readers is an online book club dedicated to reading books with a critical eye. We are the literary arm of the International League of Skeptics. The purpose of the ILSR is to apply skepticism and critical thinking to books on a variety of non-fiction topics. The book club is run out of our forums; to visit the headquarters and our calendar, click here.
While the club is currently on hiatus, restructuring to incorporate a podcast, the next book on deck has been selected. Start reading now so you can join the discussion on Uranium: war, energy, and the rock that shaped the world by Tom Zoellner.
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Written by KarenX
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Sunday, 18 April 2010 16:48 |
The Mind of the Market
Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics
By Michael Shermer
Read the book club discussion
Long Story Short: This is a book about, variously, the free market, evolutionary psychology, and economic decision-making that has only one chapter devoted to the main premise of the book.
Why I Chose This Book: I liked the idea of kicking off the Book Club for the International League of Skeptical Readers with a book written by a famous skeptical author that branched out from the traditional science or religious fare.
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Written by KarenX
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Sunday, 18 April 2010 16:46 |
The Language Police
How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn
By Diane Ravitch
Read the book club discussion here
Long Story Short: This book makes some excellent observations and arguments about bias, sensitivity, censorship, and textbook publishing, but it makes them in a semi-hysterical and sloppy way.
Why I Chose This Book: I used to be a teacher and I currently work within educational publishing, so the topic interested me personally, and I am always curious to read arguments from both sides of the political correctness movement.
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Written by KarenX
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Sunday, 18 April 2010 16:40 |
Before the Dawn
Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
By Nicholas Wade
Read the book club discussion
Long Story Short: This book relies heavily on scientific findings from genetic research into the human genome (and the genomes of other species) to offer insight about how the human species Homo sapiens (us) beat out its Homo cousins and took over the world.
Why I Chose This Book: I learned about this book on the “Are We Alone?” podcast put out by SETI; the author had been a guest on a show called “Driving Evolution.” The story of the body lice I think is what really caught my attention, and it seemed like a topic that would interest most of us but likely make some claims worth analyzing.
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