GR M&D - M & D Group Reading

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Paul Murphy writes:

> ... I would be very interested in seeing a Group Read develop as
> more of us have a chance to work through it.

I got enough positive replies (12) and few enough negative replies (2
with caveats in amongst the 12) to my invitation for a group reading
that *I* think it would be a good idea to organize one (your mileage
may vary but I woudl be quite happy to converse with just these 12 if
no one else wants to be involved). I agree with Matt that it would be
wise to delay starting for a week or two so that those who want to get
through to the end can finish before we begin. If you too consider it
a good idea to read the book together then all you will need to do to
join in is read our contributions and add your 2 cents worth. If not
well, all our posts should contain a suitable identification in the
header so you ought to be able just to avoid reading them. I hope this
reading will follow the last one in proving popular without hijacking
the whole list.

So, I propose we set a start date for reading of Friday 23rd May.
Discussion can start a fortnight after that on 6th June. I counted up
and we have 3 parts, 78 chapters and 773 pages i.e. roughly 10 pages
per chapter (the ratio is pretty constant across each section). Part 1
has 25 chapters, part 2 has 48 and part 3 has 5. Now 78 just happens
to be 3 times 26 i.e. if we read 3 chapters every fortnight we will
take 52 weeks in all. Given that this is about 30 pages per fortnight
this leaves us with a small enough number of pages that we can
concentrate on fine detail without taking impossibly long before we
finish. So, I propose we read the book 3 chapters per fortnight for
the next year (since chapter 2 is 1 page I suggest we soak up the
extra chapter in part 1 by taking 4 chapters in the first fortnight
and splitting the last part into a 2 chapter and a 3 chapter `half'.
Whether we will manage to continue for a full years is an open
question but rather than give up on the possibility in advance I
prefer to start off with good intentions and high hopes and see
whether I get disappointed.

I will be happy to draw up lists of questions or comments for the
first few fortnights. But it would help enormously if at least one
person were to agree to stand by in case I cannot post or just to
provide some variety. Better still would be to have a group of people
take responsibility for setting the discussion rolling. So, anyone who
is interested in leading discussion ofr one or more sessions please
sign up now. I will prepare a web page with a timetable and any other
necessarys as soon as possible. So, if you want to grab a particular
section which you would prefer to lead on I should be able to map it
into a set of reading and discussion dates pretty soon. Remember,
anyone is welcome to take part, particularly to take the lead in
discussion. No entrance requirements other than a willingness to
prepare and post comments and questions on a chosen section.


Andrew Dinn
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And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.