We will meet on Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at Martha Merrell's/Cuddles. There is no reader's guide for the book but Chris formulated excellent discussion questions. (Please see below.) Thanks, Chris!
Please bring any book suggestions for our June and July discussions.
There is an interesting four-minute video about the book at:
Here is a six-minute video/radio interview with A. J. Jacobs, with a link to the entire interview at: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2009/sep/09/experimental-living/
There is also a one-hour interview with A. J. Jacobs at:http://fora.tv/2009/09/16/My_Life_As_An_Experiment_AJ_Jacobs
Here is a book description of My Life as as Experiment:
One man. Ten extraordinary quests.
On a mission to improve every aspect of his life — from work to love to family — A. J. Jacobs becomes a human guinea pig and immerses himself in a series of radical lifestyle experiments. To figure out how to reclaim his dignity, he follows George Washington’s 110 Rules of Life. To explore fame, he goes undercover as a movie star. To investigate dating, he becomes a single woman. To understand decision-making, he tries to eliminate irrationality from his brain. And many more. The results are equal parts funny and enlightening. Go ahead, immerse yourself in these new worlds.
Discussion Questions:
Discussion Questions:
Outsourcing
- If an exchange with a developing country is a free exchange, can outsourcing ever be ‘exploitive’?
- There is a concept called ‘sustainable tourism’ (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_tourism or http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php?title=Fair_Trade_Tourism) where you don’t negotiate prices with the locals (basically a kind of hidden gift). Is this generous, or is it instead condescending and demeaning?
Radical Honesty
- Sisela Bok wrote a book called “Lying” where she states lying is never justified, but I think she made some allowance for white lies. Blanton is OK with lying to the IRS, but not white lies, and he has been married five times. Is his version of radical honesty just self-serving?
- Is there a use for more directness and openness in your life? Would you want others to be more open and honest with you, or do you prefer indirection and ‘tact’?
- Are there any guides for when white lies turn from politeness to self-serving, or will we always deceive ourselves and claim we are hiding embarrassing facts “for the good of others”?
- Honesty isn’t “verbal diarrhea”…you can be honest without saying EVERYTHING that pops into your head. Is AJ misunderstanding the point? Is Blanton calling ‘tact’ manipulative?
Rationality
- Hyper-rationality is not ‘rational’ (people who lose the emotional part of their brain end up not being able to make trivial decisions and are unable to function in society). See also Gladwell’s “Blink” on that subject. How does one include emotional inputs into decisions without being deceived by all the (real) biases AJ lists?
Focus
- Just like in Radical Honesty, AJ imposes his experiment on people by speaking out loud. Is this just his personality, or do you think is he is play-acting to make a better book? Would the answer to that question affect how you read the chapter?
- Is there an easy way to tell when you are overdoing a good thing? For example, talking while eating is called ‘socializing’…texting while eating is being rude. Is AJ insisting on eating in silence being silly (for example, you think and breathe while you eat…).
Whipped
- Again, balance! Is there a way to do this (obey your spouse) without going 100%?
- Do you think this would be a useful experiment for you?
General
- If you had to make up an experiment for yourself, what would it be? Why?
- If you had to make up an experiment for your spouse, what would it be? Why?
- Which was your favorite chapter? Why?
