Stopped by the library in Bellingham and saw a book club sign-up sheet with a huge problem

It was for a discussion on 'The Great Gatsby' and the sheet had 23 names on it. The problem? The sheet asked people to list their 'main takeaway' before even reading the book. I saw stuff like 'rich people are bad' and 'it's about the American dream' already written down. That's just priming people to look for that one thing and shut down other views. It made me think about how often our club debates get stuck because we all walk in with a set idea we have to defend. How do you run a meeting that stops people from deciding what the book is about before they even open it?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire_schmidt320d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? People go into books with ideas all the time (it's kind of human nature). Maybe the discussion just fixes it.

paulfisher19d agoTop Commenter

Ha, reminds me of my buddy who swore a book was about aliens. Turns out it was a gardening manual.