PowerSwitch

A journalist on Radio 4 once said that there were only two books that almost all MPs had read: ?William Pitt the Younger? (William Hague) and ?The God Delusion? (Richard Dawkins). If true, I?m sure that a good part of the reason the latter was so widely read was because members of:

http://www.richarddawkins.net/

ran a scheme by which members bought a copy of The God Delusion and sent it to a particular MP. No MP received more than one copy because someone on richarddawkins.net ran a central list.

I can imagine a similar system being run by members of this forum. I?m not sure which PO book would be sent ? perhaps it doesn?t matter. It would need a volunteer on here to run a list of UK MPs ? plus for forum members to pick at least one MP and agree to send an appropriate PO book or books. When all MP names have a donator name by them the books could be sent off, perhaps with an accompaning letter introducing PO and expressing concern over the need to prepare.

If 646 MPs is too ambitious perhaps we should choose to send books to only a proportion of MPs (e.g. one per county) or bombard one region or nation (e.g. the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Government or Northern Ireland Assembly) or maybe all 78 MEPs.

Just a thought.

I do not have the time to keep up a list but will help in any way I can. The time for talking is over.

Good idea. I'm game to send one to Huge Bayley here in York. Are we going to have a covering letter to send it with?

A covering letter would be good, any copywriters about when you need one? I wiil send to Geoffrey Cox, my local MP. Difficult to decide which book.

I reckon David Strahan's is a good un. Pretty much up to date compared to some others and obviously UK centric.

My local MP is true blue Edward Leigh. Happy to buy the book and send it on.

I think a concise standard letter would be good (with room for a personal hand written paragraph?)

greg wrote:Difficult to decide which book.

For more of a UK focus, the most appropriate introductory PO book would surely be David Strahan's "Last Oil Shock". My only reservations would be:

1. Shame about the sensationalist subtitle "A Survival Guide to the Imminent Extinction of Petroleum Man". Sounds a bit Mad Max, and might put off many from even reading the first page.
2. Strahan goes to some length in the early chapters to argue that Blair was fully aware of PO before deciding to go to war in Iraq. Some indignant Labour MPs might stop reading at that stage and therefore miss all the useful stuff in the later chapters.

Great idea though. Stumping up the cash to buy a book for your local MP is not a lot to ask, and the "return" on such an investment could in fact be huge.

I'm happy to do this - think it's a great idea. Maybe we should just do as many MPs as we get volunteers for, with a central list to avoid duplications (possibly just a thread on here that we add names to but no long-winded answers, so that it's easy to check if someone has already sent a book to the MP you have in mind).

The covering letter could be used to explain those points, e.g. "don't be put off by the sensationalist title..." and a guide to which chapters are the most relevant (which would save our hardworking MP some time if nowt else).

I've not read Strachan's book...my tome of choice 'til now would have been Heinberg, but of course a UK perspective is vital for this job innit.

I think if the recipients receive the material around the same time it will create more of a buzz - a talking point.

My preferance would be for something sober and authoritative, but memorable. It needn't necessarily be a book though: 'A Crude Awakening' is an impressive DVD. If the MP doesn't watch maybe someone in their family or office will; and hopefully be converted into an advocate.

Strahan's book is my choice too, you may have seen from the other threads on the Early Day Motion, and '10 minutes with my MP' that giving him my copy is exactly what I'm planning to do.

Mean Mr Mustard wrote:Strahan's book is my choice too, you may have seen from the other threads on the Early Day Motion, and '10 minutes with my MP' that giving him my copy is exactly what I'm planning to do.

Fantastic - it's a really good opportunity. Good luck!

I'd gladly sell people my book at 6 quid (plus postage) a time for such an auspicious project (the supa-dupa knock-down rate for good causes), but I'm not sure if you'd want the more radical message to get across in this situation.

...and defintely not the new book, which I've almost finished, as it completely disses the whole growth thing because it's incompatible not only with thermodynamics, but with the rules of economics as they apply to the post-peak world!

Best stick with David -- he's got a suit.

Could the list be extended to certain high profile celebrities such as Jamie Oliver etc?

I look forward to your next book Mobbsey! I think it was a while after reading your first that I realised you posted here too!

Oh and of course when this thread decides on action, I'll do my bit here. Perhaps if we have agreed on one book we could approach the author for a deal of some sort? I'll go with the forum choice on which book as my memories of all those books are fused into one - I read so many in quick succession at the beginning!

I dont have to time or inclination to arrange anything like this, I would be pleased to make a small financial contribution though.