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May 29, 2008
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Karen
gave
 
to:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time (Paperback)
by Greg Mortenson
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my rating:
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Karen
gave
to:
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Hardcover)
by Chip Heath
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my rating:
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Karen
gave
to:
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
by Seth Godin
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Karen
gave
to:
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia (Paperback)
by Elizabeth Gilbert
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Karen
gave
to:
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Hardcover)
by Michael Pollan
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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April 07, 2008
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Karen
gave
to:
The Art of Innovation (Paperback)
by Thomas Kelley
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in January, 2007
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March 20, 2008
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Karen
read and liked
Amber's
review of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life:
"I have previously read Jane Goodall's recent book "Harvest for Hope." Barbara Kingsolver definitely repeats similar information in her book, but she has incorporated personal narrative about her family's struggles that make a great read. Ha...more
I have previously read Jane Goodall's recent book "Harvest for Hope." Barbara Kingsolver definitely repeats similar information in her book, but she has incorporated personal narrative about her family's struggles that make a great read. Having grown up in the Midwest, canning our own tomatoes and applesauce, this book takes me back to my roots and reminds me of the flavors I've been missing. In California, we have our own small garden. With the rise in grocery bills, growing a larger garden seems smarter and smarter. If you're looking for motivation to change your lifestyle, this book will surely nudge you in the direction of becoming more "grounded" in your food choices. And if you don't have a garden, her descriptions of garden-fresh foods will send you running for your nearest farmer's market....less
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Karen
read and liked
Amy's
review of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto:
"In the Buddhist tradition there is a level of hell whereby the dead, known as hungry ghosts, are trapped with enormous stomachs and tiny throats unable to swallow anything but the smallest bites of food. Their particular brand of torture is that they...more
In the Buddhist tradition there is a level of hell whereby the dead, known as hungry ghosts, are trapped with enormous stomachs and tiny throats unable to swallow anything but the smallest bites of food. Their particular brand of torture is that they are always eating and yet their hunger is never satisfied. These hungry ghosts sound an awful lot like the modern American eater trapped in the unhealthy western diet demonized in Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.
You may be surprised that anyone felt they needed to defend food, since we all rely on it to survive. But Pollan makes a clear distinction between the processed food-like substances that fill our grocery aisles in glistening packages and real foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and unprocessed, natural foods. Pollan argues that we eat way too much of the fake stuff, ignoring the foods that our bodies actually need. Like the hungry ghosts, we just never feel satisfied. At a clipping pace, Pollan examines both the field of nutritional science and the industrialization of food to show the reader just how we got to our particular brand of hell. Then, thankfully, he offers us a way out.
Instead of being hungry ghosts, Pollan tells us we can practice thoughtful consumption. He argues that the onslaught of nutritional science has taken the expertise out of the kitchen and into the laboratory, and too often isolates nutritional elements from the whole food that bore it. Any of us who keep up on nutritional trends will be shaking our heads when he discusses the familiar irritation of being told this week to eat one thing and avoid another, only to be told later that we had it right the first time. Instead of offering us a new trend in dieting, his solutions are both revolutionary and literally as old as time. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Pollan argues we should eat like our ancestors, before diabetes and heart disease reigned supreme and before high fructose corn syrup became more popular to the American consumer than television. Despite the dire evidence he presents in the book, his voice remains jocular and never dips into pessimism, though I did as a reader once or twice.
Even if you are not a health nut, Pollan makes a good argument for adopting his method of eating. The benefit of this thoughtful consumption is more than nutritional. The eater will be practicing a lifestyle of environmental stewardship, optimal health, and respect for the time required to grow and prepare the food necessary for life.
The book, addictive as those processed foods Pollan does such a powerful job of damning, is difficult to put down, in part because you don’t want to stop to eat anything until you know what you are supposed to eat after all. The only caveat is that In Defense of Food offers so little compromise between the western lifestyle and the lifestyle Pollan requires the eater to adopt, which just may be the reality of the current food paradigm. Maybe eating well is a revolutionary act in these times of microwavable meals and fast food paragons. When you buy food it is no longer a given that it is real food, and you may have to be willing to make some major changes in your lifestyle to get the real food back onto your table and into your stomach.
...less
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March 08, 2008
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Karen
gave
to:
The Gourmet Cookbook: More than 1000 recipes (now with DVD)
by Ruth Reichl
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Karen
gave
to:
Andrew Carnegie (Paperback)
by David Nasaw
bookshelves:
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