The 2012 Fifty Book Challenge

[bigdirtyfoot]

10. The Yoga of Eating: Transcending Diets and Dogma to Nourish the Natural Self, Charles Eisenstein, 175 pg.

This book was written to help the reader learn to trust the messages that his or her own body sends regarding the intake of food. However, it touches on other areas of life as well. The additional topics contain insights on human willpower, natural breathing, living a highly-processed life, and addiction.

I didn't realize that the book was about more than food before I bought it, but I am glad that it is written this way because it helped me get closer to seeing how everything in my life is interconnected. Eisenstein is very smart; I have followed some of his other work in the past. He does not attempt to push a certain type of diet or nutritional science on his readers in The Yoga of Eating. Instead, he throws many types of diets and ways of living up on the blackboard and then shows how they all relate to one another.

I would definitely suggest reading this if you are considering changing your diet or attempting to lose weight. (Although this book certainly does not focus on weight loss. He does have a weight loss book that I will probably read in the future.) My one quip about the book is that there are several typos and grammatical mistakes, but I was able to figure out what Eisenstein was trying to say almost all of the time.

[Jeremy]

9. Complexity: A guided tour by Melanie Mitchell 368pg

Very interesting look at complexity, chaos, and information networks. Written by a former grad student of Douglas Hofstadter too. I learnt a great deal, and it was easy to read too (perhaps an improvement on GEB). I've been considering heading in this kind of direction for post grad. research, but we'll see. Anyway definitely recommended if you're interested in these kinds of topics, perhaps even worth a read if you're not. It's cool to think that the processes controlling how flocks of fish and birds behave are so similar to the processes controlling how consciousness arises in our brains, at least from this kind of a perspective.

[lilo]

1. Agatha Christie - Miss Marple & Mystery (collection of short stories)
2. Kerry Greenwood - Urn Burial
3. Anna Stothard - The Pink Hotel
4. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
5. Martina Cole - The Runaway
6. Agatha Christie - Detectives & Young Adventurers (collection of short stories)
7. Nancy Mitford - Love In A Cold Climate
8. Kate Morton - The Distant Hours
9. Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger
10. Benjamin Law - The Family Law
11. Kerry Greenwood - Blood & Circuses
12. Anonymous - A Woman In Berlin
13. Mulgray Twins - No Suspicious Circumstances
14. Jon Richardson - It's Not Me, It's You
15. Neville Shute - A Town Like Alice
16. Richard Llewellyn - How Green Was My Valley
17. Chloe Hooper - The Tall Man

18. Kate Grenville - The Secret River

19. John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let The Right One In

20. Dodie Smith - I Capture The Castle

21. Wilkie Collins - The Woman In White

Too sleepy to write anything about them - The Woman In White was excellent though!

[Zac Miley]

1. Letters Between Friends: Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse
2. Three Artemis Fowl books which I will count as one, Eoin Colfer
3. A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
4. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (reread)
5. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
6. Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis
7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

Took a lot longer than it should've, too much life.

I think Danny said he was interested in Tolstoy earlier - I would recommend him. I'm not really sure why though, it just feels good when you're reading it.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg

Hemingway really hates women. That's my takeaway...

[Jeremy]

1. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - 229pp [ebook]
2. I Am Legend by Richard Matherson - 180pp [ebook]
3. The Drowned World by JG Ballard - 158pp [ebook]
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 248pp [ebook]
5. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 338pp [ebook]
6. Galactic Human Handbook: Entering The New Time: Creating Planetary Groups by Sheldon Nidle and Jose Arguelles - 157pp
7. The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery - 407pp
8. Tasmania; A Natural History by William E. Davies Jr. 236pp
9. Complexity: A guided tour by Melanie Mitchell 368pg
10. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams 306pp [ebook]

I was inspired to read this by the new BBC tv show, which I also enjoyed, although they are fairly different in plot (but it captures the atmosphere well). Anyway a light read, but enjoyable and fun. I know I've read a lot of Adams recently, but there are still a couple more of his books I'd like to read.

[Jeremy]

1. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - 229pp [ebook]
2. I Am Legend by Richard Matherson - 180pp [ebook]
3. The Drowned World by JG Ballard - 158pp [ebook]
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 248pp [ebook]
5. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 338pp [ebook]
6. Galactic Human Handbook: Entering The New Time: Creating Planetary Groups by Sheldon Nidle and Jose Arguelles - 157pp
7. The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery - 407pp
8. Tasmania; A Natural History by William E. Davies Jr. - 236pp
9. Complexity: A guided tour by Melanie Mitchell - 368pg [ebook]
10. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams - 306pp [ebook]
11. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle 108pp [ebook]

The first novel about Sherlock Holmes. Pretty fun. Gets stuck into Mormons too, which was good. Very light read.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg

[bigdirtyfoot]

11. Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition, Charles Eisenstein, 469 pg.

I was first introduced to the work of Charles Eisenstein through the website Reality Sandwich, brainchild of Daniel Pinchbeck. In fact, I think the passage I read was an excerpt from this book! The entirety of Sacred Economics is hosted in bits and pieces on Reality Sandwich, so if this piques your interest you can check it out at no charge. Following that introduction, I read Eisenstein's book "The Yoga of Eating" which I really enjoyed, and helped me make the decision to read Sacred Economics.

Sacred Economics tells the story of humanity's relationship to money and gifts throughout the ages, and puts forth Eisenstein's vision of the next greatest economic structure, along with what a hypothetical transition to this type of gift society would look like. Which, according to him, we are experiencing right now (this book was published in 2011). The history of how we developed our current relationship with money is enlightening, as is the explanation of how some of the more complicated facets of economy work. I have to admit that a lot of the book was a bit over my head, which means that it will reward multiple readings for me.

Eisenstein's idea of a more ecological and humane economy includes concepts such as the social dividend, negative-interest currency, local currencies, internalization of ecological and social factors, economic degrowth, reconnection with gift culture, etc. It certainly runs counter to the mainstream media's idea of what should happen to our economy. I really enjoyed his ideas, and hope to see some of them come to fruition, although I can't claim that I understand enough about modern economics to be able to debate any of these points. At any rate, it is a really well-written book (Leaps and bounds over "The Yoga of Eating"! Great improvement Eisenstein!) and I suggest anyone who has an interest in the subject to at least check out his writings online at his website or Reality Sandwich.

[Zac Miley]

1. Letters Between Friends: Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse
2. Three Artemis Fowl books which I will count as one, Eoin Colfer
3. A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
4. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (reread)
5. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
6. Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis
7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson

Pretty good.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg

Got a lot of press from NPR and the New Yorker and such. Included in a number of "Best of 2011" book lists. About an American guy ni his mid-20s living in Madrid for a year on a prestigious poetry fellowship. Talks mostly about the nature of poetry and art, whether it's possible to have a "profound experience of art" or for art to really change/effect things, and so on and so forth. I enjoyed it a lot.

[bigdirtyfoot]

12. Good as Gold, Joseph Heller, 447 pg.

Good as Gold is Joseph Heller's third novel. The main character is a Jewish freelance writer named Bruce Gold. The book centers on several awkward situations with Gold's family, publishers, government buddies and a few love affairs. Most of the characters are unbearable and cruel to one another. The situations are unimportant and the dialogue is so unbelievable and inorganic it is frustrating to read!

The plot never really seems to go anywhere to me. I feel like Heller's writing ability has fallen off a little bit each book so far. Luckily, God Knows is his next work, and I read about half of it about ten years ago and remember laughing quite a bit, so hopefully it will live up to my memory. I don't think that Good as Gold is a terrible book, but it certainly isn't a great book either. One of the only things that saved it for me is that the main character is a writer, which I found personally compelling. I probably won't be returning to this one again.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg

[Jeremy]

1. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - 229pp [ebook]
2. I Am Legend by Richard Matherson - 180pp [ebook]
3. The Drowned World by JG Ballard - 158pp [ebook]
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 248pp [ebook]
5. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 338pp [ebook]
6. Galactic Human Handbook: Entering The New Time: Creating Planetary Groups by Sheldon Nidle and Jose Arguelles - 157pp
7. The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery - 407pp
8. Tasmania; A Natural History by William E. Davies Jr. - 236pp
9. Complexity: A guided tour by Melanie Mitchell - 368pg [ebook]
10. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams - 306pp [ebook]
11. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle 108pp [ebook]
12. Free Will by Sam Harris 66pp

Obviously a very short book, and I'd read a lot of it before on Sam's blog. I also happened to meet Sam this weekend, and had my copy signed . Anyway I completely agree with this book, which is mounting the case against free will, as well as outlining the political and legal implications for accepting that we don't have free will. It was funny, interesting and convincing, and given the small cost and size, I see no reason why everybody shouldn't read this book .

[Zac Miley]

1. Letters Between Friends: Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse
2. Three Artemis Fowl books which I will count as one, Eoin Colfer
3. A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
4. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (reread)
5. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
6. Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis
7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
9. The Tradition of the New, Harold Rosenberg

Rosenberg is probably the best writer of all art historians/art critics, so the book was easy to get through. I would suggest him if you're at all interested in literature, visual art, or art theory.

[Jeremy]

1. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - 229pp [ebook]
2. I Am Legend by Richard Matherson - 180pp [ebook]
3. The Drowned World by JG Ballard - 158pp [ebook]
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 248pp [ebook]
5. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 338pp [ebook]
6. Galactic Human Handbook: Entering The New Time: Creating Planetary Groups by Sheldon Nidle and Jose Arguelles - 157pp
7. The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery - 407pp
8. Tasmania; A Natural History by William E. Davies Jr. - 236pp
9. Complexity: A guided tour by Melanie Mitchell - 368pg [ebook]
10. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams - 306pp [ebook]
11. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - 108pp [ebook]
12. Free Will by Sam Harris - 66pp
13. Australian Freshwater Ecology: Processes and management by Andrew Boulton and Margaret Brock - 244pp

My textbook for a subject I'm doing at university this semester on freshwater ecology. It's a little old (1999) but I found it mainly useful, occasionally humorous, and engaging. I did dislike the vast number of "text boxes" included though, many of which add little to what's being discussed, and could be summed up as saying; "the exact situation we'e just generally talked about in the main body of text has occurred in real examples too." I guess some people like that, but I found it unnecessary. I don't know if it's worth recommending this book to anybody. I guess if you have a specific interest in freshwater ecology in Australia, it might be useful.

[Zac Miley]

1. Letters Between Friends: Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse
2. Three Artemis Fowl books which I will count as one, Eoin Colfer
3. A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
4. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (reread)
5. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
6. Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis
7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
9. The Tradition of the New, Harold Rosenberg
10. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: Finca Vigia edition, Ernest Hemingway

(I am particularly fond of 'Hills Like White Elephants')

[bigdirtyfoot]

13. Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future, David Wolfe, 342 pg.

I first saw David Wolfe on the documentary Food Matters, and really enjoyed what he had to say about raw foods and superfoods. He has a vibrant energy that flows through his body and his enthusiasm about nutrition shines through his speech. That documentary really had an effect on me, and I have changed my diet a lot since watching it. Slowly, I have begun to include superfoods into my own diet, but I wanted to learn more about them.

This book covers Wolfe's top ten superfoods and includes honorable mention for seven additional foods. Each superfood chapter includes a detailed history, nutritional profile, what to look for in markets, recommended dosages, and several creative recipes. The top ten superfoods are goji berries, cacao beans, maca, bee products, spirulina, AFA blue-green algae, marine phytoplankton, aloe vera, hempseed, and coconuts. The honorable mentions are acai, camu camu berry, chlorella, incan berries, kelp, noni, and bacon.

This is a very easy book to read. The information I learned is both interesting and practical. Wolfe's main goal seems to be sharing the information he knows with others to help them have The Best Day Ever. I know from personal experience the value of eating some of these foods, and I look forward to including more of them in my diet. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in their diet, especially those who practice vegetarianism, veganism, or raw foodism.

[Jeremy]

Two books I've read recently; "Bad Science" and the "Choice Food Guide" were both very critical of both "superfoods" and nutritional mythology surrounding them. Indeed I vaguely recall David Wolfe getting a special mention in one of those books for spreading nonsense. Just saying

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg

A re read. I read this last year. I just wanted to re read one particular story and ended up reading the whole thing.