- by Michael Pollan
Pollan divides this overview of Nutritionism & the Western Diet into 3 main parts. If you can slog through Part 1, you'll manage the rest of the book fairly well. It was tough going, between learning the history of nutrition science, reading about poorly conducted population studies and sorting through various definitions: polyunsaturated fats, the lipid hypothesis, carbohydrates and insulin metabolism, antioxidants, vitamins... I almost tossed it aside.
Parts 2 & 3 were much more readable and did have a fair amount of interesting, eye-opening information regarding the industrialization of our food supply. Do you think you're eating a healthy diet? Pollan makes sure you understand that the Western Diet is the cause of many chronic diseases: diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, malnutrition. Yes, malnutrition. Our obese children are overeating, but they are not eating enough actual nutrients. They are suffering from malnurishment diseases such as rickets.
The next time you go to the grocery store, notice how much of it is devoted to products that masquerade as food and try to determine what foods are "real food." How many ingredients does it take to make a loaf of bread? If you ate an apple in 1940, you'd have to eat 3 apples today to get the same amount of nutrients. If that fact surprises and bothers you, then you'll want to learn more from Michael Pollen. (But skim through Part 1- it's a killer.)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Intern
by Sandeep Jauhar
The scary stuff you've always tried not to believe about hospitals is actually true after all. The interns are exhausted, mostly clueless, overworked, and some are conflicted about why they even want to be doctors in this honest look at how our society trains physicians.
Jauhar quickly learns in his first year that bedside manner, concern for the patient, thorough exams and a decent night's sleep are all extras that interns must manage without. Overwhelmed, Jauhar questions how the system is set up and recognizes that it functions not for the patient's benefit, but for the needs of the staff.
Complicating his doubts, Jauhar struggles with severe depression and a neck brace. It's possible that the herniated disk is what keeps him on track to finish out his training: once deliberating about quitting the program, when time off is suggested to heal his neck, he resists, and sticks it out, becoming a successful cardiologist.
This book tells the story of how Jauhar grew from just another guy into a Doctor, complete with his misgivings, mishaps, misdiagnoses and musings on hospital gestalt. Fine reading.
The scary stuff you've always tried not to believe about hospitals is actually true after all. The interns are exhausted, mostly clueless, overworked, and some are conflicted about why they even want to be doctors in this honest look at how our society trains physicians.
Jauhar quickly learns in his first year that bedside manner, concern for the patient, thorough exams and a decent night's sleep are all extras that interns must manage without. Overwhelmed, Jauhar questions how the system is set up and recognizes that it functions not for the patient's benefit, but for the needs of the staff.
Complicating his doubts, Jauhar struggles with severe depression and a neck brace. It's possible that the herniated disk is what keeps him on track to finish out his training: once deliberating about quitting the program, when time off is suggested to heal his neck, he resists, and sticks it out, becoming a successful cardiologist.
This book tells the story of how Jauhar grew from just another guy into a Doctor, complete with his misgivings, mishaps, misdiagnoses and musings on hospital gestalt. Fine reading.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
My Guantanamo Diary
by Mahvish Rukhsana Khan
This is a very difficult subject, but Khan manages to make it a good read, too. She reminds us that all of the detainees, guilty or not, are people first. She introduces us to a detained doctor, a journalist, a businessman, a policeman. These people were handed over for bounty money and immediately treated as terrorists by the military, never being allowed to hear the charges against them, never having a chance to prove their innocence.
In discussion, we asked, "why would people turn in terrorists who will have friends who can retaliate? It's so much easier to turn in the guy down the road. You never got along with him anyway."
We have an image as Americans that we are a great people, a great and honorable nation. That our presence in other countries is a good thing. Who trains our prison guards to perform such noxious torture?
This is a very difficult subject, but Khan manages to make it a good read, too. She reminds us that all of the detainees, guilty or not, are people first. She introduces us to a detained doctor, a journalist, a businessman, a policeman. These people were handed over for bounty money and immediately treated as terrorists by the military, never being allowed to hear the charges against them, never having a chance to prove their innocence.
In discussion, we asked, "why would people turn in terrorists who will have friends who can retaliate? It's so much easier to turn in the guy down the road. You never got along with him anyway."
We have an image as Americans that we are a great people, a great and honorable nation. That our presence in other countries is a good thing. Who trains our prison guards to perform such noxious torture?
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Manic
by Terri Cheney
Think of your worst PMS experience (guys, surely you've been exposed to a woman on the edge...), now multiply that bad day by, say 200%. Now you're starting to understand how miserable some of these experiences are. Cheney has unapologetically written about a difficult life with riveting detail.
To imagine the highs and lows created by manic-depression (bipolar, if you prefer) is extremely difficult for "stable" people. Indeed, some of us in the book group found ourselves being judgmental of her actions and questioning if she stretched the truth a bit for the dramatic effect book-writing requires. Her manic episodes & suicide attempts were so upsetting to read that we didn't WANT to accept their truths. Just the thought of what she's been through is almost unbearable. Surely a doctor somewhere can help her.
But no, Cheney ran through every conceivable prescribed drug cocktail with not much luck. She even resorted to electroshock therapy without much success. A Vassar graduate, a successful lawyer, Cheney's education and big paycheck weren't enough to fight such a horrible disease. She manages, though, to retain a fragile sense of dignity in spite of regrettable actions.
The truly scary part of this book is to think of the bipolar people who do not have the education or money to assist them with tackling this disease. I would have liked to read more about the outreach work she is doing with UCLA. To read about something good that has come from all the horror she's been through would have been cathartic for a stunned reader.
Think of your worst PMS experience (guys, surely you've been exposed to a woman on the edge...), now multiply that bad day by, say 200%. Now you're starting to understand how miserable some of these experiences are. Cheney has unapologetically written about a difficult life with riveting detail.
To imagine the highs and lows created by manic-depression (bipolar, if you prefer) is extremely difficult for "stable" people. Indeed, some of us in the book group found ourselves being judgmental of her actions and questioning if she stretched the truth a bit for the dramatic effect book-writing requires. Her manic episodes & suicide attempts were so upsetting to read that we didn't WANT to accept their truths. Just the thought of what she's been through is almost unbearable. Surely a doctor somewhere can help her.
But no, Cheney ran through every conceivable prescribed drug cocktail with not much luck. She even resorted to electroshock therapy without much success. A Vassar graduate, a successful lawyer, Cheney's education and big paycheck weren't enough to fight such a horrible disease. She manages, though, to retain a fragile sense of dignity in spite of regrettable actions.
The truly scary part of this book is to think of the bipolar people who do not have the education or money to assist them with tackling this disease. I would have liked to read more about the outreach work she is doing with UCLA. To read about something good that has come from all the horror she's been through would have been cathartic for a stunned reader.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Here if You Need Me
by Kate Braestrup
This short book is so full-packed with love, loss, despair, hope, grace... I can't possibly do it justice here. Braestrup is an eloquent writer. She's a widow with 4 children. She serves as the chaplain for the Maine warden service. She sees death often. She holds hands, prays, comforts, bears witness.
In this book, we are given glimpses of people's lives through tragedy and miracle, and asked to remember that in the act of searching for those lost, there is God's love. Tenderly, beautifully written, Braestrup creates heroes of each warden. Her book is a continual blessing, from start to finish. When done, the urge to pick it up again so as to stay within that blessed place is strong.
"If you are living in love, you are in heaven no matter where you are. May heaven hold you. May you always, always, live in love." p. 136
This short book is so full-packed with love, loss, despair, hope, grace... I can't possibly do it justice here. Braestrup is an eloquent writer. She's a widow with 4 children. She serves as the chaplain for the Maine warden service. She sees death often. She holds hands, prays, comforts, bears witness.
In this book, we are given glimpses of people's lives through tragedy and miracle, and asked to remember that in the act of searching for those lost, there is God's love. Tenderly, beautifully written, Braestrup creates heroes of each warden. Her book is a continual blessing, from start to finish. When done, the urge to pick it up again so as to stay within that blessed place is strong.
"If you are living in love, you are in heaven no matter where you are. May heaven hold you. May you always, always, live in love." p. 136
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks
This was a fascinating and frustrating book.
I have very little musical training, and certainly no medical training, so I often felt lost in the details as Sacks described the technical reasons behind various musical experiences. I am actually more of a visual learner, and found myself picturing an image of the brain everytime he mentioned frontal lobe or basal ganglia, trying to get a lock on where in the brain he was talking about.
When he spoke early in the book of the idea that music tends to replay itself, randomly unbidden, in a way that visual images never do, I had to wonder if there were visual artists who might disagree. I have certainly had various scenes & dialogues replay themselves in my own head over the years. (But this is the first of Sacks' books that I've read, so it's quite likely he has covered visual imagery and the brain elsewhere.)
It was a blow to hear, on pg 94, that "anatonists today would be hard put to identify the brain of a visual artist, a writer, or a mathematician-but they could recognize the brain of a professional musician without a moment's hesitation."
Still, I found the stories fascinating. I especially enjoyed his description of color synethesia. Maybe if I was able to see colors in conjunction with music, I could sing in the right key! I am envious of people with highly skilled ears who can perceive pitch - perfectly, in many cases, it seems. I can't grasp how they do it.
This was a fascinating and frustrating book.
I have very little musical training, and certainly no medical training, so I often felt lost in the details as Sacks described the technical reasons behind various musical experiences. I am actually more of a visual learner, and found myself picturing an image of the brain everytime he mentioned frontal lobe or basal ganglia, trying to get a lock on where in the brain he was talking about.
When he spoke early in the book of the idea that music tends to replay itself, randomly unbidden, in a way that visual images never do, I had to wonder if there were visual artists who might disagree. I have certainly had various scenes & dialogues replay themselves in my own head over the years. (But this is the first of Sacks' books that I've read, so it's quite likely he has covered visual imagery and the brain elsewhere.)
It was a blow to hear, on pg 94, that "anatonists today would be hard put to identify the brain of a visual artist, a writer, or a mathematician-but they could recognize the brain of a professional musician without a moment's hesitation."
Still, I found the stories fascinating. I especially enjoyed his description of color synethesia. Maybe if I was able to see colors in conjunction with music, I could sing in the right key! I am envious of people with highly skilled ears who can perceive pitch - perfectly, in many cases, it seems. I can't grasp how they do it.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Faith Club: a Muslim, A Christian, A Jew - Three Women Search for Understanding
by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
This is a wonderful chronicle by 3 women who are not afraid to discuss that taboo-word: religion! What started as an idea to write a cross-cultural children's book quickly grew into something much more complex as they began to explore their personal faiths more closely. As they learned about each other's religion and culture, assumptions were challenged, stereotypes were confronted, prayers and rituals examined.
This book offers great encouragement for people who are willing to invest the time and energy to explore their own beliefs more deeply. It shows how each woman began to consider her religion in a very personal, deep way, and by example, provides a method for readers to do the same. It also offers a great platform for opening up discussions about sensitive topics. If there is one criticism that could be made, it is that these women did not look further than these 3 religions, did not consider other beliefs such as buddhism or zen for example. But perhaps that would be an altogether separate book!
This is a wonderful chronicle by 3 women who are not afraid to discuss that taboo-word: religion! What started as an idea to write a cross-cultural children's book quickly grew into something much more complex as they began to explore their personal faiths more closely. As they learned about each other's religion and culture, assumptions were challenged, stereotypes were confronted, prayers and rituals examined.
This book offers great encouragement for people who are willing to invest the time and energy to explore their own beliefs more deeply. It shows how each woman began to consider her religion in a very personal, deep way, and by example, provides a method for readers to do the same. It also offers a great platform for opening up discussions about sensitive topics. If there is one criticism that could be made, it is that these women did not look further than these 3 religions, did not consider other beliefs such as buddhism or zen for example. But perhaps that would be an altogether separate book!
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