Reading
I copy-paste the first paragraph of each review from my booklog.
Health (diet)
- Pure, White, and Deadly - John Yudkin - n - easy to read. The book does feel a bit scattered—he goes over what human ancestors may have even, the history of sugar, how sugar is made/processed, sugar's lack of nutritional value, and a variety of health issues with are closely related to diet. It's not particularly dense. While I could go so far as to say that the book is lacking in data, he does acknowledge this shortcoming. Mixing facts with opinions (as he does) seems complacent; again, he acknowledges this and (appropriately) defends his reasons for doing so. I'm not certain that a 41-person study which supports the opinions one already has would be the best source of data. Shortcomings, indeed.
- The Vegetarian Myth - Lierre Keith - n - by an ex-vegan; audience is clearly vegans / vegetarians / etc. Writing swings between "wow she's passionate about this" and "so fucking annoying." Word/phrase repetition rarely works; this book is no exception. Weird to read. (Emphasize that; she's an oddball). Improves over time; maybe it needed another round with an editor.
- Good Calories, Bad Calories - Gary Taubes - n - initially, I'd jokingly called it "a dense book for data whores." And...yeah. Each chapter is a constant stream of data (and it's dry) for the reader to piece through.
- The Great Plant-Based Con - Jayne Buxton - n.25 - someone read a lot of books (and papers, and videos, and websites) and wrote up a lengthy book report. It is easy to read and provides a lot of starting points on relevant topics (ex. why fats aren't bad, nutritional value of meat (> plants), plant toxicity, seriously don't cut animal products out of your life, there's plenty more I haven't gotten to yet (she's said she'll touch on carbs more at a later point, but has made it clear that there isn't much in their favor. The way she's not giving processed foods a chance, implicitly deeming them devoid of value, is a bit amusing). The author has been pointing out issues with relating meat to climate change, with a bit of a TLDR of meat not being a primary contributor to climate issues, any issues relating the two have been overstated (let's lie using statistics!) and can be addressed.
- Toxic Superfoods - Sally K. Norton - n0 - initially surprised, then not at all. Recalling other people I've seen online talking about plant-based diets creating more problems; ex. the author of Vagina Problems noted this. The prose is exceedingly meh.
- The Big Fat Surprise - Nina Teicholz - n1v - started reading for the information, kept reading for the prose. Damn can she write. On that note, excuse me while I go lie down and be disappointed in humanity for a little bit.
Consciousness
- Feeling & Knowing - Antonio Damasio - n~ - The author has not explicitly said anything. He isn't citing sources, or specific details; merely providing us with a vague idea of what consciousness might be. Poorly written. I've abandoned it without second thought.
- The Man Who Wasn't There - Anil Ananthaswamy - nt - the author uses various disorders to investigate what the "self" is. He looks at disorders where one's sense of self is disrupted. For example, individuals with body identity integrity disorder feel a profound sense that a particular part of their body does not belong to them. This may arise from a disconnect between the brain's map of the body and the body itself---for example, one's leg literally does not feel like it is a part of them.
- The River of Consciousness - Oliver Sacks - n - I was interested in "Speed" and "The Creative Self," and skimmed "Mishearings," "Freud as Neurologist," and "Scotoma." "Speed" had some nice sections about our perception of time; I particularly enjoyed his discussion of temporal disorders (ex. Parkinson's) where there is a genuine difference in how people experience time.
- Into a Silent Land - Paul Broks - n - A peregrination through neuropsychology, patients with disordered brains, and philosophy. He'll offer up an anecdote about a patient and use that to talk about another aspect of neuropsychology; he'll meander back to the patient, perhaps a minute mention of his own life, some other tidbit about the world, and a philosophical tangent. Glimpses of information interspersed with glimpses of life. "What is the self?" may be his primary question. He thinks through the differences between the brain, mind, and self. He offers no answers; merely a collection of (interesting) ruminations that go from one nowhere to another nowhere. The book is a bit of a haze. A pleasant read nonetheless.