It's been 25 days since my last post. What have I been doing? READING, that's what. Well, also working and trying to entertain my 2-year-old and my 39-year-old, but that's not near as exciting...
What have I been reading?, you might ask. Well, here's the answer, in no particular order:
French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
I had no idea this book was controversial. I read it and thought, "hey, she's got some great points", then loaned it to a friend that promptly said, "hey, she's an annoying bitch who hates Americans". Readers fall into one of two camps on this book: Love or Hate. Don't believe me? Check out the Amazon reviews. Read the book for yourself and decide which camp you fall into. I liked it for the awareness it gave me that Americans do not think/feel about food the way most of the rest of the world does. The whole concept of "fast food" is a horrendous affront to most of the civilized world, who believe that if you are going to bother to eat, it should be an event to be enjoyed and savored, not gobbled down in a few minutes while driving somewhere in your car.
The overfed head : what if everything you know about weight loss is wrong? by Rob Stevens
This is a whopping 114-page book that's changed my life as well as a good friend of mine's (surprisingly, the same one that hated "French Women"). It's a lot of common sense that, when put together with some common strategies for eating, creates a powerful theme that hits you over the head with its obviousness. He outlines a study done on skinny people (not fat people like most weight studies) that tried to determine why the skinny folks stay skinny. They found some common sense things: EAT WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY. WHEN YOU ARE FULL...STOP. Sounds simple and easy, huh? Then why do most of us not do this? Stevens explores the answer to this, as well as some strategies for sticking with these seemingly easy concepts. If you have any issue with your weight at all, you can't afford NOT to read this book. I thought that this book, when read almost immediately after "French Women" gave an good idea of why America is so obese.
Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
This is the same author that wrote "Turning Point - How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference", if you're keeping score. These are both very good books that offer information that tends to pop up in your everyday life and make you go "Hmmm.....". Blink is compilation of several different points that are extremely interesting and engaging to read. However, I didn't seem to find a "point" to the entire book. But you know what? I didn't care. Read both if you can. Get the audios...they are even better.
The Closers (audiotape) by Michael Connelly
I'm actually still listening to this one. It's wonderful! If you like good mysteries, then you need to start reading Michael Connelly. This book is from his series with detective Harry Bosch, who's more into solving crimes than Bill Gates is into software. I never, ever know whodunit until the very end. Connelly is that good. This one did not disappoint and makes the drive to/from work something I look forward to.
Ender's Game by Orson Card
This is a classic sci-fi story that I recently discovered. What a wonderful read! I can see how this book has served as groundwork for other sci-fi stories, such as "The Matrix". It's as valid a story today as it was back in 1994, when it was written. Even if you don't like sci-fi, you will dig this story. I just read that they are working on a screenplay for this book, so even if you don't read it, stay tuned for the movie!
More coming soon...I've got several books in process now.
