Book Review- The Omnivore's Dilemma
One thing we all have to think about every day is what we eat. But, do we REALLY know what we're eating? Does anyone really know what all 15 of those ingredients are in their breakfast cereal? The Omnivore's Dilemma discusses that question...what are we really eating? and why are we eating it? There are many ways to address this question but here Michael Pollan follows the origins of three meals: and industrial meal at McDonalds, a purely organic meal, and a meal that he hunted and gathered himself. Reading the section on the industrial meal was truly frightening. The treatment of livestock and the conditions they're kept in are truly horrific. Even more than that though is the shocking realization that almost everything we eat is CORN. This is a direct result of the glut of cheap corn in the U.S. Cows on factory farms are all fed corn, even though they are herbivores. Also, all processed foods are made pretty entirely of corn. It's a really scary thought.
The second meal is completely organic within the guidelines set out by the FDA, mainly food purchased at Whole Foods. It was really amazing to see how the definition of organic has become so twisted. In the past I had occassionally indulged in organic meat but definitely not anymore. The living conditions are really not much better than for factory farm animals and most of the time the slaughtering process is exactly the same.
For the third meal the author hunts and kills a wild pig himself and then gathers the other ingredients for a meal. He does this mainly to demonstrate that people used to eat like this, and to highlight the disconnect that we currently have from our food sources.
I found that this was the strongest point of the book. Pollan is rarely preachy...he never says "don't eat meat" or "don't eat at McDonalds." The point is that we are ignorant about our food and where it comes from. All he's asking is that the reader educate themselves about their food sources. If you can honestly say that you know what a factory farm is like and you can still eat the meat then fine, if you know that your lettuce has to be shipped all the way from California and is picked by migrant workers then fine, but to remain ignorant is shameful. He also talks about adopting a more common sense approach to eating and ignoring the constant barrage of health claims and studies that seem to come out every other minute. Overall I think it was an excellent book and one that everyone should read.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
If anyone wants to read this book I will gladly lend it to them...I'll even pay the postage.
Labels: books
Book Reviews
Blood MeridianThis is the third Cormac McCarthy book that I've read. The first, All The Pretty Horses, I couldn't stand and the second, No Country For Old Men, I loved so I decided to give him another chance with Blood Meridian as the tiebreaker. The book was much more in the style of No Country For Old Men, meaning that it was extremely dark and at times, very depressing. In reading some reviews afterwards one critic said that even though the book was dark it was also exhilirating and energizing. I definitely did not feel that way. At times the book was so bleak that I felt like it was sapping the energy out of me. My favorite character in the book was the Judge, a huge, pale hairless man that leads the group on their journey through the Texas/Mexico borderlands. He is a fantastic villain. Another very disturbing yet all too realistic theme of the book was the blurring of the lines between who is the victim and who is the aggressor. I pitied the Native Americans when they were getting scalped but it was supposedly in retaliation for the pilaging of Mexican villages. I think this point is especially salient considering our current international situation. Overall, amazingly well written....4/5 stars.
Fear of FlyingThis is supposedly one of the groundbreaking novels of the feminist movement but after 30 years it feels incredibly dated and reads like a Harlequin romance. I guess in the 1970s it was revolutionary for a woman to decide not to have children or to get divorced or go to an "analyst" but by now it's all really well worn territory. After the first 100 pages I tired of her describing every penis she had ever seen and giving us the "woe is me" why did i have to be born a woman spiel. I could identify with most of what she talked about in terms of her struggles to decide whether to have kids and her quest to "find herself" but maybe that was the problem with the novel...I live most of these issues, I don't need a poorly written novel to over-analyze it for me. Also, there was a note from the author at the end where she describes her life experience and how she came to write the novel. So, the novel is her life story...sort of like a James Frey in reverse...she didn't even bother to change the main character's hair color. boring read...too many ridiculous descriptions of boring sex acts...2/5 stars.
Labels: books
Book Review - It's Back
I stopped doing the book reviews a while back because I don't think anyone was really interested in them and frankly I don't really feel the need to talk about what I read but I think in the interest of preserving a record of my reading and recommending books I loved I will start talking about them again, even if it's just a sentence or two.
The book that I just finished was really the impetus for reviving the book reviews. We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families (Wish): Stories from Rwanda is a detailed look at the genocide in Rwanda. Every angle is covered, from the origins of the ethnic divisions that spurned the genocide to the international community's response. Instead of being purely chronological the book mixes individual's stories with the background and more technical information. This makes the flow much better. The book is not easy to read, after all it is about genocide, but it is fascinating and heartwrenching. While the book in itself was disturbing it also brought to light my very shallow knowledge of international affairs in general. The situation in Rwanda, and I'm sure most of the armed conflicts around the world are so nuanced that an article in the New York Times or a blurb on CNN really does nothing to better our understanding of what is actually happening in these places.
This morning I went back and reread the excerpts of My Life, Bill Clinton's outstanding autobiography that dealt with Rwanda and it was really amazing how I really didn't understand what I was reading the first time around. When he discusses refugees in Rwanda I realized that initially I had no idea who these refugees were. He also discussed peace accords which sound good but really didn't accomplish anything. Aside from knowledge about Rwanda I think this book really taught me that I need to look at things with a more critical eye.
Overall I give the book 3.5 out of 4 stars.
Labels: books
currently reading
If you will note, at right, I am currently reading Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer which tries to answer the question of what makes a sports fan a sports fan and why are they all so effing crazy. He tries to answer this question by tailgating with all of the RVers at Alabama football games. The author Warren St.John is a lifelong Alabama fan and even includes a pic of him with Bear Bryant in the introduction. In the beginning, I really liked the book and definitely identified with all of his crazy fan things and the tailgating anecdotes but there's one aspect of the book I can't get past. The guy is an Alabama fan and I hate Alabama. I am sick of hearing about every Alabama game that season. Unfortunately for me the book takes place during Dinardo's last season when we went 3-7, winning our only SEC game against Arkansas with a substitute head coach. I am dreading the chapter about that game. Apparently my fandom runs too deep to get past this and just enjoy the book.
One interesting point he makes in the book is about what nick calls "t-shirt fans"..people who support a football team even though they didn't go to college there. While I think he uses this as a derogatory term, St. John says that most of these fans look down on the alumni as lesser fans because the fans that aren't alumni could have chosen any college in the U.S. to support but they chose THAT team whereas alumni have their team built in. Maybe I'm especially defensive of these fans b/c I was raised by a huge bunch of them. GEAUX TIGERS!!
Thursday nights just aren't the same without The Office.
Labels: books, football
