Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Kelly Corrigan Lecture

Yet another author lecture in Baltimore...

Sinai Hospital Auxillary is celebrating its 60th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, October 2, 2008 with a lecture by Kelly Corrigan, author of bestselling memoir The Middle Place, and music with Three of a Kind.

The event starts at 7:30pm at Beth El Congregation, 8101 Park Heights Avenue, Pikesville, MD 21208.

Free and open to the public but reservations are required; call 410-601-5033.

Here's a synopsis of The Middle Place:
For Kelly Corrigan, family is everything. At thirty-six, she had a marriage that worked, two funny, active kids, and a weekly newspaper column. But even as a thriving adult, Kelly still saw herself as the daughter of garrulous Irish-American charmer George Corrigan. She was living deep within what she calls the Middle Place—"that sliver of time when parenthood and childhood overlap"—comfortably wedged between her adult duties and her parents' care. But Kelly is abruptly shoved into coming-of-age when she finds a lump in her breast—and gets the diagnosis no one wants to hear. When George, too, learns that he has late-stage cancer, it is Kelly's turn to take care of the man who had always taken care of her—and to show us a woman who finally takes the leap and grows up.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded

The free audio excerpt that I received last month of Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America by Thomas Friedman has piqued my interest -- you can get your audio excerpt here.

And reading David Victor's New York Times book review titled "Call to Arms for an American-Led Green Revolution" really makes me want to get my hands on a copy.

I like Friedman's blunt no-nonsense, authoritative style and find his work always educational.

Since I'd like to suggest that my book club read this book as it's next non-fiction selection, I looked up some discussion questions:
  1. Discuss chapter one’s title, “Where Birds Don’t Fly,” and the story behind it. How has this bunker mentality affected America’s role as an agent for positive change in the global arena?
  2. In what ways did Hot, Flat, and Crowded help you understand the history of the energy crisis and high fuel prices, from Carter-era progressivism through the Reagan era and beyond? What aspects of this history surprised you the most?
  3. Friedman begins by outlining three trends that capture diverse American attitudes toward energy consumption, climate change, and biodiversity: the “dumb as we wanna be” approach, found even among the political elite; the “subprime nation” mentality of borrowing our way to prosperity; and the optimism of innovators who want to do what’s right. Which attitude prevails in your community?
  4. Discuss the factors that have shaped the Energy-Climate Era: overcrowding due to population growth and longevity, the flattening of the world due to the rise of personal computers and the Internet, the fall of the Soviet Union, and other developments. How have these factors affected America economically, politically, and otherwise?
  5. Chapter two makes the distinction between “fuels from hell” and “fuels from heaven.” How is your life fueled by both categories? What would it take to transition completely to “fuels from heaven”?
  6. In your community, who has the most obvious case of affluenza? How would these groups fare under Chinese capitalism? Do you agree with Friedman’s prediction that Chinese capitalism will signal the death of the European welfare state? What other repercussions will rising affluence within the Chinese middle class be likely to have?
  7. Friedman describes his visit to an ultra-green Wal-Mart in McKinney, Texas, and the highly unecological urban sprawl he had to ride through to get there (chapter three). In what way is this a microcosm of America’s current approach to Code Green?
  8. Friedman’s first law of petropolitics states that as the price of oil goes up, the pace of freedom goes down. Why is this so often true? Did this principle apply to prosperity for American oil companies in the early twentieth century? What are the ramifications of Friedman’s second law of petropolitics, “You cannot be either an effective foreign policy realist or an effective democracy-promoting idealist without also being an effective energy-saving environmentalist”?
  9. In chapter five, Friedman describes the controversy that ensued when meteorologist Heidi Cullen tried to educate her audience about global warming. What is the best way to inform those who tune out such messages, which they believe are tantamount to “politicizing the weather”?
  10. What did you discover about the importance of biodiversity by reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded? Why do the efforts of groups such as Conservation International receive less attention than climate-change studies, though Friedman asserts that they are equally crucial?
  11. Discuss the proposal in chapter seven that ending “energy poverty” is a key to healing third-world populations, particularly in Africa. What is the best way to balance the need for energy in these regions with the destructive effects of power supply emissions? What is the best way to overcome the political instability that has stymied the growth of power grids in these locales?
  12. At the heart of Friedman’s argument is the notion that market demands drive innovation. What would it take to transform America’s perception so that the Code Green message is seen as a key to prosperity? How has the image of environmentalism changed during your lifetime?
  13. Friedman decries halfhearted attempts at environmental change, comparing them to a party rather than a revolution. At your workplace, in your neighborhood, and within your circle of friends, is it fashionable to go green? Is it taken seriously enough to become a bona fide movement, and then a revolution, where you live?
  14. Chapter nine probes the political hurdles that have to be surmounted in order to effect meaningful ecological change. In the book’s concluding passages, Friedman
    even admits to admiring the efficiency with which Chinese autocrats can enact immediate change. What should the role of government be in the face of a looming ecological crisis? How much government control is too much? Could a politician get elected in America by proposing higher fuel taxes and other disincentives for energy consumption?
  15. Discuss chapter ten’s economic principle that REEFIGDCPEERPC is less than TTCOBCOG (Renewable Energy Ecosystem for Innovating, Generating, and Deploying Clean Power, Energy Efficiency, Resource Productivity, and Conservation is less than the True Cost of Burning Coal, Oil, and Gas). How does this apply to your world? Why has America been slow to believe that REEFIGDCPEERPC is affordable?
  16. Are any of the ideas described in Friedman’s “futuristic” scenario (such as the Smart Black Box, smart grids, RESUs instead of cars, and energy costs that vary 3 according to time of day) already in the works in your state?
  17. Chapter eleven includes a proposal that the alternative-energy movement needs an economic bubble, similar to the one that poured staggering amounts of venture capital into the dot-com industry. In your opinion, why hasn’t this happened yet?
  18. Friedman describes a number of innovators and persuaders who have made significant inroads in improving conservation efforts, including an Indonesian imam who was persuaded to acknowledge river pollution, New York taxi drivers who now praise hybrid vehicles, and the U.S. military’s determination to “outgreen” the enemy. What do these agents of change have in common? What should green revolutionaries learn from these experiences?
  19. One of Friedman’s conclusions is that “it is much more important to change your leaders than your lightbulbs.” How will this play out in upcoming elections at all levels, local, state, and federal? What will the legacy of those elected officials be? How can you help to lead the Code Green revolution?
  20. How has the world changed since the publication of Friedman’s earlier books? How is the world now experiencing the effects of situations he covered throughout the 1990s? What human impulses (for example, materialism, benevolence) almost form a theme throughout all his books?
Click here to read an excerpt or click here to download a PDF discussion guide.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

Many of my friends idolize Warren Buffett.

Truthfully, I don't know much about him so I'm happy to hear that Alice Schroeder, former managing director at Morgan Stanley, has just written a biography of Warren Buffett after spending approximately two thousands hours interviewing and observing Buffett.

The book is titled The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life and refers to one of Buffett's folksy sayings about success: "Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill."

As usual, I heard about this book from the New York Times -- Janet Maslin's "The Richest Man and How He Grew (and Grew His Company, Too)."

I have no doubt that my local library will carry this unprecedented biography of "The Oracle of Omaha" (after all, even Walmart is selling this book) but I may want to purchase a copy anyway.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Books Mentioned in Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food

Though I didn't feel like Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto had much material not found in his other writings and talks (click here to view all my posts about this book), it did give me a very long list of books that I may want to read:
Whew.

Thankfully I've already read these books mentioned by Pollan:

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Nicholas Wolterstorff Lecture

Loyola College seems to be booking lots of first rate speakers lately!

Nicholas Wolterstorff, the Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University, will present "Justice: Rights and Wrongs" at Loyola College on Wednesday, October 1 at 5 pm as part of Loyola's "Commitment to Justice" lecture series.

Wolterstorff will speak about his new book, Justice: Rights and Wrongs, in which he (per the Loyola College of Maryland press release) "develops a theory of rights and of justice and examines a remarkable span of ideas—from ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, through canon law of the twelfth century, the Enlightenment, and up to the present.  He offers a rich and compelling philosophical account of justice and helps overcome today’s divide between religious discourse and human rights."

Wolterstorff is a graduate of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MIchigan and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1956. He has published more than 15 books, including:

The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place in McGuire Hall on the second floor of the Andrew White Student Center on the College’s North Charles Street campus. The Andrew White Student Center is off of the east-west street just before the overpass just north of Coldspring Boulevard, east of Charles Street and West of Milbrook Road and next to the DeChiaro College Center.

Click here to view the table of contents of Justice: Rights and Wrongs or click here to download an excerpt in PDF format.

The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

Everything I know about cooking I learned from my mother.

True, she's never taught me any recipes but she taught me to cook with my imagination.

I never once saw her consult a cookbook, but yet dinner every night was always delicious and satisfying. And a better meal than you would find at many restaurants in Baltimore.

Thanks to her I've never been contained by recipes. If I'm cooking something for the first time, I'll read several similar recipes and then make it up from there.

I use measuring cups but I'm never precise about cooking measurements. And I love to experiment with different flavors and spices.

Sometimes my creations flop, but I'd like to think that they are successful more often than not.

So I'm thrilled to hear that Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg have written a book about "culinary creativity":

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs

Page and Dornenburg are the team that has brought us many award-winning foodie books including:



Honestly, I rarely buy cookbooks-- I just don't use them since I prefer to make it up as I go along.

The last "cookbook" I bought was How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science by Russ Parsons which I highly recommend; in fact I'd like to also get a copy of Parsons's How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table.

I think I'll put both The Flavor Bible and How to Pick a Peach on my Christmas list!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

David Orr Lecture

Yet another lecture by a fascinating author scheduled for Baltimore this fall!

David Orr, professor of environmental science and politics at Oberlin College and one of the leading proponents of environmental literacy in higher education speaks at Roland Park Country School at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday October 1, 2008 in a talk titled "Some like it Hot, But Lots Don't: The Changing Climate of U.S. Politics."

David Orr is the author of many books including:



Free and open to the public.

Roland Park Country School is located at 5204 Roland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21210 and directions can be found here.

Friday, September 26, 2008

The Secret Life of Words by Henry Hitchings

I just read about The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English by Henry Hitchings in this article from The Economist and I've got to get a copy!

Hitchings is also the author of Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary, which I also want to read after I first heard about it in Charles McGrath's New York Times Book Review "A Man of Many Words" published December 4, 2005. William Grimes also reviewed it in the New York Times here; click here to read the first chapter of Defining the World.

Though I don't know much about it, I've always been fascinated by the history of language -- one thing I liked about Cullen Murphy’s Are We Rome? was learning how we use words derived from words the Romans used).

And as the review from The Economist mentions, the history of words is the history of culture:
All this is another way of writing history. The Arab etymologies of “saffron”, “crimson” and “sugar” speak of England’s medieval trade with the Arab world. We have “cheque” and “tariff” from this source too, plus “arithmetic” and “algorithm”—just as we have “etch” and “sketch” from the Dutch, musical terms from the Italians and philosophical ones from the Germans. French nuance and finesse are everywhere. At every stage, the book is about people and ideas on the move, about invasion, refugees, immigrants, traders, colonists and explorers.

I hope my local library has a copy!

Blindness by Jose Saramago


I read Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago's modern classic Blindness in 2005 and am happy to hear that Fernando Meirelles (who directed City of God and The Constant Gardener) has made into a movie -- just read Terrence Rafferty "Descending Into Blindness to See the Light" published September 19, 2008 in the New York Times comparing the movie to other apocalyptic science fiction movies.

I would guess that Julianne Moore is well cast as the doctor's wife, given her work in other eerie movies like The Forgotten, Freedomland, and Children of Men.

Also in this movie are Mark Ruffalo (as the ophthalmologist), Gael Garcia Bernal, Danny Glover, Sandra Oh, and other stars.

I hope that this film, shot in São Paulo, Ontario, and Uruguay, does justice to this book.

Which reminds me....I wonder when the movie version of The Road comes out.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day

In case you haven't heard, 2008 Smithonian Magazine Museum Day is Saturday September 27.

That means, if you print this Museum Day admission card and bring it to participating Museum Day locations on Saturday, you and a guest will get free general admission. (The admission card is also available in the September 2008 issue of Smithsonian magazine.)

Click here to find your local participating museums.

Here are the ones listed in Maryland:

And here are the ones listed for Washington, DC:

Baltimore Book Festival

As much as I love books, I have not been to the Baltimore Book Festival, which occurs annually each September in the Mount Vernon neighborhood and attracts 60,000+ attendees each year.

This year it will be the 13th annual festival and it's this weekend -- September 26 - 28, 5 - 9pm on Friday and 11am - 7pm on Saturday and Sunday. Considering admission is free, I'm not sure why I've missed out on this each fall.

My guess is that each year during the weekend of the festival I've just happened to be out of town or entertaining guests.

This year though, I'll be around and I will make the effort to check it out.

I'm looking forward to hearing some of the scheduled authors speak!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Ta-Nehisi Coates Lecture

Yet another author lecture, this one by a Baltimore native!

The acclaimed journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, will be reading from and signing copies of his debut book, The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood, at 1 PM tomorrow (Thursday, September 25, 2008) at the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus Bookstore, 3330 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.

Here's what Baltimore City Paper has to say about this book (City Paper awarded it the 2008 Best Book About Baltimore Award):
Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of the more nimble-minded American cultural critics and observers writing today, grew up in Baltimore in the 1980s, a hardscrabble and personally fraught adolescence that he recounts in The Beautiful Struggle. But Coates' memoir isn't some navel-gazing coming of age discovery; it's a thoughtfully considered examination of what it's like to grow up young and black in a midsized, post-industrial American city and a breathtaking portrait of a father who dedicated his life to making sure his urban African-American sons became proud, educated, and responsible black men. Best of all, Coates writes in a gripping, lyrical cadence that proves, yet again, that writing can sing and bounce with the life-giving pulse of hip-hop's vital beat. Exquisite.

This talk is free and open to the public.

Click here to read an excerpt from The Beautiful Struggle or click here to read the author's blog on The Atlantic website.

Shakespeare @ Loyola College - Blackfriars Stage Company

There's so much going on in Baltimore this week!

The Blackfriars Stage Company, the touring troupe for the Blackfriars Theater, located at the American Shaksepeare Center (Staunton, VA),  is coming to Loyola College's McManus Theater this week to perform three plays -- one each night on September 24, 25 and 26 -- as part of their 2008/2009 Stark Raving Sane Tour!

All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. in McManus Theater in the DeChiaro College Center.

There is no charge for admission and all shows are open to the public.

Wednesday, September 24: Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors
Thursday, September 25: Shakespeare's "Hamlet
Friday, September 26: Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
This young, innovative acting company stages fast-paced shows that recreate for modern audiences Shakespeare’s plays and other classics while remaining true to the original texts. The productions include original music compositions, minimal stage props and costuming, attention to the complexities of Shakespeare’s language, lots of energy and audience interaction.

DeChiaro College Center is off of the east-west street just before the overpass just north of Coldspring Boulevard, east of Charles Street and West of Milbrook Road. It is between Maryland Hall & the Andrew White Student Center.

To read the Shakespeare plays on bartleby.com, click the links below:

Personally, my favorite Shakespeare play is Much Ado about Nothing though I admit I've only read or seen a few of his plays.

And to see when the Blackfriars will be in your city, click here!

David Simon Lecture

David Simon, creator of "The Wire" and co-author of The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, speaks tonight (Wednesday, September 24) at 8 p.m. in Goucher College’s Kraushaar Auditorium.

This event is free and open to the public but tickets must be reserved in advance by calling 410-337-6333 or by e-mailing boxoffice@goucher.edu.

Click here to find out more about the lecture or click here to read an excerpt from The Corner.

Seems like there have been lots of book-signings / lectures going on in Baltimore lately.

Rakesh Khurana Lecture

Just heard that Rakesh Khurana, author of From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession and associate professor in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, will be speaking at Hopkins tomorrow (Sept 25) at 5pm for the "The Inaugural Carey Business School Dean's Lecture."

To view the table of contents, click here; download the Introduction in PDF format here.


Click here to register.

T.S. Eliot

I've been on a re-reading the classics kick, especially works that I read in high school and probably never fully appreciated at the time.

Last night I visited bartleby.com to read T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste Land.

Prufrock's themes of indecision, loneliness, inadequacy, and pessimism and The Waste Land's themes of death and despair are as haunting as ever.

We read a lot of T. S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1888–1965, American-British poet and critic) in several different high school English classes, including the two I re-read last night and The Cocktail Party.

Since I'm a huge dork, I still have copies of nearly all my old papers and discussion essays about these poems from high school and reading these old documents made me laugh out loud.

In some ways, I'm glad to know that I'm now a better writer and thinker than I was then. And yet, my writing style has not changed dramatically. I still quote excessively. I still use far too many words when just one will do.

Makes me think of that saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Nancy Pelosi Lecture

Tonight (Tuesday, September 23) at 7PM, Baltimore's own Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, will speak about her memoir, Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, in Mount Vernon at the  Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Library, 400 Cathedral, Baltimore, MD.

Click here to find out more.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Art Exhibition: The Collector by Shu-Yun Chang (張書芸)

I just heard about an art exhibition inspired by a book -- The Collector by John Fowles -- and I had to post it:

The Collector
Shu-Yun Chang’s 1st Solo Exhibition in London
29. September - 12. October
Lazy Gramophone Gallery
Upstairs at The Macbeth
70 Hoxton Street, London N1 6LP (MAP)

Inspired by Fowles' novel, Shu-Yun Chang has produced her new collection of illustrations to explore the unrequited love leading to destructions. In order to collect, the subject views the loved one as an object. Gaze, stalk, collecting, possessiveness and despair in her works show a series of obsessive actions that are generally considered to be dangerous. Due to her strong interest in popular culture, it is easy to find the influence of manga, anime or rock music in her works. For example, the dual-piece of work "You’re A Star in Nobody's Eyes but Mine", named after a line of the band The Killerssong, is the start of this journey toward the ideal love of a twisted mind and shows the wishful thinking derived from gaze. As the exhibition title suggests, the audiences are invited to the collection of a collector’s inner thoughts.

Click here to view a PDF of the exhibition flyer.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

As promised, here's a bit more on Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto (click here to view all my posts about this book).

Most of the contents of this book can be found from other sources by Michael Pollan -- his articles in the New York Times, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan on C-SPAN, and Pollan on NPR several times.

What's new is mostly his lists to help us decide what to eat (and even this can be learned from Pollan's talk on C-SPAN):

Eat Food
  • Don't eat anything your great grand-mother wouldn't recognize as food: Don't eat anything incapable of rotting.
  • Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup.
  • Avoid food products that make health claims.
  • Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
  • Get out of the supermarket whenever possible: Shake the hand that feeds you.

Mostly Plants
  • Eat mostly plants, especially leaves: did you know that the average American eats 200 pound of meat per year?
  • You are what what you eat eats too.
  • If you have the space, buy a freezer.
  • Eat like an omnivore.
  • Eat well-grown food from healthy soils: "it stands to reason that a chemically simplified soil would produce chemically simplified plants."
  • Eat wild foods when you can: lamb's quarters and purslane, wild game meat, salmon, mackerel, sardines, and anchovies are good bets.
  • Be the kind of person who takes supplements.
  • Eat more like the French, or the Italians, or the Japanese, or the Indians, or the Greeks.
  • Regard non-traditional foods with skepticism.
  • Don't look for the magic bullet int he traditional diet.
  • Have a glass of wine with dinner.

Not Too Much

  • Pay more, eat less: Okinawan's say hara hachi bu, eat until you are eighty percent full.
  • Eat meals: didn't there used to be at least a mild social taboo against the between meal snack?
  • Do all your eating at a table: your desk is not a table.
  • Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
  • Try not to eat alone.
  • Consult your gut.
  • Eat slowly.
  • Cook and, if you can, plant a garden.

Well, that's it. Pretty simple huh? We should all be slimmer and healthier in no time.

There are a couple of other things I found interesting from this book.



First, since Pollan makes several references to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, I'm glad that I finally read it. And like Devra Davis in The Secret History of the War on Cancer, Pollan also posits that the health industry (as a business) has had much to gain from the unhealthiness of Americans -- Pollan mentions fast food companies while Davis mentions large industrial companies. It's always interesting to see how books by different authors seem to converge.

And did you know that the average American today spends less than 10% of their income on food and less than thirty minutes each day preparing meals, and about an hour each day enjoying them; in 1965 the average American spent 44 minutes prepping meals and 21 minutes cleaning up. This lack of cooking, Pollan postulates, has something to do with our unhealthiness.

And check out these calories per day contributions to America's per capita food supply:
  • Corn: 554
  • Soy 257
  • Wheat 768
  • Rice 91

That totals 1,670 and these four crops acccount for two thirds of the calories we eat. It makes me sick just thinking about it. According to Pollan, "humankind has historically consumed some 80,000 edible species, and three thousand of those have been in widespread use." And now we eat mostly just four species, just because they are among the most efficient transformers of sunlight and chemical energy into carbohydrate energy??!

And if that wasn't enough:
  • Half of all broccoli grown commercially in the US is the Marathon variety, known for its high yield.
  • Most of the chickens raised for meat in America are Cornish cross hybrid.
  • More than 99% of the turkeys raised for meat in Americaare Broad-Breasted Whites.

A typical Iowa farm in the early 1900s would have "raised more than a dozen different plant and animal species: cattle, chicken, corn, hogs, apples, hay, oats, potatoes, cherries, wheat, plums, grapes, and pears" and now that same farm would produce just corn and soybeans.

All of this lack of complexity has resulted in a substantial decline in the nutritional quality of produce in this country -- and that's as determined by the USDA.

And here's an interesting quote for you:
The increases in world [omega-6] consumption over the past century may be considered a very large uncontrolled experiment that may have contributed to increased societal burdens of aggression, depression, and cardiovascular mortality.

Hmm, maybe Baltimore would be less violent if it's drug-dealing residents ate a lot more omega-3 fatty acids?!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America by Cullen Murphy

With the upheaval in the financial markets these past few weeks, it's been especially interesting to read Cullen Murphy's Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America (click here to view all my posts about this book). I had high expectations for this book and I have not been disappointed.

Murphy begins by telling readers how the Roman emperor Diocletian and his imperial entourage can be easily compared to President George W. Bush and his entourage:
  • mensores: advance men who requisition supplies and arrange for security
  • protectores: imperial bodyguards / secret service
  • comitatus: caravan / all people in the Executive Office of the President
  • pragustatores: food-tasters / undercover agents who purchase food supplies anonymously at American supermarkets
  • nomenklatura: name-callers of emperor's visitors
  • haurs pices: oracles who interpret entrails of sheep
  • augurs: oracles who interpret the flight of birds

He also explained that the thumbs-down sign originated from the gladiatorial turned thumb sign "pollice verso" before eventually summarizing the six parallels between Rome and America that Murphy focuses his book on:
  1. How Americans see America, particularly how those in Washington view Washington itself.
  2. Military power: the shortage of manpower and the widening cultural and social divide between military social and civilian society.
  3. "Privatization" (and "corruption") and the fading distinction between public and private responsibilities and resources.
  4. How Americans view the world.
  5. Borders.
  6. The inevitable complexity that comes with being a large empire/country.

I'll write more after I get further along, but in the meantime thought I would share this typical George W. Bush quote that Murphy used to illustrate the consolidation of power in the executive branch that has happened in the past 8 years:
I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain  . . . . I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation.

Click here to read an excerpt or click here to view the table of contents.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Veggie Gardener's Answer Book by Barbara W. Ellis

I just got back from my local grocery store where I found a fantastic resource for fruit and vegetable gardening: The Veggie Gardener's Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask by Barbara W. Ellis.

It's a small book - just over 4" x 6" and about 1.25" thick -- but the cover is sturdy and its full of useful tips for organic gardening.

Part 1 of this book applies organic methods to planning and planting a vegetable garden, improving soil, and controlling pests and diseases.

Part 2 is a crop-by-crop guide to starting, growing, and harvesting the most popular vegetables (with some, like brassicas, e.g., cabbages and broccoli, grouped together). Entries begin with a list of tips for success and include answers about general care and harvesting. The "Problem Patrol" section of each entry provides easy answers to fix typical problems through both prevention and treatment.

My favorite part is the table of fruits and veggies that tells you how many plants per person you should plant and whether you should do succession planting.

As much as I like Mel Bartholomew’s All New Square Foot Gardening (click here to view all my posts on that book), I do feel like it leaves many questions unanswered. Got to add The Veggie Gardener's Answer Book to my list of books to purchase.

Friday, September 19, 2008

The Uncertain Art by Sherwin B. Nuland

I first heard about Sherwin B. Nuland's The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine through the New York Times Book Review -- Barry Gewen’s “A Doctor Finds Miracles in Medicine” published June 6, 2008.

The book consists entirely of essays publishes in The American Scholar between 1998 and 2004.

This book is really quite special. Nuland's post-9/11 essay and his thoughts on his heart transplant candidate friend are especially poignant. His essay on our species' obsession with poop was humorous. His writings on acupuncture, Chinese medicine, and the mind-body relationship are insightful. And every essay was thoughtful and educational.

I may even purchase a copy of this book, since I read one from the library.

Here's the Table of Contents:
Author's Note  xi
Prooemium: An Introduction to My Book  xiii

The Whole Law of Medicine  3
Narcissus Looks Into the Laboratory  12
The Medical School and the University  20
The True Healers  28
Pumping Iron  35
Acupuncture in the Operating Room  42
Chinese Medicine, Western Medicine, and Acupuncture  50
The Misty Crystal Ball  59
Hidden Meanings  67
Is There a Doctor in the House?  75
Writing  83
Robbing Graves  91
Mind, Body, and the Doctor  99
The Great Books  108
Grief and Reflection: After 9/11  116
Lightning on My Mind  123
Scatological Medicine  132
Hippocrates Redux  140
The Artist and the Doctor  148
The Man or the Moment?  157
Letters From a Heart Transplant Candidate  165

Acknowledgments  187
Index  189

Click here to read an excerpt. Enjoy!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook by Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis-Hearne

I love cooking (and eating) almost as much as I love to read. And while I don't usually like cookbooks -- I tend to cook by making it up as I go along after looking at several similar recipes -- I've found myself looking in cookbooks for cast iron skillet recipes as I've recently discovered the versatility of this old school pan.

The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook: Recipes for the Best Pan in Your Kitchen by Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis-Hearne seems to be a great all-around choice for recipes using this fantastic piece of cookware that will last for generations!

Some recipes I'd recommend from this book:
Tortilla Espanola (Spanish Potato Omelet) - page 4-5
Makes 4 Servings

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
1 medium yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1 cup)
1 pound Yukon Gold or red-skinned potatoes, peeled, halved, and cut into 3/4 inch slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 eggs
Sour cream, for serving
Hot sauce, for serving

Place a 10- or 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Turn down the heat to medium low and cook until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove to a large bowl and set aside.

Heat the skillet over medium-high heat, then add 1/4 cup olive oil and allow oil to heat up, about 2 minutes. Carefully add potatoes and cook about 10 minutes (reduce the heat if smoking occurs). Carefully separate the potato slices to keep them from sticking together. Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon to a baking sheet lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set skillet aside, reserving the remaining olive oil inside.

Break the eggs into a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper. Whisk until frothy. Add the cooked potatoes and onions to the eggs.

Position a rack at the top of the oven and preheat the broiler.

Place the skillet with the remaining olive oil and place it over medium heat. When the pan is hot pour the egg mixture into the skillet and quickly reduce the heat to low. Cook until the pan side of the omelet is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Place the skillet in the oven and broil until the top of the omelet is golden brown, about 3-5 minutes more.

Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Use a spatula to loosen the omelet from the pan, and slide the omelet onto a warmed plate. Cut into wedges and serve with sour cream and your favorite hot sauce.

Dutch Baby (puffed pancake with lemon and powdered sugar) - page 6
Makes 2 servings

2 tablespoons butter
4 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, for topping
Juice of 1 lemon, for topping
1/2 cup powdered sugar, for topping

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over low heat. Mix the eggs, flour, and milk in a blender on medium speed until just blended (5 to 10 seconds). Pour the batter into the skillet with the melted butter.

Place the skillet in the over and bake until the top puffs up and is lightly golden, about 25 minutes.

To clarify the butter for the topping, melt it over low heat in a small saucepan. Skim off and discard the foam. Remove from the heat and let stand until the solids settle, about 5 minutes. Pour through a strainer into a glass measuring cup.

When the Dutch baby is done, drizzle the clarified butter over the top, then sprinkle with the lemon juice and dust with the powdered sugar. Cut into six wedges and serve immediately.

Savory Dutch Baby - page 7
Makes 2 servings

3 tablespoons butter
4 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Swiss or Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup (about three 1/4-inch-thick slices) chopped ham (French, Black Forest, or honey)

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over low heat. Mix the eggs, flour, and milk in a blender on medium speed until just blended (5 to 10 seconds). Pour the batter into a medium bowl and add the cheese and ham, folding them into the mixture. Pour into the skillet with the melted butter.

Place the skillet in the over and bake until the top puffs up and is lightly golden, about 25 minutes.

When the Dutch baby is done, cut into six wedges and serve immediately.

What I love about the cast iron skillet is that you can cook just about anything in it (don't cook tomatoes in one), nothing sticks to it (if properly seasoned), and you can use it on the stovetop, oven and broiler!

Lately though my favorite thing to cook in a cast iron pan is popcorn - yum!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Gaming the Vote by William Poundstone

With the presidential elections coming up, more and more folks seem to be talking about range voting -- how if we were only as smart as other countries we would have adopted range voting and people could have voted for Ralph Nader and still gotten Al Gore as our county's 43rd president.

So when I read Scientific American's review on William Poundstone's Why Elections Aren’t Fair (and What We Can Do About It), I thought it was worth writing about. When I first heard about this book in Janet Maslin's New York Times book review "Just Tell Us Whom You Want to Win" published March 20, 2008, I wasn't interested in reading it.

But with the election getting closer, it seems more and more relevant.

Poundstone calculates that at least 5 out of 45 presidential elections since 1828 have gone to the second-most-popular candidate because of spoilers -- a failure rate of more than 11 percent for our voting system.

I'm curious about what Poundstone ultimately concludes after his discussion of alternative voting systems.

Click here to view the table of contents or click here to read an excerpt.

As for the other books mentioned by Scientific American -- Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines by Richard A. Muller and Electronic Elections: The Perils and Promises of Digital Democracy by R. Michael Alvarez and Thad E. Hall -- don't appeal as much to me.

To learn more about Physics for Future Presidents, click here; click here to view the table of contents for Electronic Election or click here to read an excerpt of Chapter 1 in PDF format (also available in HTML format here).

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Uncertain Art by Sherwin B. Nuland

I'm really enjoying Sherwin B. Nuland's The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine, which I heard about through the New York Times Book Review (as usual) and checked out from the library last month.

Each essay, most of which were originally published in The American Scholar, is a joy to read. His essay on exercise is funny and I particularly like Nuland's ability to discuss the history of medicine (and even art history) as it relates to his surgical practice at Yale and modern medical practice in general.

Will write more when I finish the book...

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum by Richard Fortey

Just read about Richard Fortey's Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum in this week's New York Times Book review.

Dry Storeroom No. 1 is not a title that jumps out at you and I almost passed on reading Olivia Judson's review of it.

But upon further inspection, it sounds like a fascinating and entertaining read.

Richard Fortey, paleontologist and writer, is an expert in trilobites (small extinct anthropoids with an extensive fossil record second only to dinosaurs) who has spent the vast his career to the Natural History Museum in London. Some of his other books are The Hidden LandscapeLife: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on EarthTrilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution, Fossils: The Key to the Past, and The Earth: An Intimate History.

Dry Storeroom No. 1 is about the museum's collections that are rarely seen by casual visitors. At most museums, only a tiny fraction of the actual collections are on display. At the Natural History Museum there are five working departments: paleontology, mineralogy, zoology, botany and entomology. In each department, scientists collect, analyze, describe, catalog and preserve specimens, many of which have not been previously identified or names.

Since I love museums -- at one point I sent my resume in to dozens of museums -- I think I'd enjoy this book.

Somehow I've got to find more time to read....

Loving Frank discussion questions


I'm enjoying Nancy Horan's historical novel Loving Frank.

Since I'm reading this for a book club, I've looked up some discussion questions as usual.

Here are some discussion questions courtesy of Random House:
  1. Do you think that Mamah is right to leave her husband and children in order to pursue her personal growth and the relationship with Frank Lloyd Wright? Is she being selfish to put her own happiness and fulfillment first?
  2. Why do you think the author, Nancy Horan, gave her novel the title Loving Frank? Does this title work against the feminist message of the novel? Is there a feminist message?
  3. Do you think that a woman today who made the choices that Mamah makes would receive a more sympathetic or understanding hearing from the media and the general public? 
  4. If Mamah were alive today, would she be satisfied with the progress women have achieved or would she believe there was still a long way to go?
  5. In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare writes, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds/Admit impediments. Love is not love/That alters where it alteration finds. . . .” How does the relationship of Mamah and Frank bear out the sentiments of Shakespeare’s sonnet? What other famous love matches fill the bill?
  6. Is Mamah’s story relevant to the women of today?
  7. Is Frank Lloyd Wright an admirable figure in this novel? Would it change your opinion of him to know that he married twice more in his life? 
  8. What about Edwin Cheney, Mamah’s husband? Did he behave as you might have expected after learning of the affair between his wife and Wright?
  9. Edwin’s philosophy of life and love might be summed up in the following words from the novel: “Tell her happiness is just practice. If she acted happy, she would be happy.” Do you agree or disagree with this philosophy?
  10. "Carved over Wright's fireplace in his Oak Park home are the words “Life is Truth.” What do you think these words mean, and do Frank and Mamah live up to them?
  11. Why do you think Horan chose to give her novel the epigraph from Goethe, “One lives but once in the world.”?
  12. When Mamah confesses her affair to her friend Mattie, Mattie demands, "What about duty? What about honor?" Discuss some of the different meanings that characters in the novel attach to these two words.
  13. In analyzing the failure of the women’s movement to make more progress, Mamah says, “Yet women are part of the problem. We plan dinner parties and make flowers out of crepe paper. Too many of us make small lives for ourselves.” Was this a valid criticism at the time, and is it one today? 
  14. Why does seeing a performance of the opera Mefistofele affect Mamah so strongly? 
  15. "Why is Mamah's friendship with Else Lasker Schuler important in the book?"
  16. Ellen Key, the Swedish feminist whose work so profoundly influences Mamah, states at one point, “The very legitimate right of a free love can never be acceptable if it is enjoyed at the expense of maternal love.” Do you agree?
  17. Another of Ellen Key’s beliefs was that motherhood should be recompensed by the state. Do you think an idea like this could ever catch on in America? Why or why not? 
  18. Is there anything that Frank and Mamah could have done differently after their return to America that would have ameliorated the harsh welcome they received from the press? Have things changed very much in that regard today?
  19. What part did racism play in Julian Carleton’s crime? Were his actions the product of pure insanity, or was he goaded into violence? 

Back to reading.