http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/110251 en-US Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:59:03 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 27914406 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:59:03 -0700
author: Pieter M. Judson
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 2.00
book published: 1997
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 07/21/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 27471507 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:50:10 -0700
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/16/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 27367298 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:49:36 -0700
author: Judith R. Walkowitz
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/15/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 26442188 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:09:38 -0700
author: David Lindley
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 07/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 26442132 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:08:55 -0700
author: John Keegan
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 07/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 26442114 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:08:40 -0700
author: Bernard Moitessier
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 07/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 26442068 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:07:59 -0700
author: David W. Lloyd
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 23574558 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:04:46 -0700
author: Yann Martel
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 23574383 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:02:39 -0700
author: Gerald Durrell
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1979
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 23574325 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:01:51 -0700
author: Isaiah Berlin
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 06/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 23574316 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:01:38 -0700
author: Norman Wirzba
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 06/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22271391 Wed, 14 May 2008 19:14:32 -0700
author: Ruth Stiles Gannett
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 05/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22271329 Wed, 14 May 2008 19:13:00 -0700
author: Mary Louise Roberts
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 05/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22271291 Wed, 14 May 2008 19:12:06 -0700
author: Norman O. Brown
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 05/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22271267 Wed, 14 May 2008 19:11:35 -0700
author: Wendell Berry
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 05/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 22271258 Wed, 14 May 2008 19:11:16 -0700
author: C. Everett Koop
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1983
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 05/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 20139773 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:22:57 -0700
author: John Ivelaw-Chapman
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 2.00
book published: 1996
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 04/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 20139741 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:22:40 -0700
author: Edmund Morris
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 04/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 20139707 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:22:25 -0700
author: Zygmunt Bauman
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 04/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 20139225 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:17:29 -0700
author: George Eliot
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1861
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 04/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 14932697 Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:35:05 -0800
author: Greg Mortenson
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 02/08/08
shelves:
review:
Inspiring story, uninspired prose; worth reading.
]]> 14932482 Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:32:20 -0800
author: Jennifer New
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 02/08/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 14252042 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 05:37:20 -0800
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 02/01/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 13833598 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:54:37 -0800
author: Franz Schneider
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 01/28/08
shelves:
review:
One of the most worthwhile reads ever. These last letters of men facing certain death are more real and worth reading than most other things you can find paperback or hardback. One of the few books capable of moving you to tears and all simply through the authenticity of emotion expressed. It is always relevant.
]]> 13833517 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:51:47 -0800
author: P. Beaver
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 01/28/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 13833478 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:51:28 -0800
author: Philip Morgan
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 01/28/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 13375289 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:26:35 -0800
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 01/24/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 13001260 Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:54:06 -0800
author: Nikolai Chernyshevsky
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.34
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 01/20/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 13001112 Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:53:29 -0800
"Eat food" sounds simple and it should be. But, simple isn't always easy. There's a line in Mere Christianity by CS Lewis that goes like this, "All sensible people know that if you are tired and hungry a meal will do you good. But the modern theory of nourishment--all about vitamins and proteins--is a different thing. People ate their dinners and felt better long before the theory of vitamins was ever heard of..." These theories about vitamins and proteins are all part of what others and Pollan call "nutritionism"--breaking food down into elements which go into it and leaving out the big picture. That big picture is what we actually enjoy eating and what eludes scientific enquiry in many cases. As Pollan points out, worrying about what you're eating all the time is an eating problem, too (one called "orthorexia"). He wants us to eat real food-- something your great-grandmother would recognize, without health claims, as unprocessed as possible. And he wants us to eat it properly. We should have meals, sitting down and not running around. And when we decide what foods to eat, we shouldn't ask the government or research studies funded by agricultural industry, but our own selves and history. Food is part of culture. Food-like substances are unnecessary and not helping anything. Taking vitamins and nutrients and labels out of context has gotten America only further away from health.

Basically, we need a broader view of food. This book takes a broader view, too. Pollan covers where nutritional info has come from, the role of the government in health claims, nutritional inflation, and why the French eat food considered "worse" but are healthier and happier. This is more thoughtful and thought-provoking than "Supersize Me," looking beyond hating on certain foods (that's one of the flaws of nutritionism) and looking critically at the overall diet in question. Overall, choose food culture over food science. The book is well-written, interesting, and even has something in there for your Romantic and Jeffersonian instincts. As soon as you pick it up, you'll realize you needed to read this. Pollan writes: "You would not have bought this book and read this far into it if your food culture was intact and healthy. And while it is true that most of us unthinkingly place the authority of science above culture in all matters having to do with our health, that prejudice should at least be examined. The question we need to ask is, Are we better off with these new authorities telling us how to eat than we were with the traditional authorities they supplanted? The issue by now should be clear."]]>
author: Michael Pollan
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/20/08
shelves:
review:
I just finished a great book: In Defense of Food; An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. You might have heard about his other big book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. If you are the kind of person who wants to live with intentionality and conscience, but aren't ready to move into the woods and grow and hunt all your own food, this book is for you. And Pollan is willing to give away the whole thing on the cover: eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

"Eat food" sounds simple and it should be. But, simple isn't always easy. There's a line in Mere Christianity by CS Lewis that goes like this, "All sensible people know that if you are tired and hungry a meal will do you good. But the modern theory of nourishment--all about vitamins and proteins--is a different thing. People ate their dinners and felt better long before the theory of vitamins was ever heard of..." These theories about vitamins and proteins are all part of what others and Pollan call "nutritionism"--breaking food down into elements which go into it and leaving out the big picture. That big picture is what we actually enjoy eating and what eludes scientific enquiry in many cases. As Pollan points out, worrying about what you're eating all the time is an eating problem, too (one called "orthorexia"). He wants us to eat real food-- something your great-grandmother would recognize, without health claims, as unprocessed as possible. And he wants us to eat it properly. We should have meals, sitting down and not running around. And when we decide what foods to eat, we shouldn't ask the government or research studies funded by agricultural industry, but our own selves and history. Food is part of culture. Food-like substances are unnecessary and not helping anything. Taking vitamins and nutrients and labels out of context has gotten America only further away from health.

Basically, we need a broader view of food. This book takes a broader view, too. Pollan covers where nutritional info has come from, the role of the government in health claims, nutritional inflation, and why the French eat food considered "worse" but are healthier and happier. This is more thoughtful and thought-provoking than "Supersize Me," looking beyond hating on certain foods (that's one of the flaws of nutritionism) and looking critically at the overall diet in question. Overall, choose food culture over food science. The book is well-written, interesting, and even has something in there for your Romantic and Jeffersonian instincts. As soon as you pick it up, you'll realize you needed to read this. Pollan writes: "You would not have bought this book and read this far into it if your food culture was intact and healthy. And while it is true that most of us unthinkingly place the authority of science above culture in all matters having to do with our health, that prejudice should at least be examined. The question we need to ask is, Are we better off with these new authorities telling us how to eat than we were with the traditional authorities they supplanted? The issue by now should be clear."
]]> 12292886 Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:39:29 -0800
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1869
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 01/11/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 12292876 Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:39:18 -0800
author: Gerald Durrell
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 01/11/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 1588106 Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:54:54 -0800
author: Franz Kafka
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1915
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 12/26/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 10957524 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:04:00 -0800
author: Daniel J. Sherman
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 10957517 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:03:43 -0800
author: J.M. Winter
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 10957421 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:01:19 -0800
author: Prathama Banerjee
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 10957411 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:01:08 -0800
author: Tzvetan Todorov
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1999
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 12/24/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 7799913 Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:49:39 -0700
author: Benedict Anderson
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 10/16/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 7647469 Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:32:31 -0700
author: Ruby Lal
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 10/12/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 7033571 Sun, 30 Sep 2007 10:00:31 -0700
author: Urvashi Butalia
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 09/30/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6654423 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:16:17 -0700
author: Brian Jacques
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 09/23/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6654416 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:16:11 -0700
author: Brian Jacques
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 09/23/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6654414 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:16:09 -0700
author: Brian Jacques
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 09/23/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6654409 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:16:07 -0700
author: Brian Jacques
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 09/23/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6654407 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:16:04 -0700
author: Brian Jacques
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 09/23/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6654177 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:12:29 -0700
author: Carlo Ginzburg
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 09/23/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6654160 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:12:20 -0700
author: Dipesh Chakrabarty
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 09/23/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5901561 Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:41:31 -0700
author: Marc Bloch
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1964
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 09/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5627600 Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:35:12 -0700
author: Eugene D. Genovese
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1988
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 09/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5433743 Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:33:46 -0700
author: Eric Hobsbawm
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 09/07
date added: 09/04/07
shelves:
review:
I got it for 53 cents (including tax), and it's not bad for one of those things you'll have to read sooner or later anyway.
]]> 5433559 Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:09:16 -0700
author: Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2003
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 08/31/07
shelves:
review:
There are quite a few interesting thoughts and facts in this book, but it could have been much more focused. I think it ranged over too much information and probably concerned French historiography of the Great War too much for me to find it amazing. However, it's a decent introductory read.
]]> 5433554 Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:07:18 -0700
author: Eugen Weber
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/31/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4549097 Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:07:18 -0700
author: Amir D. Aczel
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 08/14/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4429311 Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:10:15 -0700
author: Partha Chatterjee
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/12/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4074502 Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:21:24 -0700
author: Jim Al-Khalili
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/07/07
shelves:
review:
This was a good introduction for me. It had all the buzzwords I wanted to know about, outlined a little history of the field, and remained redeable. I can't say I understood every line, but overall I felt this book was helpful. And of course, very exciting. As Niels Bohr (and the back of this book) said: "He who has not found quantum physics shocking has not understood it."
]]> 4198587 Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:19:01 -0700
author: Roald Dahl
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4198573 Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:18:54 -0700
author: E. Annie Proulx
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2001
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 08/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4176336 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:50:18 -0700
author: G.K. Chesterton
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1974
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/06/07
shelves:
review:
I gave it three stars, but it's almost four. I picked this up, not because I knew nothing about Aquinas, which I didn't, but because I knew I liked to read anything written by GK Chesterton. This book certainly delivered on the literary fireworks, the almost Borgesian arguments, the turns of phrase, and of course, a strong perspective on the importance of Aquinas. How did he save us from the Manichees? Why was the 'baptism of Aristotle' so important? All that is here. My only complaints would be about the occasional lack of clarity and the slightly disorganized approach. But it's an entertaining and pro-Catholic Chesterton.
]]> 4074460 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:23:38 -0700
author: Peter Jenkins
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/04/07
shelves:
review:
This is not as good as the first one, but still overall pretty inspiring. If you want to read something that will encourage you to have more adventure in your life, pick it up. By the way, if you are reading this and interesting in 2 weeks rafting on the Mississippi next summer, please let me know. Seriously, I'm recruiting.
]]> 3801341 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:12:51 -0700