James's bookshelves

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James is currently reading

	03/05 James is currently reading: Of Snails and Skylarks (Hardcover) by Christy Brown bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	James said: "The story of Christy Brown is an exceptional one. I recommend seeing the film My Left Foot, in which Daniel Day Louis (one of my favorite actors, and one of the most menacing)plays Christy Brown. The amazing thing about some of these poems, be...more " add a comment
	02/27 James is currently reading: The Interpretation Of Dreams (Hardcover) by Sigmund Freud bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	James said: "I just started this one, but I was unaware until recently that this is the book Freud himself acknowledged as his best. He says something akin to: A man only comes upon ideas such as these once in a lifetime. I'm pretty sure I read some excer...more " see all 2 comments
	02/27 James is currently reading: Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987 (Hardcover) by Bob Woodward bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	James said: "Veil, by Bob Woodward, seems to be a thorough and unnerving account of the CIA from 1981-1987, as any accurate account of any period of years of CIA activity would be I'm sure. I am just starting this one and will not remark much until I'm furthe...more " add a comment

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May 01

James gave

to:
Of Mice and Men (Centennial Edition)
by John Steinbeck

my rating:

James said: "At 16, I was not able to appreciate the unmistakable harshness of what really is the average human's life. That is to say, I knew people starved to death half way across the world, I knew there were dictators, and so on. But these are the extremes.
...more "

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New comment on Chris's review of Of Mice and Men (Centennial Edition)

James wrote: "Chris,

Your point about teaching Of Mice and Men in school is an interesting one, however, many tee...more "

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New comment on Nathan's review of Of Mice and Men

James wrote: "Nathan, I liked your caveat about Lost, for it illuminates well how certain pieces of art can become...more "

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March 19

James marked as to-read:
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Hardcover)
by Michael Pollan
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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James read and liked Amy's review of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto:

"In the Buddhist tradition there is a level of hell whereby the dead, known as hungry ghosts, are trapped with enormous stomachs and tiny throats unable to swallow anything but the smallest bites of food. Their particular brand of torture is that they...more In the Buddhist tradition there is a level of hell whereby the dead, known as hungry ghosts, are trapped with enormous stomachs and tiny throats unable to swallow anything but the smallest bites of food. Their particular brand of torture is that they are always eating and yet their hunger is never satisfied. These hungry ghosts sound an awful lot like the modern American eater trapped in the unhealthy western diet demonized in Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.

You may be surprised that anyone felt they needed to defend food, since we all rely on it to survive. But Pollan makes a clear distinction between the processed food-like substances that fill our grocery aisles in glistening packages and real foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and unprocessed, natural foods. Pollan argues that we eat way too much of the fake stuff, ignoring the foods that our bodies actually need. Like the hungry ghosts, we just never feel satisfied. At a clipping pace, Pollan examines both the field of nutritional science and the industrialization of food to show the reader just how we got to our particular brand of hell. Then, thankfully, he offers us a way out.

Instead of being hungry ghosts, Pollan tells us we can practice thoughtful consumption. He argues that the onslaught of nutritional science has taken the expertise out of the kitchen and into the laboratory, and too often isolates nutritional elements from the whole food that bore it. Any of us who keep up on nutritional trends will be shaking our heads when he discusses the familiar irritation of being told this week to eat one thing and avoid another, only to be told later that we had it right the first time. Instead of offering us a new trend in dieting, his solutions are both revolutionary and literally as old as time. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Pollan argues we should eat like our ancestors, before diabetes and heart disease reigned supreme and before high fructose corn syrup became more popular to the American consumer than television. Despite the dire evidence he presents in the book, his voice remains jocular and never dips into pessimism, though I did as a reader once or twice.

Even if you are not a health nut, Pollan makes a good argument for adopting his method of eating. The benefit of this thoughtful consumption is more than nutritional. The eater will be practicing a lifestyle of environmental stewardship, optimal health, and respect for the time required to grow and prepare the food necessary for life.

The book, addictive as those processed foods Pollan does such a powerful job of damning, is difficult to put down, in part because you don’t want to stop to eat anything until you know what you are supposed to eat after all. The only caveat is that In Defense of Food offers so little compromise between the western lifestyle and the lifestyle Pollan requires the eater to adopt, which just may be the reality of the current food paradigm. Maybe eating well is a revolutionary act in these times of microwavable meals and fast food paragons. When you buy food it is no longer a given that it is real food, and you may have to be willing to make some major changes in your lifestyle to get the real food back onto your table and into your stomach.
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March 10

New comment on Ajay's review of American Pastoral

James wrote: "Ajay,

I finished this book bout 2 months ago now. I had forgot goodreads existed after a friend sen...more "

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New comment on Seth's review of American Pastoral

James wrote: "Seth,

I agree with you that by the end it felt like a chore reading it. I remember anticipating, gr...more "

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New comment on CK's review of American Pastoral

James wrote: "CK,

Great quote! I had that one written down but missed it when I posted my review.

Thanks for cat...more "

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James marked as to-read:
The Giver (Paperback)
by Lois Lowry
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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see all 2 of James's books »

James's favorite quotes

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify them, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."
— Jack Kerouac

tags: change, misfits, nonconformity, quo, rebels, status

1179 people liked it

"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them."
— Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky

tags: books, censorship, reading

31 people liked it

"You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics."
— Charles Bukowski (Women: A Novel)

14 people liked it

""I wear the chain I forged in life....I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.""
— Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol)

12 people liked it

"The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead."
— Aristotle

	Nathan 566 books 80 friends
	Elham 139 books 28 friends
	Greg 66 books 47 friends
	Chris 35 books 2 friends

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