Todd Warner
This book... tome really (it's really really long) is stunningly good and so very clearly written and researched. I've been long thinking about this topic, but it took a Stephen Pinker to confirm most of my suspicions as to why violence has not only declined but dramatically declined. He then, of course, adds plentiful evidence, reasoning, numbers, and description that paints a contextually rich historical picture of where we once were, and where we are today.
I can't recommend this book enough. It's worth the time to work your way through it. Outstanding accomplishment.
I love this book.
It was also a book that is more than a bit disturbing in its brutal examination of the human condition. It is a book about the human condition from one, well several, perspectives. And like so many books that examine things so closely, we really get a good look at our own failings as human beings.
This book centers on a young lady growing up probably a bit too early, but who also finds her own strength in the process. The folks that surround her are fully realized and multi-dimensional and you care for all of them, even all the ones making dreadful mistakes. They are you. They are all of us.
One thought that ran through my head as I read this was that... one could easily retitle this book to “Life is Complicated”.
Read “Scout's Honor”. It's a great debut novel.
Clever storyline. Fun, quirky ending. Neat twists and turns though a tad predictable. But the writing is a bit sophomoric, “young adult-ish”, and blah. Fortunately, the plotline makes up for it. This is not high-lit by any stretch, but it doesn't need to be. It is what it is.
So, writing: 2.5 to 3 stars.
Storyline: 4 ... cuz, in the end, it keeps you reading and pushes you through the dull parts.
I will round up and call it a 4.
Excellent book, but not without caveats. After reading The Poisonwood Bible (a Kingsolver novel) the writing here was not nearly as good. But then again, it's hard to top, or even match that poem of a novel. So... the writing. That's really the only criticism, the meat of the book, is brilliant.
In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Kingsolver endeavers to eat for one solid year as close to the Earth as possible. She and her husband own a small farm. Additionally, they could supplement their diet locally for some other food items. And they allowed an extremely limited number of shipped items (coffee, spices, olive oil, and a couple other things).
This was an experiment. The book illustrates her family's experiences, the mistakes they make, and more. It also serves to point out what is possible. She acknowledges that many folks can't grow their own food, but most can certainly eat more sustainably. And she makes a plea to eat “just one meal” a week on nothing but stuff grown nearby.
Vegans won't like this book. She casually brushes aside their arguments pretty handily.
Folks that eat “whatever they find in the supermarket” may feel defensive (you see it throughout the reviews of this book). The book is intended to enlighten and inspire, but it seems to do the opposite with some. With some the book invokes defensive reactions.
Does it come across as self-important, self-congratulatory, self-satisfying? I would say “prideful” is the right word. She did something really hard, especially in an age where many of the skills necessary have atrophied or even disappeared. Her commentary on turkey breeding was especially telling. She prevailed. Pretty impressively. As I read the book I kept thinking, “just wait until the hard months, Jan, Feb, Mar”. She talks about this and beginning to run short of food. To many folks, I am sure this one section alone would be eye opening.
In the end, this is a book about process and what is possible. And a book about sustainability. The plea is to reduce our carbon footprint on the world. And to simply be... no so wasteful. The biggest impact all people can make is simply eating closer to home. For most this is possible, for others (her example is living in Arizona) the only solution is to move.
Preachy? Well, it's a book endorsing an idea... yeah, it will be a tad preachy. It's a sermon, that's what one should expect.
But it is a good sermon. A very achievable sermon. A plea to be more like Tuscany and less like... Arizona (and the rest of the USA). If folks would take this book to heart we'd really begin to tap into our local uniqueness (terrior), but more importaly, reduce our energy dependence and simply make the world a better place.
Absolutely brilliant. What a moving and incredibly articulate novel recounting the lives of a deeply disfunctional missionary family and the congolese people around them all set during the turbulent years of the independence of the Republic of Congo and the several nations ejected from that malstrom. The novel recounts the history of the family throughout this period with deep injections of introspection into the nature of man, environment, wealth, poverty, health, politics and culture. Just... wow.
A scathing review of the state of nutritive science today. Taubes blasts a discipline rife with confirmation bias, yes-men (and women) and folks devoted to conventional thinking and for not paying heed to contradictory evidence. Science is imperfect, but the science of nutrition and diet is especially imperfect... and influenced by a healthy dose of politics. The sad part is that what we teach our children, and what is recommended to the public at large, is based on flimsy hypothesis and is leading to a fat, sick, diabetic, heart disease ridden populous with no end in sight.
I dropped the rating by one star simply because I think the editing needed to tighten the book up. It is very dense reading and will turn away folks not ready for the weight of the material. That being said, the rhetoric is damming, and almost needs this much material to ensure the point is made.
Excellent. And mostly satiating. :)
Good series. I enjoyed the books because of the solid storyline, great characters and most importantly, because of the social commentary and serious themes.
The criticisms I have, may be a age related thing. The herione is exasperating in her struggles with over-complicating human interactions and misreading situations. Granted, she is 16 and 17 in the novels, but... she is not quite the “role-model” I would have expected. Even with some of her unexpected choices, I would have expected a bit more depth in her analysis of most situations.
Plus the endless “do I love him!?!?” theme throughout the books is maddening. But that is definitely an age thing. For the target audience, it is probably perfect. In fact, it's a teenage gal's perfect storyline, right?: Headstrong tomboy of a girl out-thinks adults and is deeply desired by multiple goodlooking young men. What teanage girl doesn't fantasize about that situation?
The real shocker of this series, though, was the bravery the author had in the choice of endings. Most of the series is a bit repitive and predictable (though still fun) but the ending is not. And I applaud the author for bravely rejecting what was expected and in the process, putting a nice capper on her stream of social commentary.
The author outlines the ridiculousness of the Vegan and Vegetarian mythos and digs into political, social, moral, nutritional, and most importantly, the sustainable aspects of eating... and ultimately our footprint, as a species, on planet Earth.
For this reader there was no huge revelations, since I'm well versed in the realities of agriculture and food at this point, and spend a great deal of time immersed in the natural and agricultural world, but the author nicely packages a fairly comprehensive discussion of the topic into this volume. There is a disturbing element to having all this laid out in one volume though: As you read it, it really underscores the pervasiveness of a community of folks that live their lives entirely divorced from the realities of the natural world and the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. I don't want to sound overly harsh, but it is a bit unavoidable. These are folks that look at nature from inside a bubble... through a pane of glass. Never really understanding it. Some is their fault, but it is a societal disorder, long in coming considering urbanization and how housebound most people in the 1st world are today.
The other disturbing element to the story as outlined by the author, is that though we know what we need to do to address the deeper ecological realities of massive over-population on this planet I personally am not confident that we'll take the necessary steps, and I don't think the author is either.
And that is where the biggest surprise of the book was found. The author was not afraid to summarize the corrective course of action that we would have to take as humans to make things better. Finally someone is bold enough, in a relatively mainstream book, to state that in order to ever have a sustainable, ecological, and ethical food system (or any system)... over-population really needs to be addressed. Severely. It will solve itself eventually, but it can either be messy and violent, or orderly and peaceful. Not many authors writing a mainstream book are bold enough to state it so plainly.
4 stars: There are three issues I had with the book: (1) The author slips into “appeal to emotion” a bit much, (2) It's hard to weed out the good science from the bad or mediocre, and (3) There is no index... which means you have to take notes, write in the margins, and highlight, or just have a really good memory. ;) Geez. Books like this have to have an index. I blame her editors. What a disappointment.
Great book. Folks, if you are confused as to why the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle is unsustainable, unnatural, relatively unhealthy, un-ecological, and ultimately more than a bit silly (but with non-silly implications)... this is a great book to to read. Even more importantly, it is a great discussion about environmentalism, food security, and agricultural sustainability, and of course, overpopulation – topics that I am particularly passionate about, even more so than the main topic of the book.
Recommend.
Not a 3 star. Not a 4 star, but I will round up. :)
Well written. The dialog is a bit too... “juvenile” even though it is aimed at a more juvenile market. The themes are mature, and a nice scathing criticism of society. Anyway... good book, tight storyline, but could use a bit more maturing of the dialog to complement the mature themes.
Unique series. Extremely well written. But a bit... all over the place, redundant, often hard to follow, and in the end... meh. I liked the style, the dialog, the world, and the general idea behind it all... but the plot was tiresome and time again I said to myself “why am I reading this?”
Anyway. Loads of people love this series. I liked elements of it, but I am not really a fan.
I liked this account of the rise, stumble, and re-rise of Starbucks. Schultz is passionate, and he honestly cares about all aspects of how Starbucks effects all that it touches.
But this book bothered me and I had a hard time finishing it. I just had to plow through. Schultz is very passionate and caring, but from this book, I got the impression that he is more than a little in love with himself.
As a small business owner...
I found his approach to business interesting. I found his approach both inspiring and disagreeable all at the same time.
Inspiring: He really truly cares about his employees. Health care for all? Awesome. Just... awesome. Yeah, they had to downsize at one point in time, but he did not give up that position... health care for all employees. Just. Wow.
Inspiring: He cares about the growers... though it was a bit murky about how far he goes with this. They are involved with Coffee and Farmer Equity practices, which are good. Regardless, they are doing more than anyone else their size.
Disagreeable: If you are not nearly 100% as passionate about his business as Schultz is... He doesn't get it. Schultz loves what he does and it is his life. From the book, I get the impression that he expects that of everyone from manager on up.
Disagreeable: Growth Growth Growth. He is so focused on growth and then wonders why the nature of the business has changed. He often repeats that he wants to mimic the personal nature of an Italian coffee shop. If that is the case, he wouldn't have gone public and spurred growth to 10s of 1000s of shops.
Anyway... it is a good read until it becomes a tiresome read. It is worth reading just to get in the brain of a successful businessman who is also civic-minded.
A book for young adults (and adults like me who just love a good story). “Grounded for Good” is set in the modern world, about kids living modern normal lives. It really captures some of the trials and tribulations of the teen years. In this case a young punk, but otherwise intelligent and latently talented kid, named Derek.
Ms. Daria hit a home run with this one and I want to recommend it to my compatriots. Teens, young adults, and heck, I, a full grown adult, even had troubling putting it down... It is a great read and really pokes at the little things in life that matter. It is truly outstanding.
Awesome memoir.
Kristin captures the passion farmers have for their work both as an outsider (big city hip gal) and then as an insider (farm girl). Nothing is hidden from the reader as she describes their struggles ... and their eventual success on this more-than-organic, very unique CSA operation.
Core to the theme of the book is the farm as the rock on which the author and her husband's relationship stands. Farming, arguably the most noble profession, is also unforgiving - both of their body, spirit, and relationship. But they endure and thrive.
Great book.
