The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

This is a true account about a book thief who stole rare books and instead of feeling remorse or guilty, he continues thinking that he deserves to have free rare books, and in fact, thinks that his request for everyone to donate a book to him is reasonable.

I found it fascinating, because although I’ve always loved and collected books, I never had any interest in first editions, hardbacks, or rare books.

Mostly I think it’s because I don’t think I have the ability to take care of them the way they need to be, and I would certainly feel heartbroken if I had a priceless book in my care that ended up damaged because of the way I kept or handled it.

I did consider myself a book collector though, but now I wonder if I was right. You see, back in Malaysia, our libraries suck, and the only way I could get books was by acquiring them somehow, from bookstores, or used book stores, or people giving away their old books, etc. And I collected as many books as I could because I read a lot!

Now that I’m in Calgary, and have access to millions of books from the public library, I’m perfectly happy to borrow and not acquire at all. I realize that it’s not the books, but the contents, that’s important to me. So I’m not a book collector after all! There goes my life’s identity!

Fortunately, I’m still a reader, and this part of my identity will never change.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much will get you thinking about your own relationship with books. I recommend it to everyone who’s ever had books play an important role in their lives.

 

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Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

Predictably, I cried buckets when I read this. I’ve heard about this book a long time ago, but never got around to reading it until now.

When reading other people’s posts about it though, more often than not, they’ll mention how much they cried at the end, so being a sentimental sap myself, I knew I would cry too.

Dewey is an amazing story, and Dewey is an amazing cat. I’ve never had cats growing up so there’s a lot I don’t know about their behavior and characteristics, but it seemed to me that Dewey is really almost human.

Of course, he is one of a kind, and as Myron says in the book, not every cat can be a library cat, a library cat has to have the right personality. And Dewey did.

What I love most about the book is the stories about every person that Dewey touched, each life he changed, how much better and brighter a person’s day became just because they crossed paths with Dewey.

We all need a Dewey in our lives.

This is a wonderful, wonderful book. It touched me and warmed my heart and brought me to tears and made me realized just how big a difference even a small person or animal can make in the world. It is a must-read for any cat lovers, but really, I think everyone should read it.

All My Patients Have Tales by Jeff Wells

Just a couple of weeks ago, I read a book called Every Patient Tells a Story by Lisa Sanders. Click on the title to find out more about it.

I was tickled when I found this book because of the similarities in the titles, and also because I was sure that a book about animals as patients would be really fun and amusing to read.

Well, it wasn’t a bad book, there are a couple of funny stories, but somehow it just left me feeling somewhat indifferent to it.

It’s probably not so much the stories as it is the writing style and the presentation of the stories, so in all fairness, I’m not criticizing his experiences or expertise in his practice, but the book itself.

With many of the stories, I found myself wondering what his point was. These are amusing anecdotes, sure, but they don’t seem to be worth spending money on to buy the book. It was a little disappointing as I expected more from it.

Every Patient Tells a Story by Lisa Sanders

Lisa Sanders writes a weekly column about diagnostic stories and is also a technical advisor for the House TV series starring Hugh Laurie.

This is her first book and as the title clearly says, it’s about the art of diagnosing patients.

All the stories about diagnosing patients are very informative and interesting, and some cases are truly mysterious but very satisfyingly solved in the end.

Scarily enough, there are a few horrifying cases where misdiagnoses caused a lot of money, suffering, and in some cases, unnecessary deaths. A lot of times, misdiagnoses happen because the doctors are too busy to actually listen to the patient and diagnose them too quickly. Finding a doctor who will take the time to listen is important because the patients’ testimonies can give crucial clues to their condition.

The scariest thing I gained from reading Sander’s book though, is the knowledge that many doctors are too stubborn and set in their ways to learn from mistakes or to change with new knowledge. Based on this,  I feel that it’s important that we educate ourselves about our own health or illnesses instead of passively putting our health and our lives in the hands of other people.

With the internet being as useful as it is and with all the free information sharing online, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t educate ourselves and look for alternatives if we feel what we’re currently doing to medicate ourselves isn’t working.

I’ve always been interested in learning more about natural healthcare, and after reading this book, I’m glad that I decided to educate myself and take control of my own health rather than leaving it to other people.

Of course, in urgent cases and emergencies, there’s often no time to find out what I can do, but at least 9 times out of 10, I can rest easy knowing that there’s something I can do to make it better. I highly recommend reading this book!

Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall

 

When I reviewed The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, I said a lot about eating right and eating healthy, and very importantly, keeping our food, our lands, our water, and ourselves, healthy.

 

Jane Goodall’s Harvest for Hope is more of the same. Sustainable living is so important, making sure that what we do today to produce our foods, will not end up causing our children and our children’s children to starve in a world that can no longer produce good and healthy food for them.

 

Goodall gives us more information about what’s happening with our foods, our water, and our lands, and personally I think that educating ourselves with more information on this subject is one of the most important things you can do for the Earth.

 

We talk about green living, saving water, saving electricity, planting more trees, reducing our carbon footprint… Well, Goodall tells us more ways we can make a difference. And yes, each individual does make a difference.

 

The destruction of the earth is not some far away science fiction idea that we’ll never live to see. It’s happening right now, and we’ve closed our eyes to it. It’s affecting our health already, and still we choose to be ignorant. We can do something about it, and we should do something about it, before it’s too late.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

 

It boggles the mind just how little we know about our food these days. What are we eating? Where does it come from? How was it made/processed? Most of us don’t even have a clue.

 

Some of us don’t know because we don’t want to know, but I think we’ve got to face the truth and start taking responsibility for our health again. No one can keep you healthy except yourself, and to do that, first you must know the facts.

 

Where are most of our foods coming from? According to Michael Pollan, corn. Almost every single thing we’re eating started from corn. The corn-fed beef, the sodas sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, every other processed food like our frozen yogurts, ketchup, hot dogs, soups… they all contain corn.

 

And not high-quality corn either, some of these are genetically engineered corn, or some other hybrid of it, and it’s costing us a lot. Our soil’s nutrients is being depleted by the excessive farming, our rivers are being polluted by tons of chemical fertilizers being washed away, our fish are getting contaminated, our beeves, chicken, and pork are held in deplorable conditions, getting sick and being fed with antibiotics. And we’re eating them. We’re eating contaminated fish and meat pumped with antibiotics.

 

 

What do you expect this is doing to our own health?

 

“You are what you eat.” It’s not just a nice-sounding quote. It’s true, and now we are corn, synthetic chemicals, antibiotics, and pollution.

 

Why isn’t the government doing anything about it? Another shocking revelation: They don’t have the authority to. The people in the food industry have been playing dirty politics so much so that there’s not much the government can do.

 

However, the good news is that the public can do something. If more people educated themselves about their food sources, and demanded good, clean, healthy food, the food industry people would have no choice but to comply or go out of business.

 

I don’t know much about food or nutrition, I readily admit, but I know enough to realize that food cultivated by fossil fuel, chemical fertilizers, harsh treatment and abuse, antibiotics, and synthetic chemicals can’t be good for me.

 

Please, if you are remotely concerned at all about your own health, or the health of your loved ones, read this book, and other books on this topic, and educate yourself. Take responsibility for your health. Do your own research if you’re not sure how much of Pollan’s words you can believe. But don’t bury your head in the sand and refuse to find out more about your own food.

 

Our health has been steadily deteriorating since the food industry people started caring more about money and speed of production rather than good food and health. Sure, medical technology has advanced so much that it can “cure” our illnesses and keep us alive longer. That’s a good thing, but don’t let it blind you to the fact that our personal health is deteriorating, nevertheless.

 

Michael Pollan’s book speaks personally to me because I care about health. I have close family who’ve died of various types of cancer, diabetes, and other health problems. I have a diabetic grandmother who’s now an invalid.

 

We like to blame god, and ask “Why is this happening to me??” when someone we love is diagnosed with some fatal degenerative disease. Well, you’ll get your answer in this book, or at least, it will point you in the right direction. It’s not god’s fault that we get sick. It is the food we eat, plain and simple.

 

For more information, please visit Food, Inc.

Quirkology by Richard Wiseman

 

This book is so entertaining that I finished it in two sittings of 4-5 hours each! It has the most interesting information about quirky psychology: things like how accurate horoscopes and superstitions really are, how some of us lie about lying to ourselves, what the funniest joke is, and more.

 

I don’t have the book with me now, so I’m reviewing it from memory. There’s so much information in the book that it’s impossible to remember it all, and especially not the details, but there are a few interesting things which stood out to me, and so I’ll focus on them.

 

I’m quite the believer in horoscopes, but what I read in the book made me question my belief. Are horoscopes accurate because they really are true, or because we’ve been conditioned to develop our personalities according to what we’ve been taught to believe is our personalities, based on our star signs?

 

Studies were conducted on children too young to know horoscopes, and adults from cultures who weren’t exposed to horoscopes, and it turned out there was no correlation at all with their star-signs and what the signs’ personalities were supposed to be!

 

Superstitions are the same: do bad things happen to us on Friday the 13th because it’s a really unlucky day, or do they happen because we believe, law of attraction style, that it’s an unlucky day? Personally, I don’t believe in superstitions for the sake of superstitions, but I do believe some were formed on some basis of truth.

 

Also, there was a search conducted to find the funniest joke, and in the process, they discovered that people found the letter ‘K’ to be funnier than the other letters of the alphabet.

 

Apparently, when we say words with the letter ‘K’, our mouths form smiles, which makes us happier and more susceptible to humor. It seems that when we smile even when we’re not feeling happy, the smiles automatically make us feel better. Conversely, when we frown even when we’re not feeling sad, the frowns make us feel sad.

 

To my embarrassment, there was also a study conducted to find out which cities were the most helpful and unhelpful, and it seems that Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ranked as the most unhelpful city in the world, together with Singapore and New York.

 

I have no defense, except to say that our crime rate, I’m again embarrassed to admit, is quite high in the city, which would account for our distrust of people who need help and who might actually be ‘undesirables’ out to harm or cheat us.

 

There are so many more interesting things in the book; like how tracing the letter Q on your forehead can show if you’re a good liar, how our memories can be manipulated and we can end up believing in false memories, what topics are the best to talk about on a first date to ensure there’d be a second date, how to make a person feel that you’re more attractive than you really are, how waiters can get customers to leave bigger tips, and so much more.

 

There’s a lot of information and details I don’t remember, but I had such fun reading this book and so many lightbulb moments while reading it! What a whole lot of amazing information is in this book!

The Heart of Wicca by Ellen Cannon Reed

 

This book is in my Reading Dangerously challenge. I chose it because it was about something most of us don't usually know about.

 

A lot of us have misconceptions about Wicca, thinking it to be a frivolous religion where young teenagers call themselves witches and cast spells. Most of us have this idea because of various shows and movies about "Wicca", which of course, doesn't portray Wicca accurately at all.

 

Personally, although I think of myself as a spiritual person, I'm not so much religious. I don't like following rules, preferring to go my own way most of the time, but still I enjoy studying about religions, their history, and how they work.

 

What I really liked about this book is that it dispels all misconceptions about Wicca. Instead of being frivolous and "fluffy", Wicca is in fact, a much harder path to follow. It involves a lot of study, and I mean a LOT! On topics such as mythology, deities, herbalism, astrology, and more.

 

I must say I'm intrigued! I enjoy studying, and I'm interested in all the above topics. I'll probably study them on my own, a little by little.

 

There is also much more to Wicca than just studying though, but all these are Mysteries that cannot be told and only can be experienced. I understand what they mean, because I have experienced a few of these Mysteries myself, it would be wonderful if I could learn more, of course.

 

Well, spirituality is a lifelong study, and I'm sure I'll learn more as I go. In the meantime, I highly recommend this book to anyone who's interested in learning what Wicca is really about.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

 

Having just watched The Future of Food while reading this book, they each brought a deeper impact to each other's stories.

 

This was a book for my Reading Dangerously challenge, chosen because I thought it would be a difficult read and an extremely scary one about our diets and what it's doing to us.

 

I'm not an American, but while Schlosser's book is mostly directed to Americans and about the American way of life, I think concerns about fast food should apply to everyone regardless of where you're from.

 

Let's face it, fast food has invaded almost every country in the world now, and the effects of welcoming fast food into our diets and our world have much more significant impact than we recognize.

 

Initially, I thought Schlosser's book was about health and nutrition, and how fast food diets are negatively effecting our health, but the things he covers in this book is much more terrifying than I imagined.

 

The greed, the indifference, the ignorance, the reaction of some people involved in the fast food industry, is just unbelievable.

 

Schlosser talks about how the fast food way of life started, and how terrible some employees at fast food restaurants are being treated, and then about the horrible conditions at slaughterhouses, the danger the employees there constantly face, the unsanitary handling of the meat that we will eventually eat, and the many people who have been killed and injured while working at these places, and the many other people who have died because of bacteria in our meat.

 

It is terrifying, it is sobering, and we really should do something about it. It's our lives, after all.

 

I think everyone who eats need to read this book. I believe that we should educate ourselves, especially when it comes to our food and our health. Schlosser's done a great job in his research and in bringing this information to the public's attention. Now it's up to us to educate ourselves and decide what we want to happen next.

The Antioxidant Miracle by Lester Packer, PH.D. and Carol Colman

 

This is one of the textbooks for my Holistic Nutrition course. Normally, I wouldn't count textbooks as books read, except that I read this one cover to cover, so I think it counts, doesn't it?

 

Anyway, I'm always interested in finding out more about health and diet and how food and nutrients affect our bodies.

 

I've always known about the importance of antioxidants, of course - having grown up with a health-conscious and very knowledgeable father who had also studied health - but I've never known why they were important, and where to get them, and what their exact role in our health was.

 

Lester Packer's research and the information presented in this book is very interesting and eye-opening, and as someone who really worries about our generation's health and eating habits, I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's interested in living and eating healthier.

 

Of course, one of the most important books, IMHO, about health and diet, is The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II. Do read this book, and then every book you can get on these subjects. There are a lot of contradictory information out there, true, but the more you read and the more perspectives you see, the better it is for you to make your own decision about your own health.

 

I don't believe in leaving the responsibility of your own health to others, especially medical doctors, who make a living off your illnesses. I believe in prevention rather than cure. Educate yourself, and be responsible for your own health.

One Red Paperclip by Kyle Macdonald

 

A few years back I heard about this guy who started with one red paperclip and traded his way up to finally get a house.

 

I was definitely intrigued, and more than a little curious, but somehow I must have forgotten about it because I never followed up on it.

 

Recently, just last year actually, he published a book on it, and I finally bought the book yesterday. I read it until late last night and finished it late this evening with tears in my eyes.

 

It's an amazingly inspiring story, and really kind of overwhelming, in fact. But reading this book and seeing Kyle's attitude, I'd have to say that he was just the right person to pull off this stunt. He's got so much charm, humor, and enthusiasm for what he was doing, you can feel his charisma ooze off the pages.

 

His blog is still up, I just checked, and now he's putting the house he got up for trade. This whole book is an adventure, and I guess he's ready for another adventure. I'm definitely interested in seeing what happens next.

 

I can't say enough how amazing this whole story is, and how inspiring, and how dreams that may seem outlandish and impossible can actually come true.

 

This is how the cover of the book looks like, simple and effective.

 

Go get the book, read it, and be inspired to LIVE.

Good Books Lately: The One-Stop Resource for Book Groups and Other Greedy Readers by Ellen Moore and Kira Stevens

 

I found this in a bargain bookstore, and I thought it was a book about good books. I must admit that I didn't look very closely at what it was about, and because I was in a hurry, I just went ahead and bought it.

 

When I realized it was about book groups, I was surprised, but still interested in what the book had to say. I had almost given up on ever finding a 'physical' book group a long time ago, at least, one which I thought would suit my tastes. But I thought I'd read the book just for the sake of learning something new.

 

It was either the biggest mistake or the best thing I could have ever done! I got so excited while reading the book, and so envious of all the things that were happening in book groups that I always wanted to have but never got the chance to, and I got so fired up that I decided that if I couldn't find a book group, I would form my own.

 

I wrote a post that asked for local readers to join my group, quite a specific one, in fact, and I forwarded it to all my friends through email and even on facebook. Sadly, I only got *one* reply(!) and I thought that perhaps I should forget about a 'physical' book group. So I racked my brain, trying to think of the next best thing I could do.

 

The result is an online real-time book club, where readers can choose a specific book to read each month, and then discuss it together in a real-time chat room on a specific day and time.

 

The first chat is scheduled for January 9th and 10th, depending on your time zone, and since I launched it last Monday, 7 people have already signed up for it!

 

The best thing is, since I set up the online book club, I've gotten 3 more members for my 'physical' book club, which makes 5 of us! Although I originally wanted 10 to start of with, I think 5 is a great number too, and we're meeting up this Saturday for a getting to know you session.

 

To think that neither one of my book groups, online or in real life, would have happened at all if I didn't pick this book up and read it!

 

More books about Book Groups:

 

I must admit that I was almost totally ignorant about our sense of smell until I read Rachel Herz's Scent of Desire. Herz is recognized as the world's leading expert on the psychology of smell, and she now shares her knowledge with us in this book.

Scent of Desire is full of fascinating information about our sense of smell and its functions, and after reading it, I am amazed by how much I now know on the subject. Most of us never really think twice about this amazing sense of ours, taking it for granted and never noticing how valuable it is until we lose it. I'm guilty of not appreciating my own sense of smell as well.

There's a question that I like to ask the people I meet in an effort to get to know them better, "If you had to choose, would you rather be deaf or blind?" Their answers let me learn a little more about them, but isn't it a telltale sign that out of all our five senses, we usually only focus on our sight and hearing.

Perhaps we believe it's unlikely for us to lose our sense of taste and even more unlikely to lose our sense of touch, unless someone writes a book about these two senses and enlighten us otherwise. We also seldom hear about people losing their sense of smell, but even if we did, we don't understand the importance of the loss and we'd probably go, "He's lucky he didn't lose his sight or hearing instead!"

The few times I've contemplated my sense of smell are mostly when I travel and am forced to use a particularly foul-smelling toilet. At times like these, I usually wish I could lose my sense of smell. I'm glad I didn't get what I wished for, after reading Herz's Scent of Desire, I now realize that a loss like that would be devastating.

While it's true that losing my sense of smell would mean that I would be spared from smelling foul odors from a dirty toilet, it would also mean that I wouldn't even be able to detect my own body odor. In the case of Jessica Ross, one of Herz's clients who became anosmic(loss of smell) in a tragic accident, she started becoming paranoid that every time someone looks at her in a certain way, it's because she smells bad and doesn't know because she couldn't smell herself. She would shower at least twice a day, and wash her clothes every day, and still she'd worry that she may have an offensive body odor that she wouldn't be able to detect. She also worries that she wouldn't be able to smell smoke and fire, or spoiled food.

Jessica is also more irritable and depressed since losing her smell, and cries often. She feels that she has lost her quality of life, and that she's disconnected from herself and the people around her. She's also lost interest in sexual intimacy and isn't as attracted to her husband as before.

Herz explains later in the book, that we instinctively choose our mates by their smell, and having our sense of smell tampered with by external factors may cause us to choose the wrong mate. In various experiments where men and women had to choose their most preferred odor of the opposite sex, they almost always chose the odor of someone with the most different biological makeup from themselves. The exceptions are in cases where the women are on birth control pills, in which case, they choose the odor of the person with the most similar biological makeup to themselves.

Herz's theory is that for the human species to thrive, we were instinctively built, biologically, to be attracted to the mate most biologically different from ourselves, to avoid inbreeding and to ensure the survival of the species. Birth control pills mimics the conditions of pregnancy, causing us to instinctively look for safety and family, which in turn makes us attracted to mates who are more similar to us biologically, rather than mates who are biologically different from us. Herz further speculates that this may be why there is such a high divorce rate in our society. Women on birth control pills find themselves attracted to men they normally wouldn't be interested in, and after getting married and getting off the pill, they suddenly find that they are no longer attracted to their men.

It's definitely food for thought, our sense of smell controls our behaviors and actions more than we know, and it certainly explains why we have so many relationship problems. Jessica's inability to smell her husband's odor may be the reason why she finds herself losing her attraction to him.

Herz also talks about the why some odors are considered pleasant to us and unpleasant to others, and vice versa. She says that there are no universally 'good' or 'bad' odor, liking or disliking an odor is due to societal conditioning. I believe her. Living in a country where the durian is called "The King of the Fruits" and savored by locals, it astounds me that foreigners, usually Westerners, can't stand the smell of this wonderfully delicious fruit. Apparently, it works the other way around too; Westerners love cheese, which Asians supposedly can't stand. Personally, I love cheese, but I know a few friends who hate it. I suppose there may be some Westerners who love durians as well.

One anecdote of Herz's that stuck in my mind was about how she became fascinated with our enigmatic sense of smell. When she was a little girl, she loved the smell of skunk, and it was only when she expressed her love of the scent to her friends that she discovered that the smell skunk was supposed to be "bad" when they made fun of her.

It reminded me of something similar that happened to me not too long ago in college, when a friend of mine just came back from a break, and I said to him, "You smell nice." He and a couple of other friends gave me weird looks, and it wasn't until later, when I realized that he smelled of cigarette smoke, that I understood why they behaved so strangely at my compliment. In fact, I thought I was weird!

While the information Herz shares in The Scent of Desire assures me that I'm not abnormal for liking the smell of cigarette smoke, I have no idea why the smell of it on my friend smelled good to me, I don't remember any particularly good memories associated with the smell of smoke as I am a non-smoker, and no one in my family smokes. As for what happened with my friend after that, he probably thought that I was interested in him and that was just a terrible pickup line, because he went out of his way to be nice to me after that.

Herz also covers other odor-related topics like aromatherapy and how lavender, peppermint, and other oils don't really have any beneficial effects on us except through conditioning, how particular smells can trigger long-forgotten memories, the link between our senses of smell and taste and how our sense of taste can diminish without our sense of smell, and what the future holds in odor technology.

The information contain within the pages of The Scent of Desire is astounding and sometimes mind-boggling, but Herz conveys these information so well with her wonderfully charming voice and writing style. She is a pioneer in this field and she has my utmost respect for creating the awareness we need about our amazing sense of smell.

Veronica Mars hooked me the moment I stepped into the DVD store and read the plot synopsis on the cover of Season One. Her best friend murdered and her sheriff father removed from office because he accused the dead girl's father of the murder, Veronica Mars and her father try to build new lives as private investigators but her obsession is with solving her best friend's murder. Wouldn't you be hooked?

Yeah, I was hooked from that synopsis, and from the first episode until the season finale. Then I bought the second season of Veronica, which had nothing to do with the murder of Veronica's best friend anymore; it had an altogether different plotline, and I was hooked too. And now I'm just waiting for Season Three on DVD to reach our shores, and then I'm gonna go out and get it too.

So what is it about Veronica Mars that keeps me hooked? It can't just be the plotline, because plots only go so far without good characters, dialogue, and chemistry. To be quite honest, I've never really thought about why I loved Veronica Mars so much, or why I kept on watching episode after episode. Sure, the chemistry between Veronica and Logan Echolls may have something to do with it, but it's not the only reason to get hooked. There are many other great TV romances after all.

Here's where Neptune Noir comes in. Neptune Noir is a completely unauthorized collection of 18 essays by various authors analyzing the show and why we love it. The essays aren't just fan reviews talking about how much they love the show and what they love about it — the essays are actual intellectual analyses about the show complete with footnotes and references. That's not to say that it's a dry and boring "scientific' book," but in fact, a very interesting one that gives a lot of insights into the workings of Veronica Mars.

The book starts off with an introduction by Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars, about his professional life as a screenwriter from the time he wrote his first TV show, Cupid, until Veronica Mars was picked up and how Veronica Mars "saved my career and, less importantly, my soul." Rob Thomas also edits Neptune Noir and includes comments on what he thought of each essay included in the book.

The first essay, "Welcome to Camp Noir" by Lani Diane Rich, takes a look at the "noir-ness" of Veronica Mars, and also its "campy-ness." Well, the noir I can understand — some of the other writers in the book chose that as their focus too, and the title of the book is Neptune Noir. But the camp, well, I don't see it, and as Thomas writes, "When something on Veronica Mars feels campy, it means we have failed." However, he also writes, "Reading Lani's essay...I see that she has...a wider net of what she considers camp..." and I agree, Lani's point of view is very interesting to read.

There are a couple of essays which talks about the importance of the father figures in Veronica Mars. Joyce Millman explores the many complexities in the father-daughter relationship between Veronica and her father in her essay "Daddy's Girl," and Amy Berner's essay "Daddy Dualities" marvels at the importance of the roles of the father figures in the show in a time when there is so much focus on single mothers. Both essays opened up my eyes to another facet of Veronica Mars' appeal and the fact that sometimes fathers have more "motherly instincts" than mothers. Which we see shown in Veronica Mars time and time again, especially with Veronica's own alcoholic mother, who left the family when the going got tough, and then later even stole Veronica's college fund money.

Some of the essays I really enjoyed were "'I Cannot Tell a Lie. And If You Believe That...'" by John Ramos, and "Lawless Neptune" by Alafair Burke. John talks about all the lies that Veronica tells in the show; lies to gain information, to manipulate people, to solve murders, to save lives. Why do we accept all Veronica's lies and still love the liar that she is? Because ultimately, although most of us still believe that honesty is a virtue, we also believe that the ends justify the means. Yes, Veronica is a liar, but she lies for the greater good. She lies so that she can help people and solve mysteries. But it's not just about what she lies about, or why she lies, it's also about who she lies to. Lying to a random hotel clerk or librarian to get information is fine, lying to Sheriff Lamb or Vinnie Van Lowe is probably encouraged, but lying to Wallace or her father? Well, she'd better think twice.

Alafair's "Lawless Neptune" takes a look at the fact that the law enforcement in Neptune is pretty corrupt and indifferent under Sheriff Lamb's command, which it has to be, for Veronica Mars to work. What use would Veronica's sleuthing skills be, if she had no crimes to solve because the law was fair and the police did their job well. Neptune had to be lawless, so that Veronica could solve her best friend's murder that her best friend's billionaire father tried to cover up. It had to be lawless, so that Veronica could plot with Duncan to save his daughter Lilly from her abusive grandparents. It had to be lawless, basically, so that Veronica Mars could work.

My favorite essay in the book was a surprise to me. It is Lawrence Watt-Evan's "I'm in Love with My Car," which talks about automotive symbolism in Veronica Mars. It's surprising because I don't particularly like cars, I don't know cars, and I didn't even notice the cars in Veronica Mars. Lawrence's essay is extremely enlightening about the use of cars in the show to symbolize the characters' personalities. For example, Veronica's LeBaron represents the all-American life, fun and carefree, but because it is an old model it is just a reminder of what she used to have; Aaron Echoll's flashy Aston-Martin sport car simply screams narcissistic movie star; and even Lianne Mars' beat-up Plymouth symbolizes that she's been beaten down in life.
The funny thing is, Rob Thomas isn't a car guy either. The decisions about cars used in the show are made by his assistant Alex and writer Phil Klemmer, and from Lawrence's essay, it's obvious they did a terrific job.

All the essays in Neptune Noir are enlightening and really fun to read. I didn't know that there was so much to the show until I read the book, and now that I've read it, I can't wait to go back and watch the whole series again with new eyes and points-of-view. As Rob Thomas said, "This is a must-read for Veronica Mars fans."

This book should come with a warning: "Read at your own risk, the authors will not be responsible for any book-buying binge during or after the reading of this book."

Why We Read What We Read by John Heath and Lisa Adams is basically one long book review about nearly 200 bestselling books, most of which the authors actually took the time to read, and as the case usually is, this particular 'book review' has piqued my interest in at least ten books now. Luckily for me, I had already read a few of the other books they mentioned.

This book isn't just a review about the books we read though, it's also a psychological insight to why we choose to read these particular books and make them bestsellers, because there's nothing particularly special about bestsellers after all. Like Heath and Adams said, they only become bestsellers because we buy them.

In Why We Read What We Read, Heath and Adams cover topics by book genre. Chapter one is about the obvious; self-help books, inspirational books, and diet books which include Dr. Atkin's New Diet Revolution, The South Beach Diet, Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Who Moved My Cheese, and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Heath and Adams state that while a lot of these books don't actually help or change a person, we all still buy and read them for the hope that the next diet book will be the one to help us lose weight (as if all you need to do to lose weight is to read a diet book) or that reading a particular get-rich-now book will make us instant millionaires.

Chapter two discusses the starkness of our views of good and evil, the "if you're not for us, you're for them" mentality. The John Grishams and Stephen Kings come under this section. We love their books because they give us a clear, black and white picture of good and evil. The protagonist is good; the antagonist is evil, simple as that. Even though sometimes the protagonist has many flaws, we can empathize with them because we know they're good people deep down inside. But those evil antagonists, they don't have hearts — they're just evil through and through. It's the same with the political nonfiction. The left wingers say that they're good and the right wingers are evil, the right wingers say they are good and the left wingers are evil. Either way, they're both right and wrong.

Chapter three is for the hopeless romantics. Romance, whether historical, contemporary, Regency, or otherwise is one of the bestselling genres, and I'm not surprised. I can read seven romance novels in the time it takes me to read one literary one. Of course, there's the happily ever after factor that all of us can't help but be sappy for. We all love happy love stories and most romance novelists are just too happy to give it to us. Unfortunately, most of us don't really have happy real life love stories, hence the bestselling nonfiction books on relationships, which scare me with some of the not really practical advice they give.

Chapter four is my favorite and by far the one that probably will cause the most debates and indignation. Christians and New Agers battle it out with their literary works like the Christian-themed Left Behind series which use a fictionalized account of an apocalypse to get the message across that either you believe in God and Jesus and worship them with all your heart, mind, body, and soul, or God abandons you. And then there's the New Age-themed Conversations With God series where Neale Donald Walsch talks to a loving, generous, supportive God who wants you to make your own choices and be happy. It's kind of obvious which side I'm on, isn't it? To be fair, the Left Behind series do address the doubts and questions that cynics have, but saying things like, "I'll do it even if I don't understand it" just isn't satisfactory to my infinite curiosity and quest for knowledge and understanding, so I stay on the New Age side of the fence.

Chapter five is about the trials and triumphs that people face in literary fiction; guilt, and then redemption, or surviving through abuse, addictions, and other hardships, and then triumphing over them, or sometimes not. Oprah is especially good with these books; she picked 43 books of literary fiction between 1996 and 2002 for her book club. Some of the books selected include Ursula Hegi's Stones from the River, which is about a dwarf living during the Holocaust and the trials she faces with being different and living in a difficult time, and She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, which is about a girl struggling with an eating disorder. I've read both these books, and I absolutely loved them both. I don't watch Oprah often, but I think it's great that her book club has spurred so many non-readers to read. Not all of Oprah's selections turn out to be great though, so you shouldn't read a book just because she says so.

Chapter six is dedicated to The Da Vinci Code, and is basically a summary of the conclusions the authors got from analyzing the bestselling books that we have been reading from 1991 to 2005. The bottom line that Heath and Adams got to is that a lot of us readers don't like people challenging our views and our dreams.

We read political non-fiction, but only the ones which tell us what we want to hear, we're not really open to looking at the other side's perspective. If we do read the other side's story, we say they're liars. That's why the mysteries and thrillers get to us too; it's us, the good guys, versus them, the bad guys. It's the same with spiritual and religious non-fiction. New Agers most likely will not read Christian literature, and vice versa. We read self-help books because we want to believe that there is a book out there that can change our lives, because we're too lazy to actually change it on our own. I don't necessarily believe this to be true because I have read some which, while not having changed my life, did help me improve a little bit. There is a reason they are called 'self' help books after all, the books don't help you if you don't want to help yourself. Romances are important to us because we want to believe that there is a happily ever after. We want to believe in dreams, in love, in destiny. Romance novels give us all of that and more. Don't tell us that there's no such thing as happily ever after, we're not going to buy that book. We read literary fiction about the hardships others go through so we feel better that our lives aren't as bad as theirs, and if they triumph, we feel inspired, we feel good because we know that there is strength in the human spirit, the human spirit cannot be beaten.

Like I said, while I don't necessarily agree with all the authors' views, I do find some of them to be true and insightful. It is a very interesting look at the books, and consequently the ideas and opinions that have pre-dominated our thoughts in the last fifteen years. It will start you thinking about the books you've read and what they may say about you. It will introduce you to a lot of books that you may not have been aware of, even if they are in the bestselling lists, and I guarantee you that before you've finished reading this book, you'll probably go out and buy at least a couple of the books mentioned. At last count, I have fourteen new books I want to read. Well, there goes my paycheck.

I've always had a morbid fascination with how some historical figures and celebrities died, so when I came across The Portable Obituary, I was absolutely delighted with what I found within its pages.

The Portable Obituary by Michael Largo is an A to Z encyclopedia of obituaries compiled of the rich, famous, and powerful dead. From Alexander the Great to Guy Williams, the actor who played Zorro, you can find out how they all died in this book. There are many interesting facts and trivia about how these people died, and how they lived their lives. Most of the deaths were tragic, as deaths usually are, but they ranged from the spectacular, like the guy who died via jumping off Niagara Falls and Cleopatra's death by snake poison, to the mundane, celebrities who died simply from 'old age', which sometimes meant health complications like heart attacks or diabetes.

In fact, there were many who died from poor health, whether at an early age or in their advance years, and many who suffered from infectious diseases or exposure to poisonous chemicals, Marie Curie from the effects of radiation, and Daniel Fahrenheit, who discovered the use of mercury for thermometers and consequently died from mercury poisoning.

There were also those who died from tragic accidents, James Dean in the spooky accident with his Porche 550 Spyder, Buddy Holly and Richie Valenz from a fatal air crash, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who died 17 years ago this week from a helicopter crash. I was glad that Wong Ka Kui from the Hong Kong band Beyond was mentioned too, he was thirty-one and Beyond was at the height of fame, when he fell eight feet off a stage and died.

Apparently there were many who died from overdose of drugs or alcohol; Jimi Hendrix for one, Jim Morrison another (although whether he's actually dead is still controversial), and Judy Garland, and even more who committed suicide; Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame, George Reeves of Superman fame (no relation to Christopher Reeve), Sylvia Plath who was famous for The Bell Jar, and even Nero, the cruel Roman emperor who killed himself when his rule was overthrown.

The Portable Obituary also includes the deaths of such great teachers as Socrates and Confucius, among others; authors like William Faulkner and John Steinbeck; dictators such as Adolf Hitler and the previously mentioned emperor Nero; great explorers like Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama; presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington; and a whole lot of other rich, famous, and powerful people. This book has satisfied my curiosity about these historical figures and celebrities and more.

If, like me, you have a morbid fascination for facts and trivia about the deaths of famous people, or if you're just curious about the details of some of your favorite celebrities such as Elvis Presley or Katherine Hepburn, you should definitely get this book. Michael Largo has done his research well; The Portable Obituary tells you all you ever wanted to know about how the famous, rich, and powerful really died. It's the ultimate collector's item for the morbidly curious, and countless hours will be spent with your nose stuck firmly between the pages of this book.

It's about time someone came up with a realistic and healthy method of losing weight and keeping it off. I'm in the natural health industry, and we have many people who come to us for advice about their health and diets. One of the most important things we tell them is to get enough fiber in their diets to help eliminate all the wastes and toxins in their bodies. Losing weight is a natural side effect, since the fiber ensures that most of the wastes exits the body instead of piling up inside (for the sake of delicacy, I won't go into much more of the details of body wastes), but you won't lose a lot if that's the only thing you change about your diet.

We recommend fiber to combat constipation among other things, rather than to combat fat, so when I came across The Reality Diet, the tagline "Fight Fat with Fiber" attracted my interest immediately. I thought to myself, 'I've got to read this book' and I was immensely delighted by what I found inside.

Dr. Steven Schnur doesn't make false promises. He doesn't give you unrealistic advice or tell you not to eat. He doesn't pretend that you can lose weight without exercise. Instead, he tells you the truth; if you want to lose weight, you need to watch your diet, and you need to exercise. The good news is, you can eat a variety of healthy and delicious meals, and you can eat a lot of it. The better news is, they will give you lots of energy to exercise. The even better news is, you'll lose weight and all the risks of medical problems that come with it. You'll look good, and you'll feel better.

Dr. Schnur takes you step by step on how to make The Reality Diet work for you. The book is divided into four parts. In the first part, he educates you about food and how it affects your body, the different types of carbohydrates, protein, and fats, and what is good or bad for your body. Contrary to what the low-carb diet programs are telling you, carbohydrates are actually good for you, and they don't make you fat. You should stay away from refined carbohydrates though, because those are the ones which contribute to unwanted weight gain.

The second part of the book describes more about the details of The Reality Diet. Dr. Schnur advices on how to choose the right food for you out of all the choices in the supermarket, and how to plan ahead on your diet to ensure that you will succeed in losing weight. If you want to slim down for an upcoming event, make sure you plan ahead for plenty of time to do it. He also tells you to set realistic goals, so that you won't despair and give up if you don't lose 30 pounds in 30 days.

In the third part of the book, Dr. Schnur guides you on how to make The Reality Diet work for you in the real world. He addresses the serious business of exercise because not only is exercise essential for burning calories, it also makes your body feel and look so much better and healthier. He also tells you not to worry yourself to death about straying or setbacks, The Reality Diet is designed to allow you certain indulgences once in a while. Most importantly, he advices on how to stay on The Reality Diet when eating out and during holidays. We all know that holiday feasts are the dieter's nemesis, but not with Dr. Schnur's sound advice. Finally, Dr. Schnur gives practical advice on how to keep the pounds off for good in the last chapter of this part.

The fourth part of the book consists of an 8-week program of healthy reality recipes that makes up about half the entire book's contents. There are a variety of healthy and wholesome easy-to-prepare meals, and they all look delicious. You can also mix and match them, or come up with your own variations of the recipes, as long as they fit the dietary requirements Dr. Schnur has recommended. There is a useful list of possible alternative ingredients that you may use for your recipes at the back of the book. There's also a weekly shopping list for the 8-week program available on the website.

Overall, I think The Reality Diet is very well-researched, and is filled with much valuable and practical advice. Dr. Schnur has obviously done extensive research on his part, and he has had many successes in helping his patients lose weight using the principles found in this book. Follow the instructions in this book, and you'll be losing all your extra pounds in no time!

The Reality Diet is the best diet plan I've seen, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's serious about losing weight and being healthy. Losing weight, being healthy, and feeling good, while having the most absolutely delicious and satisfying meals? What's not to like? In fact, slim people should absolutely go on this diet too!

I picked up The Killer Book of True Crime after dinner, thinking to just flip through some of the stories to get an idea of what I could look forward to, before going back to some other books that I was supposed to read first. But as soon as I picked it up I literally could not put it down. I kept thinking, after every story, that I should go back to my other books, and then I kept thinking, "No, one more, one more! Let me finish one more story first!" It went on that way until I finally finished reading it.

At the back of the book, it says, "Hours of Nail-Biting True Crime" and then describes what they have to offer inside the book, namely lots of trivia, quotes, photos, and detailed stories about some of the most prolific crimes in history. Then, at the bottom of the page, it says also that, "These and many more shocking tales and tidbits will have you double-checking your locks at night!" Now that I've safely finished reading The Killer Book, I read those words and I have to laugh ruefully at myself, but for the two nights I was reading it, it wasn't funny at all, I can tell you.

I was a nervous wreck, jumping every time a board creaked or a door slammed. I even declined a dinner invitation with some friends because going would mean that I would have to drive home alone in my car. And yet, while I did double-check that I locked all my doors and windows, I did not bite my nails. So there.

This isn't a book of horror stories. There are no vampires, zombies, or werewolves. This is a book about true crime, and the evil capabilities of man, and that is a much more terrible horror than tales about vampires and witchcraft. You will read about serial murderers like John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Edmund Kemper, and about their backgrounds and what motivated them. You will read about mob killings, rapes, terrorism, cannibalism, stalkers, female killers, and even children who are killers. There are also stories and trivia about celebrity crime and murders, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, details about Marilyn Monroe's death and the death of O.J. Simpson's wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

The Killer Book of True Crime is terrifying to read, but the details are very real, and it provides a valuable inside look at crimes and the minds of criminals. Tom Philbin and his brother Michael Philbin have done a great job in compiling all the data and arranging them into anecdotes that are easy and interesting to read. If you are a true crime and mystery fan, The Killer Book of True Crime is a must-read for you.

If you want to know more about how the food you eat affects your health, you should read this book.

If you're even remotely concerned about your own health and that of your loved ones, you should read this book.

If you're tired of feeling tired, and sick of feeling sick, you should read this book.

This is one of the best books I've ever read in regards to diet and health. I've been involved in the health industry for almost ten years, and have seen many cases of seriously sick people. Even knowing what I knew then — that fruits and vegetables were good for you, and seeing this knowledge applied to heal the afflicted right before my eyes — never stopped me from eating animal foods.

These ailing individuals are people with diabetes and cancer, people who lost their sight and their hearing, people with heart diseases and obesity. I've seen them all being healed with the power of this knowledge. They've regained their sight, their hearing, they're more active and slim, they're cancer-free, and don't have to use as much insulin as before.

And still I did not change my eating habits, because I didn't see myself having any serious health problems that would require me to watch what I eat.

But after reading The China Study, which examines more than 350 variables of health and nutrition with surveys from 6,500 adults in more than 2,500 counties across China and Taiwan, I decided that I want to change my lifestyle. I want to be healthier, I want to feel better, I want to be more active.

I realized that eating well is important for everyone, not just people who are sick. The China Study makes a convincing link between proper nutrition and health as it persuasively questions the effectiveness of other dietary programs such as the Atkins diet. It also made me realize how much more important it is to prevent diseases, and maintain a healthy body which won't break down as you get older.

We all accept that we're going to face senility, absent-mindedness, and have a weaker body as we get older, but the truth is, we don't have to. We don't have to face pain and helplessness. We can all live a good, long life and be healthy enough to enjoy all it has to offer.

Read the book, you'll be glad you did.

Well, I'm a little late with my reviews...*sheepish* Sorry! As the books I read piled up, I kept putting reviewing off, which is obviously a bad idea, because they pile up even more. LOL!

So I decided to just write a sorta general review of the books I've read since I last blogged, and then after I've caught up, I'll write 'proper' reviews for the books I'll read in the future. I can't remember much about the earlier books I read anyway, which normally happens when I don't blog fast, so I've learned my lesson and I'll blog asap next time. =P

Anyways, here are the books I've read since the last time I blogged:

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Date Started: 14th Dec 2006
Date Finished: 16th Dec 2006

Rating:

Well, this was a fun read, as Neil Gaiman's books usually are. His books are always a little mixed between reality and fantasy...the lines are always a little blurred, and that's exactly what I love about them. His books are portals into another world, reading his books are like opening the doorways and staring right into a fantastic world.

Reading Anansi Boys, I was torn between screaming in frustration at all the misfortune faced by Fat Charlie, mostly caused by his brother, Spider, and laughing my head off at how ridiculous it all was. Everything works out in the end, but the journey is so exciting, so unbelievable, so stressful, you just have to sit back and let it take you wherever it's going.

Enjoy the ride, Gaiman is always a joy to read, and this is another one of his gems.

Cell by Stephen King

Date Started: 16th Dec 2006
Date Finished: 18th Dec 2006

Rating:

Would you believe this is my first Stephen King novel? I've always wanted to read his books, and I've tried many times, but never managed to finish one. My first purchased King novel was Dolores Claibourne, which I bought a long long time ago, and couldn't get into. I tried Carrie, and It, and his Dark Tower series, but never finished any of them, until now. It's not that his writing is bad or anything, it just happened that I never finished a single one.

Now that I've finally finished one of his novels, I can see why he's so successful. This book is a work of genius. The storyline is basically similar to all those zombie movies which are so popular recently, but the way he crafts the book is amazing. Most horror movies or books try to scare you with gory and suspenseful scenes, and then shock you when something suddenly jumps out of the closet, King builds up horror slowly, logically - yes, logically- and it scares you because you think, oh my god, this could actually happen.

Reading a King novel for the first time, I finally understand why he's so popular. He's a master at his craft, and I can't wait to read more. I'm getting out all my other King books, and I'm going to finish them this time.

Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch

Date Started: Fall 2006
Date Finished: Spring 2007

Rating:

I bought Book 1, 2 and 3 many years ago, I believe it was in 2001, and I've read Book 1 and 2 many times before. I started Book 3 but didn't finish it.

Recently I read them all again, and I was awed by what I got out of them. I believe my understanding of the world, life, and my views have changed since I last read these books, and reading them again brought me to another level of understanding.

In my humble opinion, this book is a must-read, whether you believe in a God, or in many Gods, or Goddesses, or if you don't believe in a God at all, it doesn't matter. There are a lot of hard truths in the books, but whether it comes from God, or from Neale's subconscious, or even if he made it all up, there is a lot of wisdom in these books. Read it, and you will never feel alone again. You will live your life differently and see everything with new eyes.

Children Who Have Lived Before by Trutz Hardo

Date Started: 26th Dec 2006
Date Finished: 28th Dec 2006

Rating:

I've always wondered about reincarnation. I definitely believe in it, but my curiousity about life and beyond always lead me to read books like these.

This book is a collection of case studies of possible reincarnations. I believe anyone with an open mind and a desire for truth who reads this book will have no doubt about the possibility of reincarnation any longer. All these cases can't be hoaxes, and there is just no other explanation for the behaviour and knowledge of some of these reincarnated souls.

If you have an interest in reincarnation, or if you're looking for more evidence to support the theory, read this book for yourself.

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

Date Started: 11th Jan 2007
Date Finished: 13th Jan 2007

Rating:

This was an easy book to read, obviously. I thought I'd read it because it's a classic children's book, and it's being made into a movie with Dakota Fanning, who I really like. But hype aside, it's a wonderful children's book. I love Charlotte and I thought she was the kindest, bravest, wise, and intelligent soul.

A lot of it was hilarious, all the antics of the characters, both human and animals, were exaggerated and 'caricaturized'. But it was also sweet and heart-warming, touching and a little sad too. Read it if you love animals, miracles, comedy, and a good story.

Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov

Date Started: 20th Jan 2007
Date Finished: 24th Jan 2007

Rating:

I was taken in by the storyline; four men and one women journeying into the living body of a man? A great story if I ever heard one. Asimov is known for his futuristic tales, most notably I, Robot, which was made popular recently as a movie, but while his name is a recognized one, I've never read any of his books.

This book was made into a movie about more than a decade ago, I didn't watch it either, but as I said, the storyline hooked me.

What hooked me even more, was the way he made the voyage exciting for readers. A journey into the living body of a man? Definitely an interesting story, but how do you make it less of an anatomical lesson and more of an action-packed adventure? Well, how about if the fate of the entire world lies in the success of that journey! Hooked yet? Yeah, me too. So I read it, and I loved it.

Panic by Jeff Abbot

Date Started: 24th Jan 2007
Date Finished: 26th Jan 2007

Rating:

It's weird, I remember I enjoyed reading this, but thinking back now, I don't remember much about it.

I remember the basic storyline, but not much of the details although this was the most recent book I read. I guess it's a good beach read, a thriller, but not something you'd ever read again for anything other than a 'one-night-stand'.

It's exciting and quite plausible, and definitely scary, discovering your mother dead and finding out that your whole life was a lie. It's a great story, without much of a foundation, sort of like a beautiful person without much of a personality. You'd be fascinated with the way the person looked, and you could probably spend hours marvelling at the perfection of that person's features, skin, and hair.... but probing for something deeper would leave you entirely empty-handed. It's still well worth looking at though.