Bryan Decker Decker itibaren Cuckfield, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, İngiltere
Wow. What a great book so far. I was sucked in by page 3! (I'm currently on page 53). Kristin Cashore is such a talented author. It's very hard to believe Fire is only her second book. She's a very skilled storyteller and the story is flowing so easily. The words she's chosen to describe the characters and reveal things about them ( or not) are near perfect. Graceling was such a joy to read and I'm sure by the end of this book I'll be saying the same thing about Fire. Finished the book: Love the story! I really enjoyed how the author tied in all the characters, even the ones that seem minor. What a good story!
Knowing I was a food lover, my friend Clare lent me this book. I usually don't read a lot of this kind of stuff, but I thought this book was fabulous. It's highly readable, even if you know nothing about agriculture, and Michael Pollan asks many insigtful and thought provoking questions throughout the book...I was really struck by his attempt to figure out the true "cost" of the meal and the discrepencies between its price face value and in its hidden costs to taxpayers and the environment. I think he's strongest when he's describing the omnipresence of corn in the American diet. This was pretty enlightening for me. I like can't eat any sort of processed food now without checking to see if there's high fructose corn syrup in it! Pollan tries to be objective throughout the entire book, but his views on the industrial production of both conventional and organic foods are pretty obvious; that is, he's highly critical. While I totally agree with that, one criticism I had was that he seems to implicitly advocate grazing on grass rather than in feedlots, where animals are fed corn... which according to Pollan is the root our problems). While no one would really dispute the fact that feedlots are horrible both ethically and environmentally, and that grass is a healthier diet for the cattle, he never mentions how bad pasture grazing is for the environment! I was pretty surprised he never brought that up... its not exactly controversial and he doesn't hestitate to cite a whole slew of other environmental problems brought on by modern agriculture. I think, as the Whole Foods CEO was right to point out in that recent town hall forum with Michael Pollan at UC Berkeley, (I followed the link from your review Clare!) that there never was a "golden age" in terms of food production. Personally, (and this is a point advocated by a lot of vegetarians/vegans) I think a lot of the problem is that there are too many freaking cows-- since it takes A TON of food just to fatten a cow, a ton of money/resources to transport them all over the country as livestock and as hamburgers, and only 50% of a cow's weight is actually eaten by humans. Pollan touches on this stuff, but I wish he had given it more time when he discusses his foray into vegetarianism. I'm sure there are plenty of people who ascribe to the whole Peter Singer thing, but I wish Pollan had said a little more about the environmental tolls of raising so many cattle, even if they are raised humanely. But all in all, I think this book is definitely worth reading!
This was weird. A friend had been recommending it for years as his favorite but I still resisted because it was very thick and had tiny words but it fit perfectly with the kind of stuff I've been transcribing--the persuasion/manipulation stuff. The book takes place on the island of Phraxos and is about a young teacher from England who decides to spend time abroad teaching. The island is very lush but isolated and eventually the teacher, on a hike, meets a man who becomes very central to his life on the island and weird shit starts happening.