Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Gutbliss by Robynne Chutkan

This book's full title is "Gutbliss, Feel Light, Tight and Bright - The Healthy Way". I loved this book. It was very easy to read and follow. She even has sample meals and recipes in the end of the book. I bought the book because I got stomach flu and had a hard time recovering from it. She talks about what to avoid, what to eat and how to encourage and repopulate gut bacteria.

The book talks a lot about what to do about bloating or gas for women. Indeed this is somewhat the main thrust of the book. Women are built differently than men and seem to have more problems with gas or bloating than men do.

She has her own site where you can pick up her being interviewed by Dr. Oz and on the Today Show. She is an integrative gastroenterologist and founder of the Digestive Center for Women, just outside of Washington, D.C. Robynne Chutkan is part of Gut Runners. The Gut Runners Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to improving digestive health in the community. They are basically saying if you do not want to constipated, you need to move, you need to exercise.

I found a nice lot of reviews on this book at Good Reads. There also a very interesting review of this book by Gena a nutritionist that works with Dr. Chutkan on the Choosing Raw site. There is also another good review on the Huntington News Net by David Kinchen. This article also refers to another interesting one on How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times at NPR Books by Daniel Lieberman.

See Robynne Chutkan on the Today Show. She has a very interesting article in The Atlantic talking about the future of probiotics.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Chutkan. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Monday, January 13, 2014

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

This book's full title is "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants" by Malcolm Gladwell. I have read his other books. I must admit I was intrigued with them at first, but I was very disenchanted with What the Dog Saw, that I did not even review the book.

I bought this book because I had enjoyed some of the others books Malcolm Gladwell had written. But then I saw an interesting and very negative review in CanTech on Malcolm and this book. There is also another very negative review in Economist. There is an interesting review of this book at Kottke.org.

I do not believe that his popularity confers any great responsibility on him. It would seem to me that he is just trying to make a living by bring to light some suggestive research on various topics. I got bored with his last book called "What the Dog Saw", but found this one an enjoyable and easy read. I know that it is not great reading or great research.

I pretty much take it for what it is. I see no harm in it if you take it for what it is and that is probably just pop science. Malcolm Gladwell brings up interesting little tidbits about human behavior.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Gladwell. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Beware the Dragon by Erik Durschmied

This book's full title is "Beware the Dragon, China: 1,000 Years of Bloodshed". I found this book quite fascinating to read. I also found it very easy to read. The book starts in 1218, so it does not quite cover 1,000 years. Also, Durschmied starts the book off with the attacks on Europe by the Mongols. The Mongols were not Chinese and they did not control China until after the first attacks in Europe happened.

After the Mongols attacks on Europe and the Middle East, he goes on to talk about the advantage Europeans took of China after they discovered it. This was hardly China's fault. The next was about Japan's conquest of China. He does go on to talk about China's conquest of Tibet and there certainly China was awful and still suppresses the Tibetan people.

He also covers the USSR and China relationship, including the Chinese attack on the USSR at their mutual border supposedly over an island in the Ussuri River. He also relates China's effort to contact and make diplomatic relations with the US in 1971. He does cover a fair bit of ground in his book.

I know from reading history that China was not well liked by the peoples of around them, especially South East Asia when China was powerful. However, this was not much different that the South American's attitude to America.

There is a great book review in 2008, which this book was written, in the Guardian by John Gittings. He reviews not only this book but a number of "Dragon" books written in 2008 just before the China Olympics. Telegraph by Nicholas Shakespeare is a critical review of this book. I must admit I found the book interesting and easy to read, but I understand his criticism.

Erick has an entry in Wikipedia. There is not much in the way of videos for Durschmied. However, there is a TVO film of "Finding Fidel: The Journey of Erik Durschmied" he started his extraordinary career by interviewing a young Fidel Castro on the eve of the Cuban revolution.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Durschmied. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.