A Few Weeks in Provence!

If you would love to visit the south of France, but feel that you can’t afford it, you can visit there for a period of a few weeks absolutely free. To accomplish this minor miracle you need only check out a dozen or so books by Peter Mayle from the local library.

Mayle has written several  nonfiction books  about his experiences in the region of Provence in southern France, and he has also written a handful of near farcical novels set in the same region. The net effect is quite similar. The descriptions of food, terrain, local residents, wine, and weather are altogether intoxicating.

His first book about the region was a memoir about his first year as a resident of Provence. This book, A Year in Provence, gained a great deal of attention and he went on to pen several more.  Mayle’s fascination with and love for the area shows up in his work. There is a lighthearted and joyful attitude that permeates all of the stories as well as the guideooks.

Bon Voyage!

The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz

Nina Teicholz’s book is nearly 500 pages and has at least that many references; it is, indeed, a fat book. And the conclusions that she reaches after a decade of research and reading might be a bit of a surprise to some. 

“Every reliable indicator of good health is worsened by a low fat diet.” That’s it in a nutshell.

Teicholz looks at over one hundred years of research and clinical practice and what she exposes is science at its most shabby. Under investigation are influence peddling, professional jealousy and corporate greed and cover up. The science around food is just as bad, if not worse, than you always suspected it was.

Granted, nutrition studies are difficult to do because they involve humans and there are limitations, but that hardly justifies influential scientists jettisoning whole collections of data because the information does not agree with the hypothesis. There are undoubtedly elementary school science fairs where the experimenters are held to more stringent practices than some of those described by Teicholz.

This book is a 2014 publication, which makes it as current as you can get. If you have already read Grain Brain, Wheat Belly, and The Great Cholesterol Myth, these findings will not shock you, but you will be horrified by the commercial interests that dominate the information highway in our country. You will want to erect monuments to those battle weary individuals who dare to contradict the power brokers in the scientific and business communities.

Now go eat some cheese, or bacon, or a steak.

A Conversation with Nina Teicholz 

Corduroy Mansions

This is yet another series by Alexander McCall Smith. (He is probably most famous for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.) I don't know how he does it, but I'm very appreciative. There are three books in the newest series. This one is set in London in what we might call an apartment building. As usual, there is a motley cast of characters and this new crew is as quirky and charming as all of the others. Smith is well traveled and well educated and his view of human nature is as kind as it could possibly be. Even when his characters are narcissistic or dishonest or just plain annoying, he still treats them gently and allows them to get along in the best way they can. Reading any of his books is a good way to don some rose colored spectacles.

There are so far three books in the series: Corduroy Mansions, The Dog Who Came in From the Cold, and A Conspiracy of Friends. Although this author is so prolific, another in the series might have popped up while I've been typing!

Fat Chance by Robert Lustig

Anyone even mildly interested in food and nutrition probably saw the 80 minute YouTube video, called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” given by Robert Lustig which has been around for about five years. This book came out in 2013, but will likely enjoy a resurgence because of the recently released documentary called Fed Up, produced by Katie Couric and featuring Lustig among many other scientists and physicians who are sounding the alarm on the standard American diet.

As a wannabe nutritionist, I admit to being somewhat of a glutton for books on food and nutrition. The dogma in this field is changing rapidly, and this book is packed with up to date and verifiable facts.  Lustig has a unique and highly informed perspective on both the history and the science of the nutritional advice we have been following as a nation, and have begun to export worldwide, to the detriment of the whole human race. Shockingly, he reports that more people now suffer from the ill effects of obesity and diabetes than suffer from malnutrition.

The first nine chapters are fairly technical, although he does a good job of translating microbiology and biochemistry into everyday language, to the extent that that’s possible. If the science is a deal breaker for you, begin at Chapter 10 and read to the end. The utterly fascinating and highly practical information contained therein might well convince you to go back and muddle through the scientific explanations.

One of my very favorite aspects of this book is that he states over and over, “Correlation is not causation.” The confusion in the mind of the public over this relatively simple concept results in a great deal of misguided leaping to erroneous conclusions. I cannot think of a single person or category of persons who would not benefit from a thorough reading of this book. If you’re not inclined to read it, you might want to hang out with folks who have so you can pick up a few life saving tips!

Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It

This is a highly readable book, which is fortunate as Gary Taubes knows a great deal about topics that most of us care about. I will confess that I have not yet gotten through his tome, Good Calories, Bad Calories. I get by with this omission because I read a dozens of books written by people who have read it.

Modern problems like metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance run so counter to natural science that they can be daunting to understand, This is, however, the world we have created for ourselves, so understanding what we have wrought brings some peace of mind.

No time to read the whole book?
In a nutshell: You can totally wreck your regulatory hormones by ingesting sugar and highly processed food. To heal your own biology, eat real food. Eliminate sugar, most grains, and processed seed oils.

Botony of Desire

Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Pollan traces the history of potatoes, marijuana, tulips and apples to make some insightful points and fascinating reading about ecology, economics, botany, and nature. This one small book will give you a grip on science that many semester courses fail to impart. There is also quite a bit of macro-economics in this little gem.

Pollan doesn't get mystical about it, but he does make a convincing case for the self determinism of plants. When a scientist sees life on a continuum, science leaps forward unhindered by ancient, useless dogma.

The Great Cholesterol Myth

Authors Stephen Sinatra and Jonny Bowden make a compelling case for ditching the statin drugs. The book presents an ocean of evidence that theses drugs are being sold to the general public for no reason except to increase the profits of major pharmaceutical companies. They contend (and they are by no means alone in this) that the evidence used to connect cholesterol to diet and to connect cholesterol to heart disease is shaky at best. At worst, it is down right fraudulent.

This is a well organized and fairly easy to read book. If there are statins or cholesterol threats looming anywhere in your life, this is a good book.

Too busy to read the book?
In a nutshell: Don't take statins. Eat plenty of vegetables and good quality meats. Ditch the grains and added sugars and get some exercise. For a more complete explanation, you'll have to read at least a few chapters.

Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Series by Anne Perry

I have realized that I did not include Anne Perry in my earlier posts.  Many years ago, I read a half dozen or more of the Charlotte and Thomas books, which comprise a series set in late Victorian London. I have a couple of problems with Perry's writing style, and those things sometimes leave me less than enthusiastic about the entertainment value of her work. I prefer crisp dialogue and nearly all of her characters give lengthy, tangential speeches. There may be substantial differences in the way people speak to each other between then and now, but these stullifying monologues are not quite believable somehow. Perry also tend to end her stories somewhat abruptly and I miss the tying up of loose ends that is the stock in trade of most writers of mysteries.

Lately, because I have oodles of time, and I have chanced to finish reading the books in the series that I didn't get to earlier. I have also re-read some of the earlier works. At this point, I am finding them interesting because of the information she includes about the era. These stories take place a little over a hundred years ago, and the comparisons to current time are fascinating. I'm working on developing more tolerance for her style quirks!

Perry has a fascinating story of her own. As a youngster in New Zealand, she was involved in a real life murder plot which became internationally infamous. There is now a book about her actual life titled Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham.

Chet and Bernie

Beginning with the smirkingly funny title, Dog On It, this is a tremendously enjoyable series of books about a dog and his private investigator partner by Spencer Quinn. It's certain to appeal to aficionados of dogs, but it actually has a much wider appeal because of the excellent comedy. The stories are told from the point of view of the dog, and it works unimaginably well. There are about a half dozen of them at this point, and hopefully, Quinn will write a few  more.

Carl Hiaasen

Hiaasen has been around since the mid eighties and I have no idea why I haven't read any of his books until now. He writes biting, zany, outrageous satire and creates characters who are as bizarre as any in literature. He also gives the occasional speech, and if you google him, you can watch some great comedic performances on Youtube. He is as much fun to listen to as he is to read. If you are squeamish about expletives, you will want to give him a miss, as he rolls out some of the most creative curses ever invented - a kind of folksy, metaphorical spice to the already delicious prose.

Hiaasen's books do not have to be read in order. Some of his characters recur, but there is no thread to lose if you read the more recent books first. This is cynicism at its best, for those of us who cannot get enough of that brand of humor.

Hiaasen also writes nonfiction, children's books and a column for the Miami Herald. In my opinion, he's a genius.