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.