John Sandford Books

Sandford is a prolific author and I have not yet scratched the surface of his many volumes, but I can safely say that I will be reading all of at least two of his series. He reminds me of Hiaasen, and that is a huge compliment. Like Hiaasen, Sandford creates characters with an irreverent and innovative brilliance. If you also like characters who engage in creative cursing and philosophical meanderings, these flawed protagonists will make you happy.

Sandford's good guys have a strong moral compass that has nothing to do with piety or religion and everything to do with living an examined life. The characters and plots are not as wacky and outrageous as Hiaasen's, but that might be an accurate reflection of the difference between Minnesota and Florida. That is not to suggest that there is anything bland about the Sanford stories. On the contrary, the color in both the language and the circumstances is artful and amazing. Not

since Shakespeare have rogues and miscreants been insulted with such

enthusiastic poetry.

These characters do not take themselves too seriously, and that feature is one of several that makes the stories move along in a sort of freewheeling style. Detective novels can be made tedious by too much swashbuckling. Sandford's story telling gets another boost from the fact that there is little to no "filler" in the books. Every sentence moves the plot along briskly and meaningfully - downright cheerfully, to be perfectly honest. There is definitely an upbeat quality to the cast of characters.

There are Prey novels, Flowers novels, Kidd novels, a series called Singular Menace,  and a couple of non-series books. The Prey series is the longest and contains some fairly grisly content. But all of the books are suspenseful and create some tension. Sandford is a good researcher and the tension is often created by his delving into the minds of the truly nefarious. Everyone has heard the phrase, "couldn't put it down." It is a saying that applies to every one of Sandford's books.

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.