Bullspotting, by Loren Collins

For one brief shining moment, the Internet showed its possibilities. Then some shark-livered varmints screwed it up. Somewhere along the line some crazy learned HTML and it was off to the races with conspiracy theories (There’s a special place in Internet hell where the souls of people who used spam to spread their conspiracy theories will reside. Dial-up is only the beginning of their torment). A tool meant to disseminate knowledge became a loudspeaker to spout misinformation and shout facts down. What used to be some nutjob on the corner muttering and passing out mimeographed sheets took on the air of authority, and a chorus spread across the land: ”I read it on the Internet.”

Based on his own conversion experience, Loren Collins decided to walk out of the mudpit of one particular argument to examine the short supply of critical thinking skills. By looking in detail at a select few Internet memes, he distills the methodology of online “discussions” to illustrate the many paths people take to passionately uphold their beliefs in spite of evidence that they are wrong:

• Denialism – It didn’t happen because I want it to not have happened.
• Conspiracy theory – It happened, but not the way everybody else thinks it happened, and only I know the truth.
• Rumor – It happened!  It really happened!  I know somebody whose sister had a friend…
• Quotations – This famous person said it perfectly, and it just so happens to apply.
• Hoaxes – You’re never going to believe what happened!
• Pseudoscience – It happens, but not when anybody can actually study it.
• Pseudohistory - This person says it happened, and I believe him even if so-called historians don’t
• Pseudolaw – I happen to have read the Constitution, and the Supreme Court is wrong.

As a librarian, I like to think of myself as a dispassionate consumer of information with the ability to analyze and spot the kinds of fallacies Collins describes. I am certain that in my professional life I provide patrons with their requests even when I believe those materials are patently poor sources of information. But I utilize selective news and information sources to check when I hear a fact too good to be true or too inflammatory to be tolerated (I hope I’m wary enough to take their information with a grain of salt). And even though it never does any good, I still don’t let my wingnut uncle get away with his stunts over the Thanksgiving turkey. After all, Josh Billings said, “The trouble with people is not that they don’t know but that they know so much that ain’t so.”

Wait a minute.  That was Mark Twain?  Will Rogers?

Maybe I better stick with “Ignorance is bliss.  Knowledge is power. You’ve got a choice to make.”

Check the WRL catalog for Bullspotting

Read Full Post »

The Food of a Younger Land, by Mark Kurlansky

Subtitled “A portrait of American food — before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation’s food was seasonal, regional, and traditional–from the lost WPA files,” you must at least read the extremely interesting Introduction to this treasure mine sampled from what remains in the archives of America Eats, five dusty boxes of manuscript copy on onionskin.  Here Kurlansky showcases the best of what he uncovered, just as writer Merle Colby had hoped when writing the final report before the unedited, unpublished manuscripts were tucked away in the 1940s: “Here and there in America some talented boy or girl will stumble on some of this material, take fire from it, and turn it to creative use.”

The entries are informative and amusing excerpts from food writing and recipes gathered regionally for a federally funded writing project that employed out-of-work writers.  When spending priorities changed after Pearl Harbor, the unfinished project materials were abruptly preserved in the Library of Congress, and we can thank Kurlansky for digging out its most fascinating gems for our enlightenment.

Among the southern and eastern sections where I focused my perusal, I really got a kick out of the anecdotes and details on preparing such delicacies as squirrel, [o]possum, chittelins, and corn pone, how the hush puppy got its name & why some forms of cornbread were once much lower in status.  Of course, Virginians will find some definitive yet highly opinionated historical notes on the famed Brunswick Stew.

The WPA (Works Progress Administration) was a government agency that sprung up as one of  many efforts to alleviate poverty in 1930s America.   Some WPA projects designed programs according to individual skill, field of study or expertise. Remarkably, these included plans for the fields of art, music, drama, and literature. The Federal Writers’ Project commissioned writers to research, write, edit, and publish works and series on particular topics, usually with American themes or interests in mind; writers employed included Zora Neale Hurston and Eudora Welty. Following the successful production of numerous travel guidebooks, the concept for America Eats provided a means for capturing the distinct regional and cultural uniqueness of food and how it was prepared, served, and eaten in an America on the cusp of immense change. America’s culinary differences were destined to be homogenized through the diverse means that food production would soon become so heavily industrialized and globalized.

If you’re one of the many readers eagerly devouring information on real food, whole foods, traditional foods, or even paleolithic foods, in what seems like a mass revolution against modern food (in which I’m still trying to figure out what works best for my lifestyle), you’ll find much to inform and inspire you in Kurlansky’s book.  Some will reminisce; others will find a lot of eye-opening and useful knowledge about the way we once were; all we be entertained.

Check the WRL catalog for The Food of a Younger Land

I read the title in the e-book version.

Read Full Post »

The Yarn Girls’ Guide to Simple Knits, by Julie Charles and Jordana Jacobs

Knitting is enjoying a resurgence, and the library owns dozens of books about it. Many are beautiful books with sparkling colorful photographs of wonderful projects of wonderful complexity.  Every now and then I check one out with great intentions to knit. The last time I actually finished a project of any size was when I was pregnant (and my children are now starting to leave the nest). Back then, my late mother helped me with the tricky bits and (I am embarrassed to admit) did the tedious sewing up.

I was inspired to pull out my needles to contribute to a granny square project for a colleague’s upcoming happy event. I found it very therapeutic making granny squares and soon turned out enough squares for a Queen-sized crib (I must need a lot of therapy). I needed a new project and the word “Simple” in this book’s title grabbed me.

The book starts with basic techniques and useful line drawings. Their drawings show hands, yarn, needles and finished work as the knitter will see her own hands looking down.

The one problem I found with the directions is that each pattern gives only one brand and make of yarn to use. Many of these yarns are gorgeous! And some of them also contain mohair, angora and other luxurious fibers, which make them very expensive. Others are a discontinued line. With my beginners knowledge of yarn, I had trouble working out substitutions, although I managed with the help of Google searches. To give them credit, as in all instructions of this sort, the knitter has to use the exact yarn they suggest to get the results that they illustrated, but I am sure I am not the only person interested in substitution!

I decided to start with a small and simple project, a hat with the appealing name of “Feeling Fuzzy.” I planned it as a gift to my daughter, being aware that at my pace she may be wearing it next winter! My hat is going very slowly, but I know that displays a lack in my skill, not a lack in the book! (I will post a comment later when it is finished).

I recommend this book for people who, like me, are returning to knitting after a long break. It will also help absolute beginners.  For the experienced knitter the book also offers attractive, quick projects that they may be able to complete in a weekend.
Check the WRL catalog for The Yarn Girls’ Guide to Simple Knits

Read Full Post »

Eating Royally, by Darren McGrady

I’ve always wanted to take a peek behind the proverbial royal curtain—to see what life is really like on the other side of those British royal walls. I’m talking about food of course—life in the royal kitchen— as those who know me would assume! I’m not overly concerned about the grand banquets and the pomp and circumstance; the everyday minutiae interests me much more. What do the royals choose for a late night snack? Do they really prefer mac and cheese to roasted quail with truffles, cognac and prunes? Do they ever eat fish and chips the traditional way—out of a newspaper? So many questions…

I found Eating Royally to be an interesting mix of personal memories and great recipes. Chef Darren McGrady—who was the Royal Chef to Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Harry for 15 years—gives us a glimpse into the private world of the royal family, along with sharing recipes for some of their favorite dishes. He includes interesting photographs, memorabilia, personal notes, and lots of anecdotal stories about the royal household. The stories are told with lighthearted humor and warmth. Chef McGrady obviously thoroughly enjoyed working with the royal family, and there was a mutual respect between them. Unlike others, he did not write about them to profit personally— in fact he gives 100% of the profits to Princess Diana’s charity.

The book is divided into chapters covering each of the royal residences— including the royal yacht. So, the reader gets a behind the scenes peek at all the royal kitchens, and an insight into the particular culinary characteristics and challenges of each location. Most recipes are preceded by an interesting tidbit. For example, regarding Royal Tea Scones: “While the Queen insisted on them as part of her tea, I suspect she didn’t actually like scones. I say this because she never, ever, ate them. Instead, at the end of her daily tea, the Queen would take a scone and crumble it onto the floor for the corgis. It seems the dogs quite liked them.”

Eating Royally is a great way to get an insider’s glimpse of how royals really live their day-to-day lives when they are out of the  spotlight, and to taste the very same dishes that have graced the tables of Buckingham Palace, Windsor, and Balmoral.  After all, wouldn’t you like to have your very own slice of Her Majesty’s Birthday Chocolate Cake? I know I would.

Check the WRL catalog for Eating Royally

Read Full Post »

The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook, by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

The downtown location of our library is a short walk from Colonial Williamsburg, the famous living history museum and re-creation of 18th century American life. An entire Colonial American town has been restored and re-created, and the interpreters wear authentic dress as they go about the many tasks carried out 300 years ago, such as the blacksmith working in the smithy. Our location leads to some amusing librarian anecdotes such as seeing Thomas Jefferson with a powdered ponytail and knee breeches coming in to check his email on the public computers. We also get odd reference questions on chilly, rainy nights such as “Where is my car parked? I know I left it by the field with the cart horses.” (And with the help of a tourist map and some local knowledge, my colleague was successful with that question).

Colonial Williamsburg is a great tourist attraction and tourists must be fed, so there are many restaurants, including re-creations of three historical taverns:  Christiana Campbell’s Tavern, Chowning’s Tavern and King’s Arms Tavern. The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook was published in 2001 by Colonial Williamsburg’s governing body, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, to share the tavern food with interested cooks who have visited the taverns or those who live far away and can’t make it to Colonial Williamsburg. It doesn’t have actual authentic recipes. As the blurb says, “no need to to run out and get some suet in which to cook your mutton over the open hearth.” Rather, they created  ”foods suggestive of the past but that suit modern appetites” that were “inspired by old recipes from eighteenth-century Virginia.” They say that to create the tavern meals and the book they researched ”Deeds and other court records, insurance policies, estate inventories, comments in diaries and letters, financial accounts, newspaper advertisements, architectural details from surviving buildings and archaeological evidence [that] shed light on the lives of the individuals who kept these taverns and the customers who frequented them.”

The first section is Appetizers and First Courses, which is standard for many cookbooks, but the introduction points out that in Colonial Virginia the hosts and guests would have sipped punch or wine before their main meal, rather than eaten appetizers. It goes on to Soups, Salads, various types of meat, and most importantly, several types of baked goods and desserts.

I tried making King’s Arms Tavern Apple Cheddar Muffins as apple and cheese was not a combination that I was familiar with, but it sounded good. The recipe said to “serve at once” and this was good advice as they were warm, soft, rich and moist— mmmmmm. I used the scrag ends of Dutch cheese from the back of the fridge which gave them an intense cheese taste. Once they had gotten a bit stale I revived them in the microwave and added butter. One of my colleagues tried cutting one in half and toasting it. She said this refreshed it nicely and “it tasted much more cheesy.”

With lots of great recipes and dozens of crisp, color photos of both the food and Colonial Williamsburg,  The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook will be of interest to cookbook enthusiasts as well as those interested in Colonial times.

Check the WRL catalog for The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook

Read Full Post »

Dick’s Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes, by William B. Dick

Have you ever wondered how your ancestors made soap?  Have you particularly wondered how they made soap without the internet?  When they were stuck they couldn’t have a quick look at eHow or one of the many handy YouTube videos on soap-making.  Of course, most of the time the necessary skills would be handed down from parents to children, but not every parent would be available, willing, or able to pass on the needed skills.

This is when they could turn to a book like Dick’s Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes, or How They Did it in the 1870s.  Receipt is an archaic word for “recipe,” so this is basically a book of recipes, but not recipes for food, although it does include pickles and alcoholic drinks from cider to liqueurs.  Receipt 551 is titled “To Make Home-made Soap.”  It is a short paragraph that refers back to Receipt 550 for lye:  ”Fill an iron kettle two-thirds full of the concentrated lye prepared according to the last receipt.”  Then the receipt for lye refers back again to the receipts for making straw and slaked lime.  Concentrated lye is made out of ashes, which doesn’t sound very ominous, but lye itself is very caustic and can cause burns.  A lot a caution should be used for many of these recipes.

One thing I learned from  Dick’s Encyclopedia is how hard our ancestors had to work, just for everyday life, and particularly in the domestic sphere!  I own an antique gramophone with a large brass trumpet.  Every now and then (not nearly often enough) I buy copper polish from the supermarket and  I unscrew the trumpet from the base, spread out newspapers and spend a few hours polishing it.  Dick’s Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes has a section on copper, starting with the properties of the metal and going on to how to separate copper from various other metals like lead and zinc (not something I will try at home!) and finally Receipt 3252 “How the Clean Coppers and Tins.” The instructions call for pulverizing your own ‘rotten’ stone, and mixing it with turpentine and soft soap (that you undoubtedly made previously yourself).  Nowadays, I don’t have to consider pulverizing my own stone.  And I can put 10,000 songs on an iPod and not even have to wind the gramophone!

So perhaps I won’t really make my own soap or brass cleaner since I can so easily and cheaply get them from the supermarket, but Dick’s Encyclopedia also has sections on artistic pursuits.  There are sections on marbling books and photography, including how to make your own photographic paper, glass and chemicals.

Dick’s Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes, or How They Did it in the 1870s is a fascinating glimpse of how things were done almost one and half centuries ago.  It is fun to browse through to get an idea of how hard our ancestors worked for everyday life, or possibly even a cautious use of some of the receipts.

Check the WRL catalog for Dick’s Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes

 

Read Full Post »

Ladies, A Plate: Traditional Home Baking, by Alexa Johnston

Who really invented the fluffy meringue dessert, the pavlova? Usually the answer depends on whether you ask an Australian or a New Zealander, each claiming it as their own.  Alexa Johnston, in Ladies, a Plate: Traditional Home Baking puts it bluntly, “Now definitely proved to be a New Zealand invention, despite persistent Australian claims.” I think this statement confirms the provenance  of this book, rather than the provenance of the dessert!  Yes, Alexa Johnston is unashamedly a New Zealander, who has written a great cookbook.

The “Plate” of the title is the Kiwi way of saying that the event will be a potluck, perhaps the equivalent of the Southern phrase, “bring a covered dish.”  From my childhood I remember girls being asked to “bring a plate” and boys being asked to “bring a bottle” thus neatly covering both food and drink.

Alexa Johnston subtitled her book “Traditional” because she has researched the  sources for each recipe from old friends and in community and charity cookbooks like 450 Favourite Recipes from St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua, 1946 (Louise Cake, page 50).  I have been to Pahiatua on numerous occasions as it is down the road from where my grandmother used to live.  It is an interesting small town with the distinction (especially for small children) of having a playground with a World War II era plane with a slide coming out of it.  A cookbook from Pahiatua in 1946 is certainly an obscure source for American readers and cooks, but the Louise Cake is well worth knowing about as my colleagues can attest when I shared this at the staff meeting.

The book covers many other standards from down-under like ANZAC Biscuits (which I made for ANZAC day in April), cheese scones, and custard squares (vanilla slices in Australia).  Sadly, I did discover that if you shove the Chocolate Caramel Slice into the fridge at an odd angle, then the caramel will run out and be lost (and make a dreadful mess of the fridge!).

The measurements may be a little confusing for American cooks as Alexa Johnston lists two sets. She says the first set is how it was written in the original recipe and the second is metric. Many of the metric measurements are given as weights rather than the cup measurements Americans are used to, so cooks may have to do some conversion first.

The book is filled with gorgeous photographs of each treat, some of which are presented on unique and meaningful decorations such as Mrs. Marion Benton’s recipe for Afghans presented on a crochet-edged cloth that she made herself.

My own copy of Ladies, a Plate: Traditional Home Baking is already working up stains and grease spots, a sure sign of a well-used cookbook in my house, so I am glad my sister bought it for me on a trip to New Zealand.  Thank you, Elsa!

Check the WRL catalog for Ladies, A Plate

Read Full Post »

Basic Illustrated. Knots for the Outdoors, by Cliff Jacobson

I am probably the biggest knot ignoramus in Virginia.  Until recently, the only knot I knew was the granny knot (“so called in contempt,” according to the American Heritage Dictionary; also referred to as a “lubber’s knot” or “booby knot”).  Not long ago I learned a square knot, which made me quite proud of myself.  I knew that there were far superior, more sophisticated knots out there, however; and as we had a camping trip coming up I decided it might behoove me to learn some.

I checked out this nifty li’l Falcon Guide, Knots for the Outdoors. I found the instructions easy to follow and soon I  was practicing several different knots.

The day before our camping trip, with several piles of laundry waiting to be done, the power at our house went out.  Our generator was able to run the wash machine but not the clothes dryer, so my newly learned knots came in handy in stringing a makeshift clothesline out on the deck which did not slip or sag.

As we prepared for our camping trip, my backpack was overfull and I was able to tie several items onto the outside of it with the appropriate knots.  When we got to our cabin, my newly acquired knot skills came in handy again.  One of the cabin’s windows would not stay open, so I rigged up a little harness for it.  I was also able to securely tie up our hammock and swing serenely in the knowledge that it would not come loose and dump me onto the ground.

So, this is really the most useful book I have read in quite awhile.  As well as being a useful instructional manual on knot-making, it is a handy reference to types of rope: common uses for each kind; strength; resistance to moisture and chemicals; tendency to “stretch” under load, etc.  There is a section on storing, maintaining and preparing rope for use.

Then, the knots! Instructions are accompanied by clear, colorful illustrations. Left-handed instructions are usually included as well.  A couple of the more complicated knots may require a bit of studying but you’ll get it.  I’m proud to say that I have learned 5 of the book’s “Ten Most Important Knots and Hitches!”  The book also addresses splices and lashings, though I have not studied them yet.

The most interesting part of the book in my opinion was the section on knot strengths. Each knot’s “breaking strength” is listed as a percent.  For example, “two half hitches” have a breaking strength of 70%, which means that this type of knot retains 70% of the rope’s strength and weakens it by 30%. This is pretty good compared to the square knot, which has a breaking strength of only 45%.

Some knot highlights (for me, anyway):

• The “sheet bend,” useful for tying two ropes together even when the ropes are different sizes and materials (I fancifully decided that they called it a sheet bend because it would be useful for escaping from a prison cell by tying bedsheets together, but my husband informed me that it is probably because boat and ship sails are often referred to as “sheets.”  Sigh….)
• The bowline, useful for creating a secure loop at the end of a rope (this is the knot that uses the analogy of the rabbit coming out of the hole, around the tree, and back down the hole).
• The quick-release, or “slippery” loop: basically, end your knot of choice by running the working end of the knot back through the completed knot.  Instead of having to pick apart the knot to undo it, you can undo your knots with a single pull on the end.  Useful for quickly taking down your hammock when the thunderstorm hits!

I feel quite empowered by having learned over half-a-dozen of the knots in this book.  This is a book I will be purchasing as a reference.

Check the WRL catalog for Knots for the Outdoors

Read Full Post »

The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg

I have actually made progress in breaking bad habits after reading The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.  As a bonus, I’ve gained insight into the many things I do that are habit-driven.  Unfortunately, I’m also more quick to observe it in others.  Thus, I’m trying to carefully refrain from practicing my new habit of pointing out others’ bad habits and their origins.  As the old saying goes, we are “creatures of …”

There’s a useful video online to help you get started on breaking your bad habits armed with the wisdom of Charles Duhigg’s research: How to Break Habits

I wanted to stop my habit of grabbing unhealthy snacks and eating even when I wasn’t hungry.  With the new insight I gained from reading Duhigg’s book, I was able to identify what cue was leading me to practice the bad habit, choose a suitable replacement food or beverage, and continue enjoying a reward brought on by satisfying the original cue!  I can’t say that my new good habit is perfected but at least I have a new solution that works (when I actually practice it).  I’m still just practicing.  A friend of mine mentioned that it apparently takes 21 consecutive days for a new habit to become a bona fide lifestyle-changing routine.

The book is an easily read narrative without too much science so it’s accessible to a general audience. There are funny anecdotes that convince the reader of Duhigg’s sincere and personal investment in his project.

Check the WRL catalog for The Power of Habit.

Read Full Post »

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, by Jennifer Reese

I like making food from scratch and I have been cooking almost all of my family’s meals from scratch for 20 years. My favorite cookbooks are splattered and grease stained–my favorite chocolate cookbook with a recipe for Black Forest Cake, even more than most. The finished cake is wonderful, but I am not sure if I am really willing to go to all the effort of melting, mixing and measuring for the finished product or the gustatory pleasures of licking out the bowl!

Cookbooks are perennially popular, and books about food (with or without recipes) are experiencing a boom. I like reading about food but find some of the recent books pretentious and sanctimonious.  Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook from Scratch–Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods doesn’t take itself too seriously and has some great recipes. I don’t agree with all of Jennifer Reese’s pronouncements on which items should be made and which should be bought (buy rice pudding?) but I can’t go past any book that says: ”Here in Northern California, where you can’t throw a Birkenstock without hitting an artisanal bakery, it’s still hard to find finicky butter-based pastries like the croissant. “

I decided to rise to the challenge of croissants since I currently bake most of our own bread (with the help of a bread maker) and made croissants from scratch many years ago. I had some difficulties with milk that was too hot for the yeast and an oven that was too hot for the bottoms of the croissants on the lower tray but the five petits pains au chocolat that I made were just right. As Jennifer Reese says, it was an “unbelievable hassle” but the results were worth it.

Since I firmly believe that chocolate cookies should be in a food group of their own, another recipe I found intriguing was for homemade Oreos. Growing up in another country, I came to Oreos as an adult. I find them tasty in small doses, but somehow artificial tasting. Homemade has to be better, right? I think my first attempt at Homemade Oreos was a resounding success. My kids and work colleagues pointed out that I didn’t make Oreos because “real” Oreos always come in a packet. But everyone, including me, thought my creation of a rich crumbly, deep chocolate cookie with a creamy filling was much better than anything “real.”

This book is great for people who are thinking of making more of their own food from scratch and need recipes. It is also full of entertaining tidbits that started out in Jennifer Reese’s blog, The Tipsy Baker. I enjoy her lack of pretentiousness. In one story she talks about one of her dearest family memories consisting of blobbing in front of the TV to watch The Lord of the Rings on DVD while eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. She compares it to an occasion when she proudly and successfully made delicious and healthy homemade fried chicken from scratch, imaging a Waltons-like family gathering, including “corn likker,”  only to see everyone eat and disappear to their own affairs like the meal was nothing special. The take-away message from this amusing book is make the bread from scratch when you can because it is cheaper, tastier and healthier, but don’t beat yourself up for needing to run into the supermarket to grab Wonder Bread.

Check the WRL catalog for Make the Bread, Buy the Butter.

Read Full Post »

What’s Your Problem? Cut Through Red Tape, Challenge the System, and Get Your Money Back, by Jon Yates

We truly live in an affluent society here in the US of A. There are a plethora of services available to make our lives more comfortable and more fulfilling, and more seem to be added every day. And most of the time, we get what we pay for.

Sometimes, though, a breakdown occurs between what is promised and what is delivered. You complain, but to no avail. What should you do?  Reading this book would be a good way to start. Jon Yates is the Official Problem Solver of the Chicago Tribune, and  in this book he shows how he has  helped people overcome myriad problems and get the service they deserve.  I have had my share of problems, but they pale in comparison to those mentioned in this book, which range from dreadful to downright scary. Take the case of the lady who survived brain surgery only to find she owed the hospital $300,000 when the insurance company wouldn’t pay her claim. Then there is the ice-cream store owner who realized why his utility bill was so high: he had been paying the bill of a neighboring business for four years, and when he confronted the utility company, they refused to reimburse him.

Jon Yates’s strategy is based on what he calls the “Problem Solver’s Golden Rule” that people must stick up for themselves and at least try to fix their own problems. You have to get tough if you are going to fight the big guys, those companies and agencies that treat you like another number or statistic. Yates cites three basic and universal keys to solving your own problems. First, businesses are out to make money, and you must convince them that NOT helping you is going to cost more than helping you (by complaining, which he turns in to a fine art). My favorite and probably the most helpful advice can be found in his 10 consumer commandments. You will learn how you can complain to get the best possible results, the importance of keeping all of your paperwork (which can be challenging since more and more transactions are done online now) and several other important things to keep in mind, such as never giving out your personal information to anyone you do not know in any medium, whether it be in person, over the phone or in an email.

The book is broken up into 16 easy-to-read chapters and covers a wide variety of businesses and bureaucracies to look out for, from health insurance companies to airlines to public utilities. There are chapters to help you with a specific task, like “Dial H for human being,” which is filled with tips on how to get what you need from those dreaded customer service calls, and “Poisoned Pen,” which explains how to write a successful complaint letter. One of the most valuable aspects of the book is the appendix, which includes all of the phone numbers, websites and other resources that are mentioned in each chapter.

I have added this valuable resource book to my personal collection, and I recommend that you check out a copy from WRL.

Check the WRL catalog for What’s Your Problem?

Read Full Post »

The End of Overeating, by David A. Kessler

I’m not obsessing about food.  Really.  But my reading of Sarah Wu’s book led to David Kessler’s The End of Overeating, so you could say I’m just following a chain.  But I’m not obsessed about food.  Really.  (Caveat: I compulsively overeat things like pizza and ice cream, but it doesn’t really show on me.  This is not an “I’m better than you” post, just a look at an interesting book that illuminates my own relationship with food.)

Former head of the Food and Drug Administration under the Clinton Administration, Kessler led a national drive to reduce smoking, implemented nutrition information labels on packaged food, and made it easier for experimental drugs to make their way into the marketplace.  Reading his CV (Dean of the Yale Med School, top awards from major public health institutions), you know that if anyone has credibility on the topics he addresses, it’s going to be Kessler.  And American overeating is a huge (pun not intended) topic.

We know we overeat, but we don’t know why.  We also don’t really understand why some people can overeat and not gain significant weight and others become morbidly obese with all the attendant problems.  In exploring the decisions we make about food, he conducts informal tests on his employees and observes behaviors that you can see in your own life.  Some of those tests would make him a pariah in this library, but hey, he’s the boss.  But, lest we hasten to place all the blame on evil food companies, Kessler reminds us that we do have a measure of control over our eating decisions.

Not that the food companies – from growers to retailers – don’t try to capture our taste buds by creating links between their products and our brains.  Humans crave fat, salt, and sugar; when put into a precisely designed product, balanced among those ingredients and the feel of the food in your mouth, we are almost unable to resist.  (One term that stays with me is “bolus” – the scientific name for the wad of food you get as you chew.  Kind of makes the process a little less enjoyable.)  One area I think Kessler overlooks is the relationship between processed food and the speed with which we eat.  Those chicken tenders we pick up at the drive-thru have had the muscle broken down, making it easier to chew and digest as we speed from one commitment to the next.  What do you do when that much thought is given to arranging fast, tasty product consumption?

Well, you change your routine to avoid food temptation and limit your exposure to the foods that make you overeat.  By knowing how much food it takes to make you feel full until the next scheduled mealtime, or the proper size of a snack to bridge that gap, you can scale portions back.  By knowing alternate routes home, you can avoid the temptations of all those brightly colored restaurants that line our highways.  And, in part,  knowing how food is processed before it reaches you might encourage you to take the slow food path back to a healthier relationship with your diet.  It isn’t easy, but it is worth a try.

Check the WRL catalog for The End of Overeating

Read Full Post »

Fed Up with Lunch, by Sarah Wu

There are some stereotypes that cannot die out, and one of them is “the lunchlady”.  She is a large woman dressed in a greasy uniform, with a hairnet and a perpetual expression that suggests she’d like nothing better than to throw you in next week’s Mystery Meat as the main ingredient.  I went to enough schools to understand the source of that stereotype, but since my own kids have been in school, I’ve come to see the reality – these ladies (and I’ve only ever seen women in the cafeterias) love being around children.  If lunchladies today seem harried and harrassed, perhaps it’s because their roles have changed over the years.  That change is one small part of the school lunch scandal that Sarah Wu reports on.

Wu, a Chicago elementary school teacher, forgot her lunch one day.  Thinking she’d make do with the cafeteria offering that day, she picked up a tray of “food” – a bagel dog, Jell-O, six Tater Tots, and chocolate milk.  The experience of eating bland unappealing food of questionable nutritious value appalled her.  After debating with herself and trying to work out the work and family ethics of the experiment, Wu started to anonymously observe cafeteria food for one year.  Each day, she would purchase lunch, photograph it during her free period, and write about the meal when she got home that night.  Her blog attracted attention from advocates for nutrition, green schools, the locavore movement, and student cooking, even as she struggled to maintain her alter-ego, “Mrs. Q”.

That first day’s meal was a revelation, but by no means was it an exception.  The above meal was packaged for efficient shipping, not for genuine nutritional value.  The hot dog was wrapped in a bread-like substance and sealed in plastic.  The tater tots, which count as the vegetable, were microwaveable.  The chunks suspended in the plastic Jell-O cup masqueraded as the fruit.  And of course, the chocolate milk was the dairy.  Not exactly the Food Pyramid that kids learn about in that same school, is it?  Strangely enough, the US Department of Agriculture, which created the food pyramid, also represents corporate farming operations and multi-national food service companies, and treats school lunch programs as a profitable outlet for their clients.

So teachers get children who’ve been hopped up on processed sugar then sent back into the classroom.  Students get unappetizing food served without input from real cooks.  Parents get the illusion that their children are eating healthy and filling meals.  The community gets immense amounts of waste from individual packages, utensils, and wasted food.   Food service contractors get the profit from turning food into a disposable commodity served almost literally on the run.  (In many school systems, students have less than 30 minutes to make their way to the cafeteria, stand in line to be served, eat, and still have some form of relaxation time. )

Thankfully Wu’s book not only details the failure of the school lunch program, but identifies people and organizations creating ideas for better school nutrition.  She also talks about how parents can get involved in transforming the culture of bottom-line bottomfeeding into a system that replaces the current foodlike substances with nutritious and attractive alternatives.  And she writes about school systems that are leading the way back towards affordable and healthy school lunches centered on the needs of growing children.  The most important partner parents can call on? Lunch ladies.

Check the WRL catalog for Fed Up With Lunch

Read Full Post »

How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster

OK, I admit it.  I was an English major in college, but somehow I missed out on those theoretical classes that taught people how to read a book.  If, in fact, they existed. (Truthfully, all I remember was loving the assigned reading and hating the smarmy English grad students who wanted to discuss the significance of a tree’s outline against the sky.) Somewhere along the way I became familiar with some of the themes and the symbolism that transform a good read into a great work. And while I haven’t had time to systematically study texts, I have enjoyed contemplating the deeper meanings of books I’ve read and liked. I especially enjoy leading book groups to re-examine and rethink their books in literary terms.

So I was happy to come across How to Read Literature Like a Professor.  Thomas C. Foster is a real live professor at the University of Michigan-Flint, and he’s taken it upon himself to walk readers through the thought processes that scholars use when re-reading, evaluating, and teaching literature.  The real plus to the book is that it is funny and conversational. It includes lots of concrete examples and a reading list that’s pretty good.

Fleming doesn’t take a “Great Books” approach to reading, although he acknowledges the fissure that lies between standard genre fiction and books that truly deserve the designation of “literary.” That term has been problematic for readers in general and librarians in particular, since it implies that some books are worth reading but most are not– and the worth of an individual rests on which she consumes. I love that Fleming proudly proclaims himself a fan of mysteries but also holds up the notion that literary fiction can be identified when the writer and the reader are struggling with the essence of what it means to be human. But he also asks that, above all, readers approach all these books with the goal of finding pleasure in them, a point that many literature professors lose when they’ve read something for the umpteenth time and forget that the story was intended as entertainment.

It’s also hard not to like a book that encourages me to filter my reading through the host of trivial knowledge rattling around in my brain. (I’ll take religious imagery for $500, Alex.)  And the themes he draws on–sex, food, weather, geography, violence, and mythology, among others– always make for good reading even when the writer is so subtle that a casual read might not reveal them. And– and this is very important– he also gives the reader an opportunity to argue against his take on a particular book.  English professors don’t know all! You just have to articulate your own reasoning for your interpretation. Is that so wrong?

For avid readers who want to extend their ability to absorb and process their reading at a higher level, I can also recommend Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer. Between the two, you’ll be able to look at a book on any scale from the writer’s choice of words to the images the writer creates to the themes that readers discover on their own. And by the way, this is a great book to put in the hands of high school and early college students.

Check out How to Read Literature Like a Professor in the WRL catalog

Read Full Post »

How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything, by Mike Berners-Lee

In a compassionate and selfless act of environmental activism, I have decided to never handwash another dish again in my life.

Big of me, isn’t it?

Dishwashing, as Mike Berners-Lee explains, is ecologically friendly only if you use tepid water. If you’d rather not have bacteria swarming over your dishes, you’re going to have to heat the water, a process that is far more efficient in a dishwasher than in a sink.  A year of running a full dishwasher twice per week on the economy setting has roughly the same ecological impact as driving 110 miles. That’s not bad.

(If you’ve been fretting over the chemicals in your detergent, don’t. That’s nothing compared to the impact of heating the water.)

Berners-Lee, founding  director of Small World Consulting, offers a truly useful book for people who care about the planet. He considers the carbon footprint of nearly 100 products and acts, from drinking a pint of beer to having a child to waging a war. Sorted in groups from least harmful (text messages, tap water) to most harmful (erupting volcanoes, forest fires), these entries follow the format of a reference book—but it is the rare sort of reference book that you read cover-to-cover, staying up well past your bedtime to finish.

This is partly due to the humor. In discussing the carbon footprint of a cup of coffee, Berners-Lee explains that the worst pollution offenses come from any added dairy. He and his colleagues decide to forgo milk in their beverages for a week: “At best we’ll change habits of a lifetime, resulting in decades of reduced hassle, lower carbon, slight cost savings, and possibly even fractionally improved health. It has to be worth trying.”

He follows this with a footnote: “Update: We survived. It was horrible. I’m going to pick different battles.”

Berners-Lee starts with three assumptions: climate change is a big deal; it is caused by humans; and humans can do something about it. Some skeptics will not agree with those three assumptions, but they will be hard-pressed to argue with the exceedingly well-documented research and logic in the book. Berners-Lee goes into great detail to explain his analyses and conclusions, though he freely admits that the available methodologies are far from perfect; sometimes he has to rely on guesswork.

Determining the carbon footprint of an act or an object is not yet a precise science, but this book is a magnificent starting point. The precise ecological impact of each individual is subject to error and interpretation, but taken collectively, they can help readers make more informed choices as consumers.

And if you were wondering, bananas are just fine. Go enjoy one.

Check the WRL catalog for How Bad Are Bananas?

Read Full Post »

Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation, by Olivia Judson

Poor seaweed flies (and roundworms, rabbits, and rodents).  Until 2008, they had no one to turn to to explain their lusts and reproductive hangups.  Fortunately Dr. Tatiana (as created by evolutionary biologist Judson) happened on the scene, and now they can turn to the relevant portion of her self-help book and solve those problems.

For humans, it offers a funny and informative tour of the sexual habits of flowers, animals and insects from around the globe.  Want to know why female sponge lice all go to the restroom at the same time?  Or how the losing male just may wind up fathering offspring anyway?  Or the evolutionary imperatives for both promiscuity and fidelity?  Dr. Tatiana has just the book for you.

Olivia Judson has sorted through the scientific literature and translated it into easily understood descriptions of natural selection in its infinite varieties. (The text is thoroughly supplemented by double entendres.) She doesn’t sacrifice accuracy for readability, but effortlessly transforms reproductive science into compulsively readable information for the layperson (whoops, now I’m doing it!).  It isn’t surprising that the New York Times asked her to write a science column for them.   (Ahem, Dr. Judson, the yearlong sabbatical is up.  When can we look forward to your return?).

So until the seaweed flies, roundworms, rabbits, and rodents evolve opposable thumbs, why don’t you do them a favor and read Dr. Tatiana’s book aloud outdoors?  Who knows– you might be doing someone a big favor.

Check the WRL catalog for Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation

Read Full Post »

Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper’s Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity, by Steve Dublanica

You’ll remember Dublanica as the author of the bitingly funny “Waiter Rant” blog and the follow-up 2008 book of the same title. After discovering that his treatise on the trials and tribulations of waiting tables had turned him into a de facto “gratuity guru,” he set out to earn the title in earnest.

The result is an entertaining and informative guide to tipping, loosely organized by profession. Though humorous, the book does address a universally shared anxiety: when and what to tip who? Dublanica intends to help the reader navigate the winding, treacherous byways of tipping and arrive at a more enjoyable experience, whether it is dining out, traveling, getting your dog groomed, or receiving a lap dance. Dublanica interviewed and worked alongside people in these professions, resulting in entertaining horror stories and useful advice on tipping straight from the professionals.

Take his chapter on hotel staff, for example. Although the doorman does not have to be tipped simply for opening the door for you, pretty much every other service a doorman may provide warrants a single or two: directions, recommendations, and taxi-hailing, for example. Maids should be tipped $2-3 a day in medium-range hotels; and since a different housekeeper may clean your room each day, it is better to leave a tip every day instead of leaving one bigger one when you check out.

Dublanica also exposes the practice of “buying the door:” in big cities, hotel doormen often receive monetary rewards or perks from companies in return for recommending their services. This usually applies to cab companies and limo services but could also apply to flower shops, spa services, and many other services. He discovers the same practice in his chapter on cab drivers. Drivers are often asked for recommendations on nightlife and get kickbacks for taking fares to certain establishments.

If knowledge of the trials of service workers and appreciation of the work they do are not enough to make you reform your cheapskate ways, perhaps threats will do the trick. Service workers can be quite imaginative when it comes to getting revenge on bad tippers. My favorite is the parking valet’s so-called “Dirt-Butt Scoot.” You’ll have to read the book to find out what this is, but I’ll give you a hint: it’s not very nice. The many anecdotes along these lines are eye-opening, to say the least.

Despite these scary scenarios, the overarching theme of this book, and the sense that you will carry away with you after reading it, is that most of these professionals depend on tips to survive and tipping them adequately is not only a sign of respect for what they do, but will ultimately come back around in the form of improved service. Despite getting a lot of mileage out of the horror stories related to him by service workers, and being quite entertaining to boot, Dublanica shows appreciation and respect for the jobs these people do and conveys that to the reader in a constructive manner.

Check the WRL Catalog for Keep the Change

Read Full Post »

Death for Beginners: your no-nonsense, money-saving guide to planning for the inevitable, by Karen Jones

This is probably the most practical self-help book ever written. After all, each and every human being will need this book at some point. It’s not something that anyone wants to dwell upon, but sooner or later you’ve got to face the issue.

It is difficult enough to lose a loved one, and the time immediately following a death is just about the worst time to try to make decisions about a loved one’s remains, not to mention dealing with the expense of it all. The purpose of this book is to get people to make these decisions, make plans, and communicate them to loved ones before they die. It mitigates the stress and indecision of survivors and ensures that your wishes are carried out.

Jones discusses the two main means of disposal, burial and cremation. Within each of these are infinite possibilities. For example, for most people the concept of burial means a casket in a cemetery; however, few are aware that most states do allow for home burial (yes, in your back yard) provided certain conditions are met; and there is no state or federal law requiring a casket for burial. Many people are also unaware that funeral homes cannot require you to purchase expensive bundled packages. They must make individual services and costs available to you à la carte, so to speak. Jones encourages readers to familiarize themselves with the laws and requirements in their states, as well as their rights.

Possibilities with cremation are seemingly endless, from a simple scattering, to being shot into space, to having the ashes made into a piece of jewelry or a walking stick. My personal favorite is the “eco-eternity forest,” in which your cremated ashes are interred under a selected tree in a nature preservation area. Your ashes act as fertilizer for the tree, nourishing it and, over time, becoming a part of it. Not cheap, but not nearly as expensive as a traditional funeral and cemetery burial.

Jones covers all of these options with humor, but thoroughly. She discusses the practicalities, advantages, disadvantages, and costs of each option. She provides links to resources for more information. She also devotes two chapters to communication: notification of friends and family; and obituaries, wills, and record-keeping.

The point she makes throughout the book is that, when you plan ahead and communicate your wishes to your loved ones, you ultimately have control over what happens to you after you die; therefore you can get as creative as you want. Have you ever thought about what your obituary will say about you when you die? Who will be writing it? Why not you?

How do you want to be memorialized? Do you want a traditional church service? Or would you prefer a quiet, private family gathering? Or a raucous party? Who do you want to be there? Who will be in charge of organizing it? If you have to lose a loved one, I can’t think of anything more comforting than having the kind of life celebration that you know he or she truly would have wanted.

Jones provides over forty pages of worksheets to help readers plan the hows and wheres of their final resting places. Once they are complete, she encourages readers to make copies for potential surviving family members and discuss their wishes with them.

Jones takes a lighthearted approach to the issue in order to make it as entertaining and readable as possible under the circumstances, yet she never loses sight of the respect and dignity owed to the dead.

A good companion book to this one is Caring For the Dead: Your Final Act of Love by Lisa Carlson. It delves more deeply into your legal rights, and your survivors’ rights, concerning your final disposition.

Check the WRL catalog for Death for Beginners

Read Full Post »