Books

Hey blog people. This is a post about books. A lot of my blog friends regularly write book review / book list blogs. I've tried writing a couple of book reviews, but they end up being lame, so I've decided to take the minimalist approach and smush all my book related stuff into this one post. So here goes...

Thanks to the wonders of Audible.com and my iPod, I've been knocking out books right and left (at least, in comparison to my usual "can't finish a book in less than a year" habits). In the past couple of months I've finished the following books:

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Notes: I really enjoyed this book. It fallows the domestication history of four plants (apple, tulip, potato, and pot) and liked to throw around the idea that its not we who are domesticating the plants for our ends but instead it is the plants who are using us for their ends. This book taught me that Johnny Appleseed was a wierdo; Witches' broomsticks have a much less wholesome origin than you might think; pot and hemp are actually two completely different plants (despite the dumb laws we have that fail to recognize this); and that there used to be a futures market based on tulip bulbs in Holland.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Notes: This was the second book I read by Michael Pollan (who I am becoming obsessed with). This book follows a meal from field to plate, telling you way more than you wanted to know about where your food comes from. This book taught me that: "organic" foods aren't necessarily environmentally sound; where the food is produced is just as important as how its produced; industrial agriculture is even more repulsive than I thought; Idaho potato farmers wont eat their own potatoes; Monsanto managed to get potatoes to produce their own pesticides; and (because this list can't go on forever, cuz I have to get to other books) the Yellow Delicious in my supermarket is genetically identical to the Yellow Delicious in yours.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Notes: Ok, so I finally read this because a) I thought it was about time I understood why the number 42 is so important to the bibliophile and b) because Nick threatened to divorce me if I didn't get with it and finally read this universally understood to be awsome book (just kidding). This book didn't teach me much, but it was funny and more entertaining that I expected.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Notes: I can't remember why I bought this book. By the time I downloaded it from Audible, I had forgotten what it was about or why I was ever interested in it. It has a slow-ish start but I ended up getting into it and enjoying it very much. There was so much drama and people sleeping with people that they shouldn't be sleeping with, that this would make a "great" movie or maybe even, better yet, a Lifetime Original movie. This book didn't teach me much either, but it does moderately successfully discuss issues of race (the main family in the book are mixed race) which was interesting.


Currently reading:
The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman
What I think so far: very funny at times, kind of teadious at others. Definitely not a plot or thesis driven book. I dunno how its gonna go over in audiobook format (the old fassioned paper and ink book might be more conducive... although I get the feeling that the audiobook itself is treated as a performace, complete with live music etc.)

Books To Read Next:
Notes on a Scandal: What Was She Thinking? by Zoe Heller
The Assault On Reason by Al Gore
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zin
Death By Black Hole by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri


I also bought a book called The Chicago "L" by Greg Borzo at the Printer's Row Book Fair which was last weekend. Unfortunately I have to use m eyeballs to read this one (but it does have tons of pictures) so it might take me a while to finish.

So yeah, there y'a go. I hope that was entertaining. LOL