Yakity Yak- Don't Talk Back (especially not to the People's Liberation Army) or You Must be Jokhang

I don't know whether the terrible night's sleep was due to indigestion from the yak BBQ I had for dinner or the altitude or delayed jetlag or what, but I was thoroughly exhausted waking up this morning. I even fell asleep on a table over lunch. There is also only one time zone in China, which means that I even though I woke up at 6ish, crack of dawn was still hours away. Anyway, we got up and basically watched the sunrise over the Potala from our hostel's roof, while below the police loaded themselves into their armored personnel carriers and the garbage trucks collected the garbage to the incongruous bleeping electronic tune of happy birthday to call people to bring their garbage out. (And I wonder if Chinese tourists to America write emails back to friends in China saying they sing each other the garbage song on birthdays in America). Overlooking the the city were plumes of smoke and I wondered momentarily if there were riots or fires in the old quarters, but realized it was plumes of incense smoke drifting up from braziers on the pilgrim circuit as pilgrims tossed juniper and barley in by the fistful, and lending the city a sweet, if suffocating smell.

We headed down and wandered a bit around the Barkhour circuit- an ancient pilgrimage circle weaving through ancient alleyways around the Jokhang temple, the holiest site in Tibet, (the Vatican of Tibetan Buddhism I suppose you could say) with all the hundreds of pilgrims and prostraters (and definitely no protesters). Many wore pads on their hands, leather aprons with rubber reinforcements and even reinforced shoes to protect themselves from the hundreds or thousands of full body prostrations they made around the temple, their foreheads bleeding and filthy and bodies surely weary by the day's. Many held out their aprons for pilgrims to stuff money into to earn merit for their reincarnation. There was even a man with one leg who we saw in the morning and then again later in the day, still at it making his way around doing full prostrations. The circuit and temple were packed with pilgrims from all over, with traditional yak wool smocks, brightly colored yarn braided into the hair of both men and women, and somewhat incongruous but ubiquitous cowboy hats. There were also dozens of feral lapdogs in the procession, yes, Lhasas and Pekingese, adorable if a bit shaggy, but likely rabid. The people here in Tibet are also also consistently genuinely friendly and curious, very soft spoken and, not to be creepy, but Tibet easily has the highest percentage of beautiful women I've seen in any country, even Colombia.

We then entered the Jokhang itself, jostling our way through claustrophobia inducing crowds in the tiny medieval corridors thick with smoke and lit only by yak butter lamps. Many pilgrims had purchased thermoses of melted yak butter to add to the lamps as offerings as they muttered prayers over the flickering lamps. The smoke stained murals of demons and boddhisatvas combined with the smell of incense, sounds of chanting and throngs of traditionally dressed pilgrims really felt like something out of a fairytale storybook stereotype of "Mystical Tibet." Of course, the obnoxious hordes of Chinese tourists didnt allow the feeling to last, and the greasy-with-spilled-yak-butter floors also made it critical to focus on watching your step.

Our guide/minder was unfortunately not very helpful in his broken English, and there was also that awkward and uncomfortable interactions that can happen sometimes when travelling where one know more (factually speaking) about certain cultural sights and such than the locals (actually Tsetse I'm pretty sure that's the fifth century, not the twelfth century...). And what is up with my terrible habit of speaking back to people with accents in accented broken English right back to them, as if they can understand me better. Yes, yes- tomorrow go with taxi Potala Palace? Ugh. it makes me feel like such an ugly American...

The afternoon was spent at Norbulinka, the Dalai Lama's somewhat run down summer palace, parts of which we couldn't visit because there were pictures of him there, and yet some wonderful gardens and lakes to wander around and relax, kind of what I'd hoped the forbidden city would be but wasn't. There was also an amazing broken English explanation of the place, that I tried to photograph here.

From there onto another temple, Sera, the second largest monastery, once home to almost 7000 monks, then none after '59, now back to about a tenth its former size and slowly rebuilding itself as evidenced by the tittering girls pushing around wheelbarrows full of cement. Admittedly, by this point the statues and stupas were starting to blur together as temple fatigue started to set in, but the grounds themselves were breezy and pleasant for a stroll until we came to the courtyard of the debating monks. We sat in a circle as young monks drilled each other on questions of theology and Tibetan history, demanding answers with a sharp stomp of the foot and clap of the hand, almost like a baseball pitcher's windup. Near-full-contact academic debate, which, in spite of understanding no Tibetan beyond "Teshe Delek" (hello) was extremely amusing.

Now for a stroll around town and some dinner. Oh, and today's best Chinglish? Well Simpsons fans, I'm not making this up but a shirt that read "Nestle Chocelate Malk."

POTALA PALACE:

I'm writing from an internet cafe, in fact the only internet cafe in Lhasa and what advertises iself as "the best toilet in Tibet." And from what I've seen so far I'd have to agree, though still amazing that you can't flush toilet paper in the best toilet in Tibet. Its also packed with white people, the most we've seen- there are probably no more than a hundred or so in all of Lhasa right now.

So today was a trip out to the Drepong monastery- largest in Tibet and nicknamed the rice pile due to it's extensive rambling of white buildings and temples on the side of a mountain. Very cool and just unique enough to not feel exactly like all the other temples which do start to blur. From there it was down to the Potala Palace, well down and then very much up, the 300 year old hilltop palace of the last nine Dalai Lamas, until thee 14th fled in '59. First of was the obligatory photogrpah with a Chinese tour group, before entering- not as bad as the photo taking and stares in India though. (see blog 7/08) Maybe we should rent ourselves out though -seems to be good money in it...

Kinda an eerie feeling walking through the Dalai Lama's bedroom, his alarm clock still next to his bed where he left it 50 years ago and now and has been unable to return, yet I can shuffle through with dozens of Chinese tourists and gawk. His bedroom window also now looks out on what used to be a village and now is a massive communist style monument to the 'liberation' of the Tibetan people by the PLA. And let it be noted too that the top of the palace flies a positively MASSIVE Chinese flag, lest there be some confusion. Not to mention the fact that possessing a Tibetan flag can get you arrested.

Interestingly however, the 50yuan note, second most valuable banknote in China, has the Potala on the back. I feel in some ways that this sums up the complicated relationship between the so called Tibetan Autonomous Region and the Peoples Republic. Not just that it's about money, but the cultural exploitation for money is part of the irony given the busloads of Chinese tourists. On the one hand, it suggests that china values Tibetan culture enough to prominently display, and to not completely destroy this place as very nearly happened during the cultural revolution ( and did happen to 3000+ temples in Tibet). And yet such a display also sends an undisputable message that Tibet is a part of the People's Republic. I can only wonder what the Tibetan people feel about this- pride, conflicted, resentment? I'd ask but I can't - you never know who could be listening... Okay, enough philosophizing.

But the palace was cool- amazing in fact, countless temples with solid gold 3D mandalas and gold leaf stupas, 40 ft Buddhas and boddhisatvas, as well as the red and black faced demons who are the Buddhas protectors, (Varjapani and Hayagriva) a meditation cave, and over 1000 rooms, of which we got to see about 20. It did feel somewhat sterile though- Chinese guards, no incense and chanting and missing the vibrant lived-in feeling of the monasteries that have been coming back.

Beijing to Lhasa

The great wall lived up to its hype. Pushing through early morning Beijing rush hour traffic we worked our way through the hazy morning smog of Beijing- so polluted that you couldnt even see a quarter mile ahead down the road, and past seemingly thousands of cranes (no, not the beautiful delicate birds) assembling new megablocks of skyscrapers that made Co-op City look like a quaint country village. Past demolished gray brick hutongs (traditional neighborhoods) now just piles of bricks, and then out of the great megalopolis of Beijing and into the "countryside" where we passed demolished traditional quaint country villages that were rapidly being converted into McMansion suburbs all in the name of The New China. If the cultural revolution can't stamp out the old, so-called Chinese-style capitalism clearly will. Past giant power lines we travelled, and through a village with a supermarket called "Playboy" complete with the bunny logo, a few army bases and assorted junkyards and factories.

Finally we arrived. We had signed up for the "Secret Great Wall Tour" which promised a 10k hike along an untouristed part of the wall, and were dubious about these advertised claims, but our van, after passing through a few great wall spots clogged with buses disgorging tourists, ultimately stopped at a completely abandoned and crumbling section and let us out to make the hike. The mountain air was somewhat better than Beijing, where the joke is that to get some fresh air you should smoke a cigarette, and the breeze was a welcome relief in the punishing sun. (And Yes, Mom, I wore sunblock!) Yes, the untouristed bit of the wall was also in a state of some disrepair it must be noted. After the slightly disappointing day at Tianenmen Square and The Forbidden City, my jaded self was truly impressed. The great wall is also insanely steep as it winds over mountain passes, and we slogged our way up some relatively intact steps, and then sections that were near vertical inclines with stones that crumbled and fell onto whoever was hiking behind, which made for a pretty Indiana Jones-esque experience. That and walking along sections with undergrowth, and in fact overgrowth- trees and bushes higher than our heads in places and sprouting out of the wall. A few hours later we'd hiked our little piece of the wall, and our eighteen year old fresh-faced guide declared "you are now true men and women having made ascend of great wall!" Busride back included some standard chatting with the various other expat English teachers, exchange students and gap-year Aussies who, all things considered, were pretty cool. Seem to be more Americans in China than most other places I've travelled besides Europe.

After spending some time at the hostel trying to nail down the last details of our Tibet trip, we headed back across Tianenman Square to a night market purported to have the best, or at least most interesting, street food in Beijing. And yes folks, I ate a scorpion. And a snake. I passed on the donkey penis, starfish and seahorses, and definitely did not have it in me to try to rat or the tarantula. Nor did I brave the heaping piles of tripe everywhere I turned. And I'll admit dear readers, that although I was looking forward to eating snake, I would not have tried the scorpion had Ben not fearlessly ordered a skewer of "medium scorpion please" first. Taste? Kinda like greasy chicken skin. And the snake, kind of like eel, though they loaded it up with spices so much that really the only thing objectionable was its surprisingly rubbery texture, but then, what other snake do I have to compare it to? Oh, but the pork buns? They would put David Chang at Momofuku to shame.

Back to the hostel for the best night's sleep in some time, then this morning up early to fly to Tibet. I can't deny it, I was pretty excited when the officer asked for my passport and then said "papers please" and we got to hand over the "Tibetan Autonomous Region Travel Permit" addendum to our visa that was months in the acquisition. Okay, I'll admit it, he just gestured and I said, "oh, papers please?" and he responded "yes yes, papers please." The flight itself was relatively straightforward, a brief stopover in Chengdu, a city of zillions somewhere in western china with a nicer and larger airport than anything I've seen stateside or even in Europe, and a bumpy but reasonable landing after flying not above, but next to the Tibetan Himalayas. The flight to Lhasa, interestingly, was about 95% Han Chinese, a couple Mongolians, and I counted nine White folks. This tells you something both about China and Tibet, where in Lhasa the ethnic Chinese outnumber the Tibetans 3:1, and Tibet has apparently become the new hot travel spot for young Chinese yuppies. We deplaned, gasping like fish for air, not because of the pollution as in Beijing, but the oxygen thin air of a 10,000 foot city (yes, 2x Denver). Our driver and guide/"minder" managed to meet us, and we had a nice drive into Lhasa, stopping to eat some grapefruit sized melon at a roadside stand. The outskirts of Lhasa could be any third world hellhole city- constant honking as we passed luxury cars and donkey carts, pedestrians leading yaks and bus drivers, and we gradually made our way down some giant boulevard past rows and rows of car dealerships, mostly selling Buicks, and then turning a corner and then, suddenly popping into view above the blue glass shopping plazas was the Potala Palace itself, as glorious as I'd imagined it to be. And okay, you know what? I'll do it, I'll use the adjective "resplendent."

And Tibet so far is actually far better and more authentic than I'd feared it would be in all the reading I've done. Certainly it is changed, and certainly the horrors of the cultural revolution left an indelible mark, but Tibetan culture seems indelible in its own way. (for more on Tibet History recent and older, that I won't or probably shouldnt get into here and now, check out The Road Home, My Land My People, Dragon in the Land of the Snow Lion, or Surviving the Dragon). Certainly its a country under occupation, as the hundreds of PLA troops I saw today alone would testify- stationed at every corner, and even not-so-discreetly under umbrellas on rooftops, holding their rifles and scanning the streets for trouble.

But we are staying in the Tibetan quarter, our hotel balcony has views of the Potala and we can watch the pilgrims making the circuit around the Barkhour temple below, dressed in traditional garb, chanting and spinning prayer wheels as they circumambulate the back streets of Lhasa, many having travelled thousands of miles to make this trip to the Barkhour and Jokhang temples. The army soldiers walk disrepectfully counterclockwise, guns in hand and knock shoulders with the pilgrims, but at least the streets are thronged with pilgrims and its not even a festival season. Barkhour square itself is awash in merchants blasting Tibetan hip-hop (straight outta Lhasa?), which drowns out the wails of pilgrims prostrating themselves dozens, hundreds of times in front of the temple. So the good news is that something of the original Tibet very very much thrives here in Lhasa today.

Tomorrow its off to the temples, then the next day the palace assuming we have adjusted to the altitude... More to come...

I < 3 BJ

Well, I made it. A lovely layover in Vancouver with an old friend for a day, who I think literally took me to EVERY neighborhood in town (thanks Gilli!), then entered metal tube for twelve grueling hours, and exited said metal tube in the brand spanking new Beijing airport (feng-shui compliant!), and easily through passport control where the twelve year old didnt even ask me a single question before ushering me onward toward the light rail that brought me to baggage claim. The subway car was filled with chinese police, also all looking about twelve years old, with mismatched boots and matching fake rolexes, and the CUTEST K9 dogs I think I've ever seen- like beagles and collies and such. The airport, built in time for the '08 Olympics, was incredibly nice, and yet for some reason it will be demolished and rebuilt again to be completed in 2012.
Successfully met Ben at baggage claim, and took a taxi through the smog to our hotel a few blocks south of Tianenmen Square. For most of the drive Beijing looked like a dystopian LeCorbusier-esque supercity of giant buildings and superhighways, full of luxury cars (I guess its either luxury car or NO car here in the New China), most of which were Volkswagens or, inexplicably, Black Buick Regals. I havent seen so many Buicks since visiting my grandmother in her retirement community! Anyway, the hotel neighborhood does appear to be at a normal scale. In fact, its a pretty cool old neighborhood, old low buildings and alleyways crowded with bicycles and rickshaws and peddlers of all kinds selling dumplings and whatnot. Our Hostel is perfectly decent, and full of the usual motley crew of Australian and European backpackers, and thankfully with functioning air conditioning. (As the pilot announced when we were landing, "temperature in Beijing is currently 94 and hazy of course!"). Jetlagged, we stumbled into a phenomenol dinner spot where we gorged ourselves on courses of Peking duck- first came the skin, so shiny and crisp you could practically see your reflection, then the tender meat, withsides of scallion and cucumbers to roll up with the duck in spongy chinese pancakes. Yeah, wow. And so much more appetizing than the rest of the menu which thankfully at least had pictures (donkey meat in spicy sauce, jellyfish with fermented vinegar (redundant, I know), and cow tendon in salty sauce.) Then to sleep, where I was indeed a very jetlagged viking.

This morning up at near dawn for breakfast and then discover than the city was broiling hot and humid even by 8am (theres apparently a heat wave here too!) We wandered aroudn our neighborhood, a lovely shopping area complete with H&M, Uniqlo and Starbucks, and to Tianenmen Square, which was really... just a big square. Apparently the biggest city square in the world. (See pictures, and no, in China, you most definitely cannot access THAT picture of Tianenmen Square, though I wondered what someone would do if one decided to pose in the center of the square holding up your hand like the tank man). Onward to the not-so-forbidden city, which was swarming with hordes of Chinese and international tourists by 9:00, most of whom were smart enough to bring parasols for the blazing sunshine- it got up well over 100 by midday. Parts of the forbidden city were quite cool and impressive, mostly the side buildings and gardens which werent nearly so crowded, though overall, I'm sorry to say, I felt a little jaded but just wasnt that impressed. A few impressive buildings, and certainly a massive scale, but for the most part, it was just a series of giant squares and pagoda-like buildings. Sadly, I've been in so many ersatz pagoda buildings in various Chinatowns and Chinese restaurants that the orginal sort of didnt seem that impressive, and kinda felt a little tackty almost with the red roofs and gold dragons everywhere. I know, I know, I mean, it was impressive, but I think I just prefer other architecture styles- Wat Pho and the royal palace in Bangkok for example, or other places just have more interesting architecture to me than China. We wandered back through some alleys in ou neighborhood, to touts calling out "little brother friend, you come but t-shirt!" as they hawked T-Shirts of Mao, The Great Wall, and the unintentionally funny I <3 BJ in the I <3 NY logo. Plenty of good Chinglish printed everywhere on signs and t-shirts, my favorite being the kid in the NY Yankers T-Shirt. Anyway, back here now to try and stay awake, and on to the great wall tomorrow.

More Ice Cream Experiments: (Creamsicle, Dulce)

So I cook a ton, not sure why the recipes posts are increasingly ice cream focused, but hey, its summer... I've been having a ton of good luck with ice cream making lately- using Cook's Illustrated's phenomenal recipe for Khulfi with no variations, and then building on other people's recipes for dulce de leche ice cream, fresh mint ice cream, and David Liebowitz's creamsicle ice cream from "The Perfect Scoop"- I book I find inspiring in its ideas, but tedious in its actual recipe execution- the recipes are both needlessly complex and needlessly rich- my friend actually got sick once making the chocolate ice cream with its insane number of eggs. I really dont see the need for more than four eggs in an ice cream custard. No matter, I did like his creamsicle idea as a nice idea and a non-artificial version and reference to wonderful childhood memories of creamsicles from the ice cream man. And Liebowitz's idea of using sour cream in ice cream is also an incredible one and is inspiring more ideas for me (key lime, peaches and cream and others- see below.) And hey, its really the only halfway decent ice cream book since my battered childhood copy of The Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Cookbook.

So with that- my enhanced no-cook version of

Creamsicle Ice Cream

2 Cups sour cream (one pint)

1 Cup Half and Half or Cream

3 Oranges - zested and juiced

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Tsp Vanilla

Combine zest and sugar in a food processor or blender. Add remaining ingredients and blend until a consistent texture. Freeze, maybe adding mini chocolate chips or or bits of chocolate as well.

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream

First- let me just say that dulce de leche is about as brainless a custard ice cream as you can get. All I've been doing is putting in the blender three egg yolks and three cups of cream, half and half, or whatever combo until nicely blended. Then drop in can of dulce (or about 10 oz) in the blender, and blend- the good thing here is you can fully blend it, or fully blend some of it, and then partially blend in the rest to give it more of an interesting textural contrast. Then, pour into a pan and gently raise the heat until a boil comes and the custard thickens. Chill and freeze in the ice cream maker, adding toasted nuts as you see fit.

Mexican dulce de leche, Cajeta, is made with goat's milk for an added tang. Here again I was wondering whether a half cup of goats milk would add this touch, or even a bit of sour cream into the above recipe.

As I said before, I feel mixed about The Perfect Scoop book, but like some of the recipes concepts. The idea of using sour cream is very intriguing, and once I'm back from China this summer I'm planning to try a few recipes- a Peaches and Cream with sour cream, and a Key Lime Pie. Here are my rough drafts, if you feel inspired to try them, let me know how they work out:

Peaches and Cream

1.5 Cups Sour Cream (or creme fraische)

1.5 Cups Half and Half or cream (depending on your level of indulgence)

1/2 cup sugar

4 Peaches - diced

2 tsp vanilla

3 Egg Yolks

2 T minced candied ginger

Make a custard by blending and then cooking the sour cream, cream, egg yolks and sugar and egg yolks. Stir in vanilla. Reblend the mixture with one of the peaches and peach juice, and freeze according to instructions. Partway through, mix in the rest of the peaches and candied ginger.

Key Lime Pie

I'm imagining basically the same as creamsicle, just using 6 limes and their juice and zest, maybe stirring in crushed graham crackers.

March / April Books - Pop Sociology and More...

How We Decide: Jonah Lehrer

Pretty damn interesting take on decision making, mostly from a neuroscience perspective, which both makes me interested, and leaves me somewhat skeptical, given that my neuroscientist friends tend to tell me that in spite of all th fMRI hype, we really don't know much. But this book was basically pop neuro-economics, and that kind of shit fascinates me, whether the science is a bit shakey or not. But- it investigates how we make decisions whether we are poker players or whether we are shopping for cereal. Basically, its like a Malcolm Gladwell kinda book, but more neurosciencey, or pseudo-neuro-sciencey. But definitely entertaining and some good cocktail party fun facts.

Drive: Dan Pink

More pop-ish psychology and theory of human motivation. Accessibly written and explicated studies about creativity, ways to motivate yourself and others - be that at work or the classroom or home, and some interesting ideas and theories about tapping into intrinsic rather that pushing with extrinsic motivation. Pretty interesting, but a lot of overlap with some of the other similar stuff I tend to read.

Buy-ology - Martin Lindstrom

Honestly, kind of horrifying to read this and realize how much more money goes into scientifically researching consumer habits than probably the worldwide academic system can budget to study the entire remaining spectrum of human behavior. For that reason, this book was both fascinating and extremely depressing and disturbing all at once. Plus, the author was kind of pompous. Its a lot of trying to cite neuroscience research in understanding consumer decisions, aimed at a branding/marketing/advertising audience, not aimed at people like me - although, I find it important to know my enemy! Interesting studies about the history of product placement (ie, diamond companies paying hollywood to have engagement rings be diamonds fifty years ago until it became inculturated (sp?)), why cigarette warning labels don't work, how cigarette companies pay bars to paint and decorate their interiors with colors (ie, marlboro red) than encourage smoking, etc. Scenting stores to encourage buying, (ie, the Samsung store apparently has a faint melon scent), and the similarities between branding, religious experiences and sporting events at the neuro level. Crazy shit. Scary shit.

Pema Chodron: Getting UNstuck

Wow, I can't believe how incredibly good her stuff is! Seriously, I'd not picked up Tibetan Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron's stuff in a few years, and was bowled over at the crystal clarity and depth of her teachings and instruction on meditation and Buddhism. I got the audio from the library and sort of wanted to immediately re-listen to it as soon as I finished. Her ability to tie what could easily be obscure or esoteric Tibetan wisdom in a very practical way to our modern world is incredible. I'd highly recommend this for either beginners or for more advanced pratitioners.

How to See Yourself as You Truly Are: HH The Dalai Lama

I was honestly a bit bummed out by this one and found it kind of dull, in contrast to a lot of his other works. Just couldnt really get into it, though I usually enjoy his works.

Nobody Move: Denis Johnson

Quick and super-entertaining romp California noir, though a very different feel and flavor from Already Dead, Denis Johnson's book from ten years ago. Great characters, and a solid story with Johnson using more spare language but very effectively writing outside his usual comfort zone in a way that didnt feel forced. Good one for the beach this summer.

Three Cups of Tea: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Renin

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it- I'd been putting it off for years as its seemed so cheesy inspirational, but then it turned out to be truly inspirational. Seriously, I was about to jump on a plane to go help build schools in Pakistan, pretty amazing stuff.

Buddha: Deepak Chopra

How could a novelization of the Buddha's life be boring? Well, this book pulled it off. Not sure why I was hoping for more out of this one, but I was really bored throughout. I guess I also know the story pretty well, so it didnt hold many surprises, but it didnt really build tension, make interesting characters, or otherwise do much for me. Not recommended, though did make me want to reread Siddhartha.

February / March Books: Food and Funnymen

In Defense of Food: Michael Pollen

Oh wow, this book really blew my mind. Not because I felt like I learned a whole lot of new information, the book has a lot in common with Marion Nestle's wonderful "What to Eat" but because I felt like he perfectly articulated my views/ideologies if you will on food and eating. Basically- stay as far away from processed foods as possible, use whole ingredients, use as short a food chain as you can, and cook for yourself. A bit of politics in there as well makes it interesting for me, and also has really practical pragmatic ideas about how to eat well as well as just pushing an ideology or ideas about why we should. I highly recommend this for food nerds.

Omnivore's Dillemma: Michael Pollan

I was actually a little bored with this at first- Pollan traces four meals he eats, a fast food meal, an organic TV dinner, a an all-local ingredient meal and a self-hunted and foraged dinner. Not surprisingly, they got more interesting as they went along, in part because I've already read a lot about industrial food and the conundrum of "big organic," in other places, which made reading the local food and the hunted food sections the most engaging and different. This was another really interesting and fun one, and I think this or In Defense would be interesting book group books. So with that- who wants to start a book group?

Botany of Desire: Michael Pollan

And here is where the Michael Pollan kick went too far. I think this is his first book, and it showed- overwritten and surprisingly dull. He traces the interrelationship of humans and four plants - corn, apples, tulips and help, and the co-evolution of both, which to me was a really interesting idea- that both species benefit and evolve with the help of the other. But the writing and the stories themselves were surprisingly dull, even if packed with amusing historical anecdotes about tulip investment bubbles and apple speculation. Not one I'd really recommend unless you are way into the history of food.

Mindless Eating: Brian Wansinck

The last in my "series" about food. For now... This was pretty fascinating book by a "food psychologist" who consults with academia, industry and the military on how people eat, decide about food, and why they eat the way they do. Full of quirky vignettes and studies (though some common sense) like that we eat more food if there are more kinds (ie at buffets, or we meet more m&m's when there are more colors), and that we really cant taste much (think chocolate yogurt is strawberry in the dark, or that lemon jello is strawberry if we put red food coloring in it), and that our bodies don't really tell us when to stop eating as much as our eyes do. The most interesting study here being about a "bottomless" bowl of soup that kept refilling itself and people ate quarts of the stuff, as opposed to when they had to serve themselves more. Sort of a quirky take on food and eating decisions- as if Malcolm Gladwell had written a book on food. Overall, pretty fascinating, if you are a major food nerd, and a major psychology nerd. Which is more likely me than it is you.

Hoodwinked: Perspectives of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins

What can I say, I love Perkins's muckracking about the international corporatocracy in his last two books, so I picked this one up with excitement and anticipation. And wow, I've not a read a book that made my blood boil anger that this did in a long time, about the outrageous behavior of the finance industry recklessly exploiting and destroying our own country, not just the developing world. I almost couldn't finish it it was so enraging. But what I like about Perkins, at least his last two books, is that he increasingly ends on a positive note of empowerment, what practical things we can do to make a difference, and it feels a lot more hopeful than just having the curtain pulled back on how terrifying the world really is.

Power- Thich Nhat Hanh
I really enjoyed this, the first book of his I'd read in a while. Really important messages about taking care of people if you are in a leadership position, and ways to maintain integrity when you have a little bit of power in the world. Important stuff, but will it be read by the right people? Although I do believe a lot of this was based on a presentation he gave a Davos, so we'll see. Its certainly in important time in history for corporate and political power to have some integrity...

Born Standing Up: Steve Martin

Now this memoir was really disappointing. I don't know how someone can make a book about standup unfunny and dry, but somehow Steve Martin managed to do it. Not even that I'm a huge fan of his recent past two decades of work, but I remember really enjoying his old standup albums fromt he 70's when I was younger, and thought this would recapture that. Yeah, it was about that, but he made the fatal error of describing the comedy from setup to punch line and explaining why it was funny rather than just letting the jokes speak for themselves. The effect was ridiculous as you would expect. Not very interesting, not really worth the time.

January Books

David Foster Wallace - Consider The Lobster
Fun stuff in this collection of essays from the 90's and early 2000's. Though ironic that I read it WHILE reading Infinite Jest (see below...). I really enjoyed the 9/11 and the Adult Convention essays, felt like classic DFW stuff. Reminded me that I might like his nonfiction better than his fiction, but still...

David Grann - The Lost City of Z
Now this was super fun. Although maybe a little long (basically its a book length version of the New Yorker article from a few years ago, and didn't need that much expansion) it was incredibly entertaining and informative. I was also reading this while I was planning to visit the Amazon, though unfortunately I then found out that the Leticia region in February is the rainy season in the rain forest, and opted not to go this round. But this book is a fascinating look at hundreds of years of history and anthropology of the Amazon, told through a thread of searching for a lost city in the Amazon region. Although the ending was a bit of a letdown, especially having already read the article, I'd still highly recommend this for a solid adventure travel book complete with crazy-ass stories of the past and present in the Amazon region of South America.

Malcolm Gladwell - What the Dog Saw
So basically this is just a collection of his New Yorker pieces over the last five or ten years. Which frankly, are a lot better and more engaging than his last book (Ouliers) which felt really scattered. I was kind of getting sick of his glib "you think its this way, but look at this quirky counterintuitive explanation for how the world really works and get your mind blown" shtick, which is usually backed up by cherry-picked evidence and mediocre-at-best science. This collection though reminded me of why I do/did enjoy Gladwell's older and shorter pieces, which don't make as many claims so much as put forth ideas for consideration. I'd still definitely recommend this, in spite of not thinking so much of Outliers, and its nice to pick it up and just read a piece or two and then put back down.

Superfreakonomics - Leavitt and Dubner
Basically, see my previous complaint about Gladwell's "Outliers." Though this had some thought provoking ideas that were sort of fun to think about, a lot of them felt a little bit half-baked at best, particularly the global warming ideas. However, some of the stuff about neuro-economics and decision-mkaing was interesting, and certainly more engagingly written than the disappointingly dry "Nudge" by Thaler and Sunstein I read last year.

Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
Yeah thats right. I finally finished it. (Let me clarify, this was an 8 month ordeal in which I read many other books, passed my boards and wrote a book....) And frankly, I'm not sure if it was worth it. (I know, I know...) I think I would have liked it more when I was younger. Thats not to say I didnt like it, or think it was well-written, I just didnt think it was terribly mature I guess. Although the recovery/halfway house stuff was brilliant (and accurate to a T!), I didnt exactly find the non-plot compelling (not the point, I know, I know...). And you know what, I'm not afraid to say he could have used a good editor and it would have made for a better book.