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.

Resumption of Recipes: Thai Iced Tea Ice Cream

With graduate school and now the licensing exam receding into the past, time, though not abundant, does create some space in my life for cooking and posting recipes. This evening I am making Pad Thai (from Hot/Sour/Salty/Sweet) and for dessert homemade Thai Iced Tea flavored ice cream, I invented this recipe, though when I googled the concept, I clearly was not the only one to come up with the idea of thai iced tea flavored ice cream:

THAI ICED TEA ICE CREAM

3 Cups of Light Cream (or 2 cups 1/2&1/2, 1 cup heavy cream)
2-3 egg yolks (I like this ice cream relatively light, though still think a custard is important for texture)
1 Can condensed milk
1 Cup Thai Tea (From good ol' Super 88)
1 tsp vanilla

Gently heat cream mix with thai tea until almost simmering, then let steep for about 30 minutes.
Strain the mix, and make custard by constantly whisking yolks into cream over gentle heat until bubbling and thickened. Stir in vanilla and condensed milk. Let chill, and freeze according to ice cream maker's instructions to yield about a quart.

VIETNAMESE (THAI) ICED COFFEE ICE CREAM
So really, this is the same thing, except using espresso (or finely ground french roast, or cafe du monde coffee), in the place of the tea. I also don't let it seep for so long, and of course leave out the vanilla. If you are using cafe du monde (used commonly in vietnamese coffee in america after so many vietnamese refugees settled in louisiana and near the gulf of mexico), let it seep longer or grind it more finely.
If your strainer is particularly fine, you may want to add a teaspoon of fresh grounds for texture before putting into your machine.

Either of these ice creams (or both!) make a wonderful treat to end a southeast asian style dinner.

San Gil and Environs

The security situation here is quite odd. Colombia is no doubt in civil war/ its quite apparent from the newspaper headlines every day and from the soldiers walking around with AK47s slung over their shoulders. And yet, I have never yet felt worried or in danger, and this trip almost feels like its been fewer adventures than almost any other. ELN is almost over, and FARC has had aterrible year of operational setbacks, and a massive turning of public support away from the guerillas as they continue to hold innocent hostages.
And, it does feel as if the vibe of the country is that the war is ending, peace is very nearly here. Rebel groups like ELN is in practically final negotiations, and the infamous FARC has had aterrible year of operational setbacks, and a massive turning of public support away from the guerillas as they continue to hold innocent hostages and move farther from their original ideology and compromise themselves with terrorism and narcotrafficking to pay the gun bills. What was once a movement to liberate the peasant class, fueled for years by cold war politics like the rest of South America, then had the fuel of cocaine money keep the conflict burning. But now, after forty or sixty years of war, the people are ready for peace. Still, strange signs abound of Colombia's brutal history and continuing brutal present. We drove past a minefield yesterday, and Ive noticed that cars and buses all have signs advertising that they have GPS. I never saw any GPS units, and thus took me a few days to realzie that that is a kidnapping deterrant, that a GPS was hidden somewhere on the vehicle. Boarding the bus we were frisked up and down, but no one ever asked to look in our carryon bags, and while the bus had a separate locked compartment for the driver, as I wrote before, the airplane cockpit was wide open...
Anyway, so we left little occupied Minca a few days ago and headed into the mountains near San Gil, where we are now. The drive was beautiful up winding roads and into the mountains. Unfortunately the 9 hour drive became more like 11. I sat staring out the window into the dark half asleep and felt the white noise of the bus change abruptly, only to realize we were breaking down. Now, I just explained how peace is coming to Colombia, but I'm still not exactly thrilled with the idea of spending a night in the Colombian jungle on a sitting-duck prize of a bus, even if Colombia had a better reputation for safety. Some guys got out and stood aroudn, a few tried to fix it and we were off and running within a half an hour, although three more breakdowns only added to my anxiety. Had a layover night in Bucaramanga, and arrived to San Gil at a reasonable time the day before yesterday.
San Gil is a lovely colonial town tucked into in the mountains with a rushing river running through the center. The streets become incredibley steep, and some have the old sidewalk-for-stairs thing, and with flowers bursting in bloom the whole thing has a bit of a San Francisco like feel architecturally. Spent yesterday morning hanging out at our excellent hostel chatting with the other travellers, a few know-it-all Americans and some other nationalities represented, and had a hilarious talk with the Aussie owner who explained in depth how the guidebooks worked. One brand that will remain nameless simply emailed him to ask his to write a description of his place and a little about the town, another never bothered coming to San Gil at all, despite being only six hours away, and wrote incorrect information (though did receive and apology when he emailed undiclosed backpacker guidebook company), and another visited the town but never came to the hostel, and was quite open about this fact when he got in touch. Come afternoon we took a great rafting trip, having opted for the easy float trip rather than the hardcore rapids trip. The fonce river was still bumpy enough to be fun, and the views up the canyon onto local farms, through mossy banyan like trees and jungle vines, was a lot of fun, in spite of the worlds grumpiest river guide.

Santa Marta, Minca, Taganga

Bill had -negative 1 days of getting a stomach bug, having gotten food posioning in Florida delaying his arrival by a day. We agreed to meet in Santa Marta, a smallish beach town on the way to Venezuela, next to the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains. I took the most hellish and overpriced collectivo ride, rather than the bus, resulting in a six and a half hour voyage that should have only been four. It was certainly a pretty if long voyage, past ocean on one side, banana haciendas and mountains on the other. Got to Santa Marta finally, but found no rooms at the inn we had been hoping for, so I got us a room elsewhere and left a note behind for Bill who was coming later in the evening. I immediately changed into my bathing suit and headed straight for the beach, only to discover that although I had been excited by how genuinely Colombian Sta Marta felt, that genuineness extended to the way they treated their beach, the hordes of Colombian tourists left garbage all over the beach, and the swimming looked none too appealing with the sight of a massive oil tanker loading up from the pipeline on the edge of town, (apparently unbombed by los FARC today), and another massive boat loading bananas onto pallets into containers. Didnt exactly seem all that clean. Wandered the city as darkness approached, and wondered if Bill had made it into the country without a return ticket out, apparently a real headache for getting through migracion. But finally I wandered back into the hotel to find him checking in, apparently having received no note from the hotel we had agreed on, and only finding it after checking his email. It was great to catch up over dinner and wandering the boardwalk, past giant 30ft light filled Santas sleigh and a Feliz Navidad sign. Ive not seen Bill since my 5 year Wesleyan reunion, which is a long time as my ten year is coming up in a few months! But its a been great travelling with him, reminsicing about the past, and talking about our various lives and futures.
Wanting to leave Santa Marta we decided to head to the fishing/backpacker town of Tanganga, next to the national park. No longer so backpackery, it was now mostly Colombians who occupied nearly every hotel. With no hotel again, we ended up sleeping at an elementary school that had been converted to a hotel for the holidays, and slept soundly amidst desks and chalkboards, beneath a row of enciclopedia de ninos. Hit the beach, where we enjoyed some fresh fried fish and did some swimming and lounging about. It was New Years Eve, and we barely made it past midnight, having a generally pretty mellow evening wandering the town. The people in town were revelling by draggin massive speakers out onto their patios and eating and drinking with friends, inviting people to stop in and chat. It was a nice low-key new years scene. People also tended to have some sort of new years scarecrows out, what they represented I'm not quite sure. We retired shortly after midnight, which we only realized had come when the firework-lighting kids started lighting their firecrackers in greater force than before. We also managed to miss the first death of 2009 (according to the local paper) when a drunk driver killed someone in Sta Marta shortly after midnight.


Onward the next day, we'd decided to head to San Gil in the mountains on the way up toward Bogota. Unfortunately, New Years Day meant nothing was open, not even buslines. Probably safer that way to avoid a driver still drunk from the night before trying to navigate mountain roads. So we took a taxi up to Minca, a small partly Indian town a few thousand meters into the foothills of the mountains,. Minca looks down over the beach towns and the ocean in one direction, and with views into the mountains in the other. We took some walks to waterfalls, watched coffee being dried out on the side of the road, and chatted for a while with an absolutely batshit crazy German guy. Bill had it right when he described this fellow as Herzog-esque, the man had been living above Minca for nearly ten years. Old Klaus Kinski claimed to be an intermediary between the rebel groups and the government and people like journalists and anthropologists. He also tried to scare us with stories about posionous snakes killing people, scorpions attacking tourists in their sleep, and other horror stories of the jungle. It was hard to tell how much he was bullshitting, though on the other hand hed been living in the jungle for the last ten years. Not to mention, our little cabin we'd rented not only had massive spiders, but Bill killed a scorpion and I chased a few bats around before giving up. And the bug bites I'm still itching three days later.
It was a gorgeous town and a pleasure to explore., though did feel like an army occupied town. Apparently it was only pacified a few years ago, and this was clear with the fact that army troops wandered around town chatting casually with their mistresses by cell phone in one hand, AK47s in the other. I have my doubts that the safety was on. From there on to San Gil in the moutnains, the next entry coming soon...

Islas

Up early for breakfast and to get to the docks before the boats lefgt for their daily tour of the local national park and islands. A lot of hurry up and wait, while I watched seemingly thousands of colombian tourists pile onto the same boats that I too was sucker enough to get on myself. A very choppy voyage out to playa blanca, a miles long stretch of sand about an half hour away by boat where we dropped half of our passengers, and then the rest of us fools on to the national park and aquarium. Disgorged the boat at the island that was about an acre total, and headed to the so-called aquarium, admission not included in boat trip. Holy shit, without a doubt that was the most bullshit aquarium ever, and when I glimpsed it from the ticket booth, I immediately decided not to even bother with the outrageous price for a bunch of docks set around giant nets with fish caught in them. Thats right, basically a giant cage for fish from which one can look down into the water and attempt to view fish. I then returned to the dock where I watched hundreds of colombians climbing out of their boats to overrun the sweltering hellhole of an island. Finally able to get back onto the boat, and headed past tiny islands with solitary giant houses on them (I wonder what line of work those folks are in?), back through the ocean, past tiny wooden canoes that were far from shore, carrying just one aging fisherman and making a very hemingway-esque picture.
Finally made it to the beach, and though a famous one from cartagena, it was not too crowded. Offered some amazing fresh oysters and lobster ceviche upon arrival, which I enjoyed with lime juice, and then was charged a whopping 20k Pesos. I handed over 1000, and walked away. Met some Colombian-Americans who cheerily asked me about my trip, and invited me to go out with them later. I took their phone number and they told me to call at around 1230!!! I didnt. I feel old.
Although, I actually ended up staying up late (for me) that night, wandering the streets of the el centro neighborhood, charming colonial buildings and the streets packed with people until midnite. The plazas that had stood near empty a few hours before were suddenly bustling with people, a few colombian afro-caribbean groups were doing dance routines, some kind of combination of krumping and flamenco. The plazas were packed, people acting like human satatues, selling cotton candy and trinkets, it was like europe. Wandered around some more, talked to a few locals, but mostly people wanted to offer me drugs (perico-parakeet, cocaine) or women (amigo- conozco blancas, indias, mulattas...) No gracias amigos. I think thats the curse of travelling alone, looking forward to meeting up with Bill soon.