William Henry Harrison (The American Presidents, #9) by Gail Collins

William Henry Harrison by Gail Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've rarely been less inspired by a historical biography. It's not the author's fault. There just isn't much material. He's definitely still above average (he got elected, after all), but he was a pandering, flip-flopping, professional politician. He's the first presidential candidate to campaign for himself (which is normal now, but frowned up back then). He's also the only president not to have his wife move into the White House, the only president not to appoint a federal judge and the first president to die in office. Of course, all this was due to his having made the longest inaugural speech (record still stands), and not wearing a coat, leading to pneumonia, and his death 31 days later.

Oh, and he's the only president to have a grandson who also became president (Benjamin Harrison).

So all in all, many firsts, but none of them due to extraordinary achievements.




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Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam M. Grant

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam M. Grant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not revolutionary by any means, but still has some interesting information and useful tidbits.

Some of my notes;
It's a numbers game more often than not:
Mozart composed more than 600 pieces, Beethoven: 650, Bach: over 1000. The more pieces a composer produces, the greater the chances of a hit
Picasso made over 1,800 paintings, 1,200 sculptures, 2,800 ceramics, 12,000 drawings.
Maya Angelou wrote 166 poems, 7 autobiographies.
Einstein had 248 publications
-->If you want to do original work, do a lot of work.

We prefer regular pics of friends, but inverted pics of ourselves (that's how we see ourselves)
Appeals to character work better than appeals to actions (please don't be a cheater, rather than please don't cheat).
Venting doesn't extinguish anger, it feeds it.


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Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I feel like this was "The better angels of our nature, Vol. 2" (which in itself was more or less an extension of The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, but anyway). It sounds like, since his last book, he read Superforecasters, Thinking fast and slow, and he also wanted to update his message for the post-Trump election world, and, frankly, he sounds a tad more pessimistic in this one.

Having said that, his overall message still resonates. Things are much better now than ever before, by pretty much any metric, despite what we keep hearing.


Some of my notes:
We give punishments that are proportional to the crime not because of karma or anything, but because we want to deter, while not rendering people desensitized
Availability heuristic: 1st year med students interpret every rash as something serious. People have a fear of flying, because plane crashes make the news, although they make the news because they are rarer than car crashes, and almost no one has a fear of driving. 50 deaths per year in US from tornadoes. > 4,000 deaths per year due to asthma, but most people think tornadoes are more deadly.
"always predict the worst and you'll be hailed a prophet"
Genocide deaths (Odd chart. No spike for 2015? Nothing re: Syria?) - Compiled in 2008, but then why does it include later years on the graph??
War is now against the law. Since the UN, countries cannot just conquer others and gain new territory. A big exception is Russia and Ukraine. This only works if countries want to be accepted by international community, so recent turn against the intl community is damaging.
Japan didn't surrender bc of the nuclear bomb, but because the soviet union was entering the war (is this true??)
Jerry seinfeld, Bill Maher and Chris Rock are weary of performing on college campuses, because someone will be offended by a joke
You can't reason that there's no such thing as reason
Don't confuse pessimism with profundity.




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White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, and I felt it started off rather iffy (the portrayals of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine seemed a bit off, although I probably don't know enough to refute any claims), but in the end I'm very glad I read this.

All in all a fascinating look at the history of a marginalized but large sector of society. At a certain point the author points out how only a very small minority of whites in the South had anything to do with slavery, and in fact most whites (poor whites) were hurt by slavery due to lost jobs and marginalization. And yet, they were convinced to fight and die for the upper class's institution of slavery (there was conscription for the confederate states, but slaveholders were exempt). When the war was lost, these same slaveholders told the poor whites their lot was the Northerners' fault. It's hard not to draw parallels with scores of lower class whites being told untruths by their political leaders today, although I might be projecting.

Some of my notes:
At first GA was a non-slave state (under Oglethorpe)
The poor in VA had to wear badges, showing they were poor
Liberia was the first country to have universal suffrage (for men)
300,000 white southerners fought for the union (is this true??)
Racist appeals helped Dixiecrats appeal to poor whites
When a real "white trash" person was used for a scene in the movie Wild River, there was outcry, and scene had to be reshot with "respectable unemployed"


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How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger

How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is all about following a plant based diet. Many instances of "we're not sure why this is healthy, but if there are no downsides or adverse side effects, why not just eat it?"

I don't know enough to refute or agree with most of what he claims, but it sounds legitimate. It helps that none of the book's proceeds go to him. However, it is interesting to compare this book with other authors. This book seems to follow Perlmutter's advice (author of The brain maker), more or less. A big exception to this is grains (he's for whole grains, Perlmutter against all grains, and against all gluten). Other exceptions are kimchi and Kombucha (Perlmutter is for both, Greger not so much)

Interesting tidbits:
Just eating 4 brazil nuts a month reduces risk of heart disease
Turmeric should be added to meals
People exposed to fried foods had higher cancer rates, almost as high as smokers. Due to being exposed to the smoke from the frying. Especially living close to Bbq, Chinese and American restaurants. Out of these Chinese was highest (fish emits high carcinogen level when cooked). Bacon is also very high. If you have to fry, best to do so outside.
Adding Oregano or cinnamon to your dish could make it more healthy (adds antioxidants). Adding saffron seems to be good for alzheimer's
Tea inhibits absorption of iron
With Asbestos: We noticed the illness first with the miners, then with the shippers and ones who handled it, and now (still) with those who lived in facilities containing asbestos. Are we seeing the same with poultry? Workers in poultry plants have a higher incidence of cancer (on the other hand, we've been eating poultry forever. It seems that we would've caught on to this earlier).
Odd claims: nearly 3/4 of all human diseases come from animals. In addition to mad cow, sars, bird flu, swine flu, also tb came from domestication of goats, measles and smallpox from domestication of cattle, typhoid from domesticated chickens, whooping cough from domesticated pigs, influenza from domesticated ducks, leprosy (possibly) from water buffalo and the cold virus from horses. Is this true??
More carbs seems to lead to less depression
Up to 6 cups of day of coffee leads to less to depression (but sugar can lessen the effect)
Eggs associated with higher levels of prostate cancer
Garlic and onions (also legumes) lower risk of BpH
As you age, risk of cancer increases, until you hit around 85 years of age.

Is food healthy is the wrong question. The question should be: compared to what?
Eating is a zero sum game. If you eat one thing, chances are you won't eat something else.
If there were a pill that could increase your lifespan and be a great inhibitor to cancer growth, heart disease, etc. with no side effects. It would cost $200 and fly off shelves. Yet broccoli is like that but people don't eat it (Monsanto even tried to patent broccoli)
One green to avoid: Alfalfa sprouts (salmonella)
Ginger is good for nausea and motion sickness
Too much nutmeg, cinnamon, poppyseeds can be harmful
Not all wholegrains are healthy. Calculation: Ratio of grams of carbohydrates to grams of Fiber should less than 5.


Things I will be buying more of now (taking into account what I am already buying):
Saffron
Cranberry juice
berries
beans
flaxseed
broccoli
any nuts (walnuts) (and seeds)
oregano
amla (indian gooseberries)


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Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler

Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fascinating book about how some languages thrived, continue to thrive, or don't thrive at all. It's not just conquering or imperialism (Turkic, Mongol and Manchu people conquered great empires but their language never spread), nor was it business and trade (the Dutch and Portuguese had bigger enterprises than the British did, but besides Brazil their languages didn't stick). Germanic tribes took over all of Europe after the Roman empire, and yet their language didn't stick, while the earlier Romance languages did.

Some of my notes:
What would have been different if Alexander the Great had gone West rather than East?
Coptic is a modern version of "Aiguptos", Greek for Egypt
Ramayana has a story like the Trojan war
The "Lugano alphabet"
Printed books meant the death of Latin
Christopher Columbus first thought he was in China, then in India, but after one month he stopped calling the locals "indios", yet the name stuck.
"Lingua Franca" stood for French language being used in the Levant during Crusades
Most English speakers speak it as a 2nd language: main reason it is widespread, but also big reason why it could die out.


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The Wings by Sang Yi

The Wings by Sang Yi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading Hae-gyoung's review of this book I want to get my hands on another translation. I noticed the typos, which made me wonder what else was mistaken/incomplete/incorrectly translated. Especially with such a surrealist/train of thought text.

3 short stories. I would probably give 5 stars to The Wings, and 3 or 4 to the other two. Typos aside, much of it seemed beyond my grasp, but it was still very intense and powerful. Interesting also to see how different these are compared to contemporary Korean fiction. At least what little I've read.


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Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse by Faith Sullivan

Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse by Faith  Sullivan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Probably minor spoilers ahead:
Not really the book I expected. I figured a book about a booker lover in small-town Minnesota would be a light read. This book is serious, with some quite depressing moments (especially the outhouse), but without being too heavy, which is an accomplishment in itself I guess. Nell's escapes into Wodehouse novels are very relatable for any reader. All in all I'm very happy I came across this book. I hear there are other novels by the same author that take place in the same town, with many of the same characters. I might have to check them out. 4.5 stars.


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