A wonderful summer for books Part II

My true love in reading lies with non fiction. On pretty much any subject. I usually just read one book and that leads me to another and another, or I find one sitting next to it at the library or so on. I love reading non fiction because people are so smart and being able to expand your knowledge in an area is so simple with books! I just love how much knowledge there is in the world, I just want to read about all of it! Some highlights from this summer - 

Freakonomics/Super Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner : I started off my summer with these, and what a hoot! These guys have the most interesting minds to even think about putting these stats together! It’s one of those books that gives you tidbits of information that you can pull out later and sound either really interesting or kind of weird. Super Freakonomics = Super Fun. Check ‘em out! (At least see the movie, I heard it’s decent)

More than Good Intentions by  Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel. Freakonomics was created by someone who is a behavioural economist, and that area of study sounded really interesting. When I looked it up on the library database, this title popped up. With a subtitle like How a New Economics is Helping to Solve Global Poverty, I was obviously hooked. It is exactly what aid needs – a scientific study of the efficiency and areas of need of projects, programs and ideas. It presents real solutions that have been tested, and ACTUALLY tested, as in, against controls and everything. Most interesting for me and many I know – the section on microcredit. Clever people putting their smarts to very good use.

Another behavioural econ book – Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.

So behavioural economics was one topic of interest for me this summer, another was food. In the last year or so I have become a serious foodie. So I read and recommend: 

Hundred Mile Diet by Alisa Smith & J.  B. MacKinnon. A very honest and real portrayal of this couple’s year of eating only food that was grown within a hundred miles of their Vancouver home. Definitely won’t be joining that extreme diet anytime soon but it did make me more aware while I was grocery shopping which is always good!

Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto The Promises and Perils of the BioTech Harvets by Peter Pringle  Another book to film whose on screen version I need to see! But the book was fascinating, all about the pros and cons, benefits and dangers of genetically modified food, a very relevant topic for our GMO eating selves! (yes, you eat GMOs. All the time, I guarantee it.) I liked this book because it’s an easy bandwagon to jump on and so “No genetically modified foods at all! Evil!” but he doesn’t. He presents good balanced information, and it’s enlightening on the topic of how our food is grown and regulated in general!

More Food books: Food Matters: Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman (and now I have the accompanying How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by the same author! Thanks Sean!), Pandora’s Picnic Basket: The Potential and Hazards of Genetically Modified Foods by Alan McHughen

I also got into reading about Feminism this summer:

Grassroots: A Field Guide to Feminist Activism by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards .

 Favourite book of the summer. Hands down. 

When I read, I know it’s a good book when I am writing things down, because I’m so inspired. I filled up 3 pages with this book. And had to reorganize them all later because I was so full of energy and ideas from this book. If you are a feminist activist, read it. It’s geared toward beginners in the area, but I think it would be a great read for anyone. They discuss their opinion on things I debate in my own head: the spirit of competition rather than support among activists, feeling like you can’t work on a project because you aren’t perfect in that area (ie – pro-fair labour practices but you probably still buy stuff from sweat shops sometimes), or the struggle many people, and particularly women, face about marriage or partnerships, children or no children, career or stay at home.. I could rave about this book forever. Got it from the library but will be getting my own copy. And don’t be scared of the “feminist” title, I’m sure you would be inspired whether you identify as a feminist or not.

Other feminist books:  To Hell With It: Loving and Loathing Your Inner Housewife by Caitlin Flanagan (Definitely not in my top books of the summer because the author with two young children is writing for other mothers, I was not her audience for sure. Probably better if I was). No Turning Back: The history of Feminism and the future of women by Estelle Friedman

Finally, in no category whatsoever: 

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Fun book – lots of good ideas, lots of insights into how we can foster our own happiness and that of others, and some honest reflection on how trying to be happy all the time can be really hard! 

That was as short of a post as I could write  - just too many great books! Happy reading!