The Paleo Manifesto by John Durant

The Paleo Manifesto

by

John Durant

My youngest son (34yo),  recommended a book to me.  I find that when one of my kids or my grandson recommends a book,  then reading that book becomes even more enjoyable than usual.  It provides a connection that makes it special.  The book that he recommended was The Paleo Manifesto by John Durant.  I knew that my son had changed his diet to Paleo a couple years ago and had not only trimmed up and was not getting colds very often.  So when my husband and I started comparing low carb,  keto,  and paleo diet choices,  I asked my son about his new eating habits.  That is when he said he follows what John Durant says to do in his book The Paleo Manifesto.  I put it on my hold list at the digital library service because there was a waiting list.  And a week ago it became available to me.  I finished the book last night.   It is written in a very entertaining way and is a book that is full of information yet remains an easy read.  The 368 pages flew by.  John Durant not only tells his path to changing his life style to paleo but he covers the historical and scientific facts surrounding his decisions.  It is  about his food choices but also about his entire lifestyle.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who is exploring changing the way they eat or for anyone who wants to understand how a loved one is eating when they go paleo.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.  

May 2018 Library Writing Group

The assignment was to write about when we were eighteen.  I am afraid I was not very original.  Google was a great help in coming up with the facts.

1975 was an eventful year.  Bill Gates and Paul Allen created a company and  named it Microsoft.  There was competition going on between two types of video recorders so we didn’t know whether to buy Beta or VHS tapes because we felt only one of the two devices would survive.  In 1975 the war finally ended in Vietnam and the first disposable razor was available from a company named BIC.  Gerald Ford was president and Jimmy Hoffa disappeared.    NBC released a new show called “Saturday Night Live” with the first show hosted by George Carlin and “Jaws” was a hit movie in theaters.  The Eagles had a popular song titled “Best of My Love” but the number one song of the year was “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennille.  Angelina Jolie and Tiger Woods were born that year.  Motorola obtained a patent for the first mobile phone and Kodak invented the digital camera.  I graduated from high school in May of 1975.  I weighed sixty-six pounds less than I do now and was two inches taller.  My mother was still alive.  My great grandmother was still alive and so were all my grandparents except one.  We were planning my sister’s wedding and my brother was in Germany serving in the Army.  My parents went to Europe on vacation that summer and visited him while they were there. It was the end of August in 1975 when I turned 18 and I moved in to the dorm at St Joseph School of nursing just prior to my eighteenth birthday.  I remained there less than six months as I found the environment too confining and restrictive.  In 1975 things cost less.  A letter could be mailed for ten cents.  A quart of milk could be purchased for forty-six cents and a loaf of bread for thirty-three cents.   A bottle of Boone’s Farm Apple Wine would cost a person ninety-nine cents.  But wages were less too.  My job as a nursing assistant at a nursing home paid eighty-five cents an hour with a five dollar bonus at Christmas, although minimum wage was $2.10 an hour.  The average yearly income in 1975 was $8,630.92.  The average cost of a new car was $4,250.00 and you could put gas in it for fifty-seven cents a gallon.  An average house would run you $52,000.  There were 310,387 less cases of aggravated assault in the US in 1975 than in 2016, and 39,640 less cases of forceable rape but 2016 can boast of 3,260 less murders than 1975.  14.9% more high school graduates enrolled in college in 1998 than in 1975 but in the time frame the number of young women who enrolled in college after high school rose 20%.  Heart Disease was the leading cause of death in the United States then also but it was 12.4% higher than it is today.  Cancer was the second leading cause of death then also but it was 4% lower than today.  The average life expectancy was five years less.  Looking back the 42 years to when I was 18, it seems that some things are worse and some things are improved and some things never change.  Today our cell phones are more powerful computers than what the astronauts of the 70’s had on their spacecrafts.  But human beings continue to struggle with relationships in their homes,  with loneliness at different times in their lives,  and with feelings of self doubt from time to time.  People remain selfish deep down in their beings while some continue to try to resist those selfish urges more than others.  People still get angry,  they still cry and they still laugh.  But clearly, love remains the constant that accompanies the constant of change. 

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

Turtles All The Way Down

by

John Green

Last night on the way home from work I finished listening to John Green's latest book, Turtles All The Way Down.  I only listened to this book on the way home because John Green's books always make me cry and I did not want to arrive at work upset.  But this John Green book did not make me cry.  It is supposed to be the story of a teenaged girl, named Aza, with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  In my opinion, she is showing a lot of schizophrenic type symptoms.  She totally breaks from reality at times and she is pretty paranoid about microorganisms.   She not only hears various voices in her head but even identifies herself in the plural.  Nevertheless,  regardless of whether or not the author got the diagnosis right,  he has dealt with the issue of mental illness in such a way that his audience,  which is predominately young people,  will feel less isolated if they have a mental illness and will feel more empathy if they do not.   And Aza does exhibit obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors.   Therefore,  John Green has written another successful book.   I found the part of the book where Aza's best friend, Daisy, becomes upset because she feels Aza only thinks about Aza and no one else,  which is very true,  a relief.  There were times in the book that Aza annoyed me and I wanted her to just get a grip.  Although I realize that people with mental illness aren't able to which is the point of the book.   I think the author does a great job of pointing out that the future of this young woman is promising so that a young person with a mental illness reading the book does not feel life is futile.  I also think he does a great job in using the stars and the sky to show his reading audience that everything is not about the individual in life but that we are a part of a larger world.  In addition, the way he uses the sky at the end to show that the same thought spiral that tightens on Aza can grow larger instead of smaller if looking outward instead of inward is brilliant.  I will not say that this is  my favorite John Green book but the author was successful in writing a meaningful and important  book about mental illness.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.