reading wednesday

[boxofdelights]

• What are you reading?

Infomocracy, by Malka Older, and Cultured: How Ancient Foods Can Feed Our Microbiome, by Katherine Harmon Courage.

• What did you recently finish reading?

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, by Kelly Jones, illustrated by Katie Kath. Weird, charming, really good. I especially appreciated the author's solution to the situation, so common in kids' books, where you've got a magic problem that you can't get any help with, because you can't talk to anyone about magic; in fact, the people who care about you, the ones you should turn to for help, just pile more problems on the ones you already have, because you can't let them find out about magic.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill.

• What are you watching?

The House With A Clock In Its Walls. The child actor is not a very good actor but Cate Blanchett and Jack Black are gonzo.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, for the first time but not the last.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Reading Infomocracy was challenging: half of me was thrilled by the wonderful ideas about politics, and the other half of me was exceptionally confused trying to keep the characters straight. I don't know if that's down to me or Older. Didn't stop me from reading Null States (2 in the series) and I was equally thrilled and puzzled. I'm afraid I've reached a Point* where I can no longer understand sophisticated SF. I has a sad.

Cultured sounds intriguing. I tracked down an NPR article, where the author brings up "resistant starch"--carbs like noodle or rice that change structure and become indigestible when cooled down. I'd just learned about that in an Economist article that challenges the very concept of the calorie when it comes to understanding nutrition.

I was delighted by a more general introduction to eating-and-microiomes-and-shitting in Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ. Provides an overall understanding with cute pictures and dry self-deprecation (from a doctor!).

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* Age? Medication? Impairment? Phase of moon? Ambient apocalypse?

[boxofdelights]

Thanks for the links. This is a very interesting and frustrating subject.