Title: Starswarm
Author: Jerry Pournelle
Published: 1999 by Tor
ISBN: 0812538935

It's been a while since I've read a work of fiction, and even longer since I picked up any science fiction. That's a real shame because there's some good stuff out there. I learned about Jerry Pournelle from the TWiT podcast, which I listen to regularly. On the show he seems to be quite abreast of technology and somebody (could have been him, not sure) recommended Starswarm as a good first read of his. That's how this book and I became acquainted.

The story is about a boy named Kip who lives on a planet named Paradise, somewhere far far away from Earth. It's a colony run by a corporation named Great Western Enterprises. The planet is fairly earth-like, although not a clone by any means. First thing you might notice would be the blue sun. The local flora and fauna are different, although similar too. Some of the notables include centaurs, haters and the lovable starswarm. The latter is some kind of a water based plant which can grow to immense proportions but is largely misunderstood by the humans.

Well it turns out that Kip isn't an ordinary boy. For starters he has a computer chip in his head which he can use to talk to a mainframe computer. He's also not who he thinks he is. During the course of the book, he does eventually find the truth (which I'm trying hard not to give away). The events leading up to the discovery and those that unfold afterwards are pretty interesting and exciting.

I was rather pleased with the book. It held my interest well and I finished it in about a week. The story flowed smoothly and the science all seemed to fit in with the environment.

The one complaint I might make would be that the book ends rather abruptly. One page there's an intense standoff and the very next the book is over. There is very little in the way of resolution beyond a quick hand wave that "they lived happily ever after". In one way that might be a good thing as it left more pages to be filled with helicopter chases, gun fights and other assorted excitements. On his website, Pournelle indicates that Starswarm may be developed into a series, something that I'm certain it would be well suited for.

I enjoyed the book immensely and would recommend it to others. I undoubtedly will read more Pournelle novels.

Title: Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
Author: Brian Wansink
Published: 2006 by Bantam Dell
ISBN: 0-553-80434-0

I've heard this guy on KCRW's Good Food before. He's a professor of marketing and nutritional science, and from the sounds of it he's a creative guy with an extremely fun job. He does research on why people eat the way they do and what influences them most. A lot of the time, it's not what you expect.

One of the best experiments he did was with a bottomless bowl of soup. His question was what makes a person decide to stop eating? What makes us stop eating? He rigged up a bowl of soup connected via a tube to a vat of soup. Without slurping down a lot of soup, basically it was impossible to empty the bowl. On average those with the endless bowl at 73% more soup than those with a normal bowl.

Most were still eating when we stopped them, 20 minutes after they began. The typical person at around 15 ounces, but others at more than a quart--more than a quart. When one of these people was asked to comment on the soup, his reply was, "It's pretty good, and it's pretty filling." Sure it is. He had eaten almost three times as much as the guy sitting next to him.

Another of my favorites is the story of a cook on a Navy ship in World War II. Due to some sort of error, the cook took on too much lemon Jell-o and no cherry. When you're out at sea for months at a time, little things like that can be a big deal. Fights were actually breaking out because of it. Well Billy, our fearless cook, thought quick on his feet and colored the lemon Jell-o red. The crew never even guessed what happened. Because they thought it was cherry, they imagined the taste of it.

But to the point of the book. Our body is quite capable of noticing changes in diet, such as eliminating all carbohydrates or eating half as many calories. That's why 90% of dieters regain their former weight. It's just not sustainable, and generally speaking the quicker you lose the weight the quicker you'll put it back on. But the human body can't detect slight changes, such as 100 calories a day. That amount of change over the course of a year works out to about 10 pounds. So if you drink an extra Mountain Dew every day, you'll gain 10 pounds. If you cut one out, you'll lose 10 pounds. In both cases, you won't notice any difference in your diet.

Dr. Wansink offers a number of ways to work 100-200 calories out of your diet, things like serving yourself 20% less (which will still leave you feeling just as full), fill your plate with fruits and veggies (less calorie dense, more vitamins), don't abandon your comfort foods instead rewire them (deprivation rarely works, but comfort foods are not written in stone).

There are plenty more suggestions, and more importantly, funny stories in this book. The author definitely has a good sense of humor and a good wit. It's an easy read that is still well supported by scientific research and more endnotes than you can shake a pastrami at.

Title: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Author: Anthony Bourdain
Published: 2000 by Bloomsbury
ISBN: 1-58234-082-X

Joseph told me that one of his culinary icons was Anthony Bourdain. I had heard of him, seen him as a guest judge on Top Chef, but I was curious as to why so I picked up this book. I don't think Alton Brown has anything to fear as far as replacing my #1 food hero, but I have definitely learned a few things about the food industry.

I do respect Anthony Bourdain. He is unapologetically a ruffian. He is, or at least has been, a drug abuser. He's got a foul mouth. You definitely won't want to read this book to your kids. So what's to love about somebody like that? Well, the fact that he is who he is and he's happy about it. He doesn't pretend to be somebody else. He's not concerned with what others think about him. He says exactly what he thinks and you know that's what he means, nothing more and nothing less.

My favorite section, probably not surprisingly, is the chapter about why he doesn't eat fish on Monday. Turns out that because the fish market is only open Monday through Friday, the fish you're served on Monday is likely whatever they bought on Friday and couldn't sell over the weekend. I have since heard the same thing from other sources, albeit with less colorful language. Mr. Bourdain also makes it clear that it is in a restaurant's best interest to serve you food that may not be the most fresh. So whenever you see something that is on special, be wary. Carefully consider any item which is not commonly sold, since it may have been in the fridge for an extended period of time. He tells of one of his jobs which was to arrange the Sunday morning brunch buffet, which consisted of leftovers from service the previous nights (yes, plural). So, also be cautious there.

I think this book has scared me away from ever opening my own restaurant. No, it's not something I've ever seriously considered. Every once in a while I think to myself that it might be fun. I don't think I have my heart into it enough though. There's a vast difference between a love of cooking (and eating!) and the ability to put in the hideous amounts of work required by a restaurant. I fall clearly in the first category and I think I will happily stay there.

Title: The Curious Cook
Author: Harold McGee
Published: 1990 by North Point Press
ISBN: 0-86547-452-4

I'm all about the science of cooking. I'm a sucker for science in a lot of forms, but cooking is great because you can eat the results. If you like Alton Brown, you'll feel right at home with Harold McGee.

Title: The Smoked-Food Cookbook
Author: Lue & Ed Park
Published: 1992 by Stackpole Books
ISBN: 1-985771-00-5

Lately I've been quite infatuated with barbecue. I place the blame squarely on Alton Brown, who has a really great recipe for ribs. He also came up with a wacky idea to build a terra-cotta smoker, which I've decided to implement. That's another blog post (complete with pictures, of course), but in preparation I decided to visit the library.

Title: Peppers: A Story Of Hot Pursuits
Author: Amal Naj
Published: 1992 by Alfred A Knopf, Inc.
ISBN: 0-394-57077-4

Last summer we grew a whole bunch of peppers in our garden. The plan was to make some salsa out of them, and to that end it was a success. We made three batches of salsa and each was delicious. The jalapeños were the best pepper we had. Compared to the poblanos and green peppers, they were more abundant. The habeñeros barely started budding by the time it froze.

With that success under my belt I'm preparing to expand my pepper cultivation next year. I picked up this book hoping to further that goal. It turns out not to be so much about growing peppers like The Great Tomato Book was about tomatoes. But it was an interesting read nonetheless.

Title: Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen
Author: Alton Brown
Published: 2003 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
ISBN: 1-58479-296-5

If you're a fan of Good Eats, you'll dig this book. But be careful. It's not a cookbook, so if that's what you're looking for you'll be disappointed. Instead, it's a book full of what A.B. recommends for your kitchen. Quite a bit of it you could guess at from his show. Some of it is straight out of the show, actually. I guess he can only have so many opinions.

I was quite intrigued by his recommendation for how to get rid of extra hardware. First step is to move everything to a single spot. As you use things, put them away. Eventually you find what you use and what you don't. Well, it's a little more involved (read the book!) but that's the gist. I just can't see myself doing that, though. I did suggest it to my wife, but she was not interested. How could we get ride of the ice cream maker we've only used once in the 6 years we've been married?

Title: Apples: History, Folklore, Horticulture, and Gastronomy
Author: Peter Wynne
Published: 1975 by Hawthorn Books
ISBN: 0-8015-0340-X

I've been considering planting a fruit tree somewhere on my property, probably in the front yard. Apples seem like a good choice. For one, they grow pretty well around here. With the cold winters we get, that's a pretty important feature. Plus there's a lot you can do with them. Pies, sauces, cobbles, juices, canning, even baby food. Oh, and I guess you can eat them plain too. So I picked up this book at the library to learn a little about apple trees and see if that's really what I want.

Title: The Great Tomato Book
Author: Gary Ibsen
Published: 1999 by Ten Speed Press
ISBN: 1-58008-048-0

This year was the first that I've had my own garden. If you would have asked me 10 years ago if I would have planted tomatoes, I would have laughed in your face. But my wife has convinced me of their virtues over the years, so we decided to plant 12 tomato plants. The harvest wasn't quite as large as I had expected, so I turned to the library for assistance.

Title: Asterisk: The Future of Telephony
Author: Jim Van Meggelen, Jared Smith & Leif Madsen
Published: 2005 by O'Reilly
ISBN: 0-596-00962-3

I've been playing with Asterisk for about a year, and I've been interested in it for twice that, pretty much since I started working with proprietary PBX systems. First was a Nortel, and now a Vodavi and an NEC. I can't understate the symplicity of having a computer-controlled (especially a Linux-based one) phone system.