Salmon and Souvlaki

Although not my most productive reading year ever, I did manage to read over 100 books in 2013!  I track my reading on Goodreads.  So if we’re not friends there, you should join me!

Here are my favorite non-theme-related non-fiction books of 2013.
(with apologies for the repetitiveness to my Goodreads friends as these are my edited reviews from what I posted there through the year)

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz: Although a pretty boring, plodding, repetitive read, this book is well worth reading.  Since I read it, I’ve brought it up in conversation multiple times and the techniques he gives for taking control of our choices are really helpful. We used his tips to help us order several pieces of equipment for our kitchen. Thanks to him, we finished a large order on Amazon in about 20 minutes. Had we read reviews, hemmed and hawed, etc., it probably would have taken days.  (Some day I’ll write a full blog post about this.)

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google by Nicholas G. Carr: This book is thought-provoking and a bit scary – particularly relative to the jobs that are being permanently eliminated by the digital age.

Spell It Out: The Curious, Enthralling and Extraordinary Story of English Spelling by David Crystal: I wish I had read this book while I was teaching ESOL. I don’t think I would have used any of it directly in my teaching (because if you don’t know theEnglish word for “apple”, you probably don’t need to know about the linguistic history of English spelling) but it certainly would have been good background knowledge for me.  Plus, I’m just a word geek and thoroughly enjoyed learning about why English spelling is as convoluted as it is.  (Also, for any current teachers out there, he does advance a pedagogy of spelling in the appendix. So that might be helpful to you.)

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life by Rod Dreher:  A sad, sad story but one that was well-written and really interesting. Both Nik and I were surprisingly affected by the depth of emotion in it (as in, I was practically sobbing at one point). I particularly appreciated Dreher’s honesty in analyzing both his and his sister’s faults. What a gift when we can live in close community like Ruthie did!

The Zero-Waste Lifestyle: Live Well by Throwing Away Less by Amy Korst: This book has inspired Nik and me to renew our efforts to decrease our trash even more drastically than we already have. The good news is that we’re already doing just about everything in her “easy” and “moderate” categories. The bad news is that means we’ve plucked all the low-hanging fruit and are going to have to try harder! Currently, we put out one bag of trash a week – a 12-gallon bag that’s usually about half-full. Compared to what we see around our neighborhood on trash day, that’s a pretty small amount. But I know we can get it down to much closer to nothing.  So we’re going to have to move into the advanced stuff. We’re going to try composting all our food scraps (except meat), rather than just the vegetable scraps and in particular, we moved to cloth diapering at night as well as during the day. I know there’s more we need to do.

I thought this book was a nice approach to the topic and in particular, I liked how she took a “baby steps” approach to reducing how much trash you produce. She doesn’t assume that everyone will be able to do what she and her husband have done – basically reduce their trash output to a shoebox a year. Rather, she’s right that anything we do to reduce how much trash we produce is a step in the right direction.  I also hadn’t considered how the decisions we made in other parts of our lives for other reasons also are some of the main things you can do to reduce your trash – such as to cloth diaper, to make our own food, to make our own cleaning products, to not use paper products, etc.

The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills by Daniel Coyle:  Nik’s liked this book more than I did. But Nik has marked so many of the tips to use in his tennis coaching and this to me says that it’s a great book! We have to return the book to the library but I think we’re going to buy it (which we rarely do with books these days).  It’s a good one with lots of practical advice for coaching others and/or getting better at something yourself

American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow: This took me several weeks to get through but I’m glad I read it. This is American history seen through the tree. Sometimes his “because of trees” method felt a bit stretched but overall, it was a great book.

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell: As always, Malcolm Gladwell’s newest book is a fascinating read. Because of him, we’re definitely not letting our kids go to Ivy League and/or uber-selective colleges. I found that “why advantages are disadvantages” first half to be stronger than the “why disadvantages are advantages” second half.

I also enjoyed

• Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For A More Joyful Christmas by Bill McKibben
• The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Sports, Art, Music, Math, and Just About Anything by Daniel Coyle (the book which birthed The Little Book of Talent)
• Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
• Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending by Elizabeth Dunn, Michael Norton
• The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine
• Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired by Till Roenneberg

Although not my most productive reading year ever, I did manage to read over 100 books in 2013!  I track my reading on Goodreads.  So if we’re not friends there, you should join me!

Here are my favorite faith-related non-fiction books of 2013.
(with apologies for the repetitiveness to my Goodreads friends as these are my edited reviews from what I posted there through the year)

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert: This book is essential reading for any Christian called to alleviating material poverty in both the USA and the rest of the world – i.e. every believer should read it. The book is about half theological foundational discussion and half practical framework/advice. (I had the privilege of attending a “Helping Without Hurting” workshop in May, given by one of the authors. If one comes near you, you should definitely go.)

I also enjoyed

• Jim & Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper
• Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics by Ross Douthat

Additionally, I found these three books really helpful in thinking about the issues surrounding homosexuality and the Christian church.

• Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate by Justin Lee
• Is God Anti-Gay?: And Other Questions about Homosexuality, the Bible and Same-Sex Attraction by Sam Allberry
• Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality by Wesley Hill

**I forgot to add one book to my parenting book post so I just added it (Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys).  If that interests you, you should head back there to read about it!

Although not my most productive reading year ever, I did manage to read over 100 books in 2013!  I track my reading on Goodreads.  So if we’re not friends there, you should join me!

Here are my favorite eating and sewing (although not at the same time) non-fiction books of 2013.
(with apologies for the repetitiveness to my Goodreads friends as these are my edited reviews from what I posted there through the year)

Sewing

Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration: 20 New Designs with Historic Roots by Denyse Schmidt: The quilts in this book are truly gorgeous. I loved reading the history behind each quilt pattern and seeing how Denyse Schmidt re-imagined them for a modern sensibility. I especially loved the Irish Chain, Courthouse Steps, and Shoeman’s Puzzle.

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline: Fair warning, if you read this book you won’t be able to buy clothes at the mall anymore without feeling guilty.  That’s the problem with knowledge – once you know, it’s hard to go back to spending without a conscience.

Here are a few of my takeaways from this book:

1. I don’t need nearly the amount of clothing that I have right now.
2.  I should be willing to pay local designers/producers for pieces of clothing that I will wear long-term. “Buy way less clothes, spend more on what I do buy,” is my new mantra.
3. Americans are crazy.  The way we dress ourselves is incredibly unsustainable and terrible for the environment and for all who are in the supply chain to get it to us.

This isn’t a book about sewing per se but has prompted me to think more about sewing our own clothes, buying used, and/or buying ethically-sourced clothing.

I also enjoyed:

• We Love Color: 16 Iconic Quilt Designers Create with Kona Solids by Susanne Woods
• Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe published by Martingale
• Brave New Quilts: 12 Projects Inspired by 20th-Century Art from Art Nouveau to Punk & Pop by Kathreen Ricketson

Eating

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss:  This book has solidified into steel my resolve to keep processed food out of our house. I also feel less guilty for thinking longingly about eating Cheetos even 4+ years after I gave up eating them. It’s not just poor self-control on my part; food scientists designed them to be as addictive as possible so that I would want to buy more and more!  Don’t read this if you don’t want to have to change your shopping habits (but I do hope you read it). (Ironically, I started reading this the day that I made us Thai curry for dinner. The sauce’s main ingredients? Coconut milk (fat), fish sauce (salt), and palm sugar (sugar). No wonder it tasted so good!)

The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table by Tracie McMillan: This was a different book about food than many I’ve read. In particular, she deals with the “how can we all eat well” question the best that I’ve read so far. By all of us, she means everyone – different in race, gender, ethnicity, class, and geographic location. Not surprising, she argues that we need better education, better access, and better government policies (particularly related to the food that our tax dollars subsidize) if we want to change the dismal state of food in America. I also enjoyed her writing style and particularly appreciated her accounts of the amazingly kind and generous people she encountered while doing her undercover reporting.

I also enjoyed:

• An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler
• It’s Only Slow Food Until You Try to Eat It: Misadventures of a Suburban Hunter Gather by Bill Heavey

Although not my most productive reading year ever, I did manage to read over 100 books in 2013!  I track my reading on Goodreads.  So if we’re not friends there, you should join me!

Here are my favorite parenting/childbirth non-fiction books of 2013.
(with apologies for the repetitiveness to my Goodreads friends as these are my edited reviews from what I posted there through the year)

The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age by Catherine Steiner-Adair: As I was reading this, I kept saying, “Nik – listen to this!! Can you believe it?!?!” This is just another book in a long line of books we’ve been reading which has convinced us that:

• Our kids will not be having their own cell phones (smart or not) until they’re really old.
• We definitely are not bringing a TV into our house.
• We will be talking to our kids bluntly about media use, media messages, dangers of sexting, pornography, etc.
• We want to home school to keep our kids away from all this crazy media use in public schools.

Also, since reading this book, we’re trying much harder to make sure that we don’t use the computer when the kids are around. I’ve started even leaving the computer off until after lunch (most days) so that I’m not tempted to try to get some computer work done while they’re around. This has transformed our mornings to be much more productive (for me) and much calmer and happier (for all of us).

And if this makes the author sound like a crazy, anti-technology author, she’s really not. I found her approach to be quite balanced/nuanced. From p. 26, ” I want us to be thoughtful about technology, more in charge of the way we integrate it into our lives. I want us to adapt technology to serve us well, rather than surrender ourselves unquestioningly to adapt to technology.”

The Opposite of Worry: The Playful Parenting Approach to Childhood Anxieties and Fears by Lawrence J. Cohen: This was one of the most helpful parenting books I’ve read in a long time. I don’t consider Ellie to be particularly anxious (she doesn’t seem prone to worrying, etc) but she is a really cautious child in many respects (slow to warm up in strange situations, etc) and so there was a lot in this that was helpful to me. We’re already using several of his techniques to help smooth out some consistently rough spots in our day.  Even if you don’t have an anxious child, you should read this book. I know you’ll find more than a few tools to add to your parenting/child-caring toolbox.

For example, whenever there is sunshine in Ellie’s eyes (in the car, when walking through a sunny room, etc), she FLIPS out, out of proportion to how sunny it actually is. No amount of coaxing (just close your eyes, honey!) or distracting seems to work. One of Cohen’s techniques is to have a Fear-O-Meter to help your child verbalize how scared he/she is. “On a scale of 1 to 10, how scared do you feel right now?” Not only does this help you communicate with your child, but numbers activate a different part of the brain than fear and so simply by stopping to consider your number, you’ve already started helping yourself calm down. We’ve started asking Ellie, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how bright is it?” And it totally works!! She immediately stops complaining, thinks about it, gives us a number, and laughs like it’s a super fun game! Sometimes she says, “20,” and so we express major shock that it’s so sunny and she finds that even funnier. This has transformed our car rides to church in the morning when the sun is always in her eyes.

The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More by Bruce Feiler:  I learned a ton from this book and have lots to talk about with Nik – ideas for what to implement in our own family! The first section was most relevant to our family stage right now (with only younger kids). Some things I learned from the book:  Family meals are really important but particularly because of the talking that goes on at the meals. Kids need to understand their family history – even extended family. I want to get framed pictures of family out and visible so that we can be talking and telling stories about all these people – not just at the dinner table.  A family mission statement is most effective when posted visibly and talked about. We need to finish ours and get it posted.  I want to look more into “agile” theory and routines – particularly related to making certain procedures routine – such as what we do when we wake up (brush teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, etc).

The Business of Baby: What Doctors Don’t Tell You, What Corporations Try to Sell You, and How to Put Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Before Their Bottom Line by Jennifer Margulis: This is a vitally important book to read for any woman who ever wants to have a baby, any person who plans to be a parent (male or female), and for any person who plans to support a woman when she is either pregnant, laboring, or caring for a baby.  I was often sick to my stomach reading this book. I had to take it in small doses and couldn’t read more than a chapter or two at a time. I knew most of the information already but to see the awfulness of how we care for pregnant women and babies all in one place was almost more than I could take.  I’m so grateful that our family has escaped much of it.

Clearly this author has an agenda (to show that the system is totally messed up) but her research is well documented and even if you don’t buy every word of her argument, it’s hard to escape the reality that birth is big business and that the USA has higher infant and maternal mortality rates that basically all of the developed world and much of the developing world. Clearly, something needs to change.  (And in the interests of full disclosure, I agree with her agenda 100%.)

Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading by Lawrence Goldstone: I can’t wait until Ellie is in 2nd grade so we can start a book club like the one in the book.  I wish I had read this at the beginning of my teaching career. Now, even I understand some terms better than I did when I was actually teaching them (like protagonist/antagonist.  Also, I like the book lists in the back along with the major themes already stated for me.

Sleepless in America: Is Your Child Misbehaving…or Missing Sleep? by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka:  This is by far the best sleep book I’ve read. It’s not perfect** but what sleep book could be, really? I particularly like the author’s emphasis on understanding your child’s personality as it relates to ease or difficulty in sleeping. We’d put some of what she recommends into practice already (particularly related to setting the body clock) and it’s been helpful to us. We’re seeing far fewer tantrums from Ellie now that we’ve figured out a way to get her to take a short nap every afternoon.  **I didn’t totally agree with her approach to infants, in that I really don’t think it’s such a bad thing if you nurse or rock your baby to sleep rather than laying him/her down while still awake. For one thing, since we don’t have a crib, if I lay Mark down when he’s still awake, he just crawls off to come get me! I think that’s more of a personal decision and it’s OK to nurse your babies to sleep if that’s what works for you! But for older kids (maybe 2 years+), I found this super helpful.

Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys by Dan Kindlon and Michael G. Thompson:  There’s such a lot for me to ponder in this book, now that I’m raising a boy myself.  Mark is so empathetic right now (i.e. he picks up on our sadness, particularly in Ellie, right away, crying whenever she does, etc).  I’m now thinking about how we can help him stay that way, knowing that we’ll have to fight the greater cultural stereotypes about men and boys to do so.  I definitely recommend this for anyone parenting a boy.

I also enjoyed:

• Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
• Made to Play!: Handmade Toys and Crafts for Growing Imaginations by Joel Henriques