Favorite Books of 2008

David posted his favorite books for 2008, so I guess I may as well do the same.

First, here are all the books I read last year, listed alphabetically by author. This doesn't include newspapers, magazines, or restroom graffiti:

1. Anonymous - The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way
2. Bauby, Jean-Dominique - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
3. Brother Lawrence - The Practice of the Presence of God
4. Bruce, A.B. - The Training of the Twelve
5. Coleman, Robert - Des Meisters Plan der Evangelisation
6. Coleman, Robert - The Master Plan of Evangelism (3rd? 4th? reading)
7. Coupland, Douglas - All Families are Psychotic
8. Dorsett, Lyle - A Love Observed: Joy Davidman's Life & Marriage to C.S. Lewis
9. D'Souza, Tony - Whiteman
10. Gaines, James - Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment
11. Gresham, Douglas - Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis
12. Harris, Robert - Enigma
13. Harris, Robert - Fatherland
14. Henry, Marguerite - White Stallion of Lipizza
15. Hopko, Thomas - Christian Faith And Same Sex Attraction: Eastern Orthodox Reflections
16. Iweala, Uzodinma - Beasts of No Nation
17. Kolakowski, Leszek - Metaphysical Horror
18. Neighbour, Randall - A Pocket Guide to Coaching Small Groups
19. Lewis, C.S. - A Grief Observed (2nd reading)
20. Lewis, C.S. - The Problem of Pain
21. Long, Jimmy - Emerging Hope: A Strategy for Reaching Postmodern Generations
22. Machiavelli, Niccolo - The Prince
23. Nouwen, Henri - Beloved
24. Nouwen, Henri - Can You Drink the Cup?
25. Nouwen, Henri - In the Name of Jesus
26. Pollan, Michael - In Defense of Food
27. Reich, Christopher - Rules of Deception
28. Rice, Anne - Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt
29. Rice, Anne - Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana
30. Richards, Jay (ed.) - Environmental Stewardship in the Judeo-Christian Tradition
31. Robinson, Marilynne - Gilead
32. Salinger, J.D. - Franny and Zooey
33. Sayer, George - Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis
34. Scazzero, Peter - Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
35. Skinner, Betty Lee - With Integrity of Heart and Skillful Hand
36. Tarnas, Richard - The Passion of the Western Mind (2nd reading)
37. Thigpen, Paul (ed.) - My Daily Catholic Bible: Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition 20-Minute Daily Readings
    
    

9,441 pages. Seems like I ought to be a lot smarter, wiser, and more Godly than I am after all that. What's that verse about always learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth?

In any case, here are my five favorites. I won't call them "best," because a book might be "best" for a particular purpose, but still not my favorite. And I won't include the Bible, because it's the obvious best and favorite. Of the 36 that remain, my faves as of this particular moment are:

• #6 Coleman - A classic is a classic is a classic. Profound principles in a compact package.
• #21 Long - Super insights into pomo people and times, and how to minister in this culture.
• #28-29 Rice - Miraculously uncheesy imaginings about the days of Jesus before his ministry.
• #31 Robinson - Transcendently beautiful Pulitzer-prize winning novel of forgiveness and transformation.
• #36 Tarnas - A history of philosophy that reads like a novel and makes sense of the mess.

And the favorite among the favorites? That will have to wait for another post.

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

I don't normally read books about food, nutrition, or diets. After 50+ years of life, I feel like I've heard it all. Caffeine is good/bad for you. Margarine is better/worse than butter. Saccharine will/won't give you cancer. The Atkins diet will/won't make you thin, but at some/no cost to your heart. The grapefruit diet does/doesn't burn fat. And on it goes, endlessly. You could add to the list.

My basic approach to food over the last few years, as I've seen my metabolism slowing down, is to control portions and eat no more calories than what I expend, to go easy on saturated fats, and otherwise to eat a bit of everything but not too much of anything. That's been working reasonably well for me, though any doofus would know that adding regular exercise to all the above wouldn't be a bad idea.

My skepticism at dietary advice met an unexpected friend in Michael Pollan and his book, In Defense of Food. I first encountered Pollan in a lengthy interview on XM Radio's Bob Edwards Show. (You can download a podcast of an shortened version of the interview here.)

Pollan is a professor of journalism at UC Berkeley and shares my skeptical approach to much of life. In his book, he asks why a country so obsessed with nutrition and health food can simultaneously be the fattest nation on earth. What are we missing? His common-sensical analysis is eye-opening, and his writing is consistently engaging.

I had intended at one time to post excerpts from each chapter of his book on this blog, but there's just too much. I would have ended up retyping most of the book. His basic conclusion about nutrition is the title of this blog post, but there's a wealth of data and research (much of it historical rather than nutritional, surprisingly enough) that leads to this simple seven-word summary.

As a result of reading this book, I've changed some aspects of my diet to favor whole foods (fruits, vegetables) and items which only have ingredients whose names I can pronounce and which can be created somewhere other than in the chemistry lab. I'm still not a purist, but I've made a few changes. (Oh, and I drink wine a lot more often, but that may have more to do with Trader Joe's coming to town and making oceans of plonk abundantly available.)

You could buy the book - and there are certainly worse ways to drop $13 - but if you read this lengthy essay by Pollan that appeared on the NY Times website in January 2007, you'll get the gist. You can also read the first 26 pages of the book on Google Books here.