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Humorist O’Rourke takes a look at capitalism and socialism using different geographical settings as examples. O’Rourke is pretty funny, but not tremendously so.

I like Jon Katz. He’s idealistic and a bit breathless in his support of “cyberculture”, but at least he takes a stand and can write well. I also enjoyed his contributions to Slashdot, despite the thrashing he often received there. And anybody opposed to William Bennett gets my vote.

This is Katz’s take on the difference between “old” and “new” media and the potential effects the internet will have on free speech and democracy.

This book is subtitled “The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating” and presents a distillation of the latest research into the health effects of diet. If you think “healthy eating” means lots of pasta and rice cakes and no fat, you need to read this book. It really seems like the USDA’s “Food Pyramid” is a crock of shit.

This book recommends different diets for different blood types. Curiously, the ‘O’ blood type diet (I am type ‘O’) is similar to the Zone.

This book has similar recommendations and explanations as the Zone and other “Lay off the Damn Pasta, Tubby!” books, but without as much ratio- and number-crunching.

Here Sears discusses research that shows reducing caloric intake increases life-span, at least in laboratory animals. Since the Zone is effectively a low-calorie diet, at least compared to typical eating habits of Americans, Sears argues that the Zone could prolong your life. Much of this book is necessarily speculative.

Also by Sears, this book is similar to The Zone, but focuses more on the ‘how’ than the ‘why’ of sticking to the diet.

The first book about the Zone diet, by Barry Sears. This was the first diet book I read and it blew my mind. I tried it out and quickly lost 20 pounds and felt much better (vastly improved concentration). I don’t follow the Zone as rigorously as I used to, but I still pretty much stick with it.

Sears has launched a website with additional information as well as food products with the 40-30-30 carbohydrate-protein-fat ratio recommended by the Zone diet.

An engrossing book that corrects many of the errors and omissions in the history that is taught in US high schools. Another good choice is Loewen’s subsequent Lies Across America which analyzes the historical distortions of our national, state, and local monuments.