Book List

One thing I *LOVE* is reading. Not just anything, but nonfiction. I kinda figure reading fiction is another form of escapism, like alcohol, or binge eating, or playing computer games or watching television. I guess I once read that just like you are what you eat, your brain is as intelligent and sharp as what you put into it. Feed it crap and that's what it's going to subsist on. So why not treat it well - after all, you only have one brain, and they haven't started doing brain transplants yet. Try your hand at a new challenge - whether it's sudoku, crossword, knitting, or even just considering new ideas... like the whole lifelong learning that's available through nonfiction books. Go ahead... strike up a new interest... your brain will thank you!

Here's some of my favourite recent reads over the past 6 months:
Ani's Raw Food Kitchen (Phyo, Ani) - LOVED it! I loved that Ani has melded together two of my passions - raw vegan food with green living. Love the recipes, love the tips she has (e.g. soak leftover lemon pieces in a bathtub full of cold water and in the morning rinse clean and voila - clean bathtub with hardly any elbow grease! I tried it - and it works amazingly well. It's all that oil in the lemon peel...)
Fresh: the ultimate live-food cookbook (Boutenko, Sergei & Valya) - LOVE the jicama fries and raw burger, and the whole book, overall.
Raw food made easy: for 1 or 2 people (Cornbleet, Jennifer) - I really liked that the recipes were for 1 or 2 people, instead of 4 like Ani's book. I'm only making raw vegan food for me, so sometimes 4 servings of the same meal can be a bit much. But Ani's book is great for entertaining. Oh, and back to Raw Food Made Easy - the tropical fruit tart was DIVINE and a HUGE hit in our house - raw vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike.
The Spirituality of Gardening (Sinclair, Donna)
The Power of Now (Tolle, Eckhart) - wow, what a reminder of how we typically go through our days unconscious of the radiant energy that we all are. A wonderful reminder to wake up! And live mindfully.
To Have or To Be (Fromm, Erich)
Slow is Beautiful: new visions of community, leisure and joie de vivre (Andrews, Cecile)
The Natural Superiority of Women (Montagu, Ashley)
Last Child in the Woods (Louv, Richard) - children today just don't seem to have the unrestricted, unsupervised access to the wild woods that even my generation had 25 yrs ago... and by the sounds of it, even that was limited. It speaks to just how much time we spend indoors, as compared to past generations (think of the pioneers, for example).
The Hand-Sculpted House - between a thorough book like this, and a week of cob building on a workshop, it's easy to feel excited about the possibilities in natural building available to anyone with little skill & money, but an abundance of time on their hands. If the technical information in this book overwhelms you, try reading The Cob-Builder's Companion (Bee, Becky) instead.
Illustrated Handbook of the Bach Flower Remedies
Easy Composting (Ortho Books, ed. Lan, Susan) - composting is easy, whether you live in an apartment (and have no access to 'earth'), or you have a piece of yard. It reduces garbage, is good for the environment, and it takes so little time and energy on our part. I love this book includes comprehensive plans for a 3-bin pallet system, for the avid composter. While you're at it, why not read The Humanure Handbook.
Silent Spring (Carsen, Rachel)
A Pattern Language: towns, buildings, construction (Alexander, Christopher et. al) - oh my goodness, if you only read one book, let it be this one. It's AMAZING. I must've read it several times over. It explains SO MUCH in our lives - about how our world around us is constructed - how the layout of our city/village/street/yard/house/any room within affects us.
Natural Capitalism: creating the next industrial revolution (Hawken, Paul et. al)
Electromagnetic Fields: a consumer's guide to the issues and how to protect ourselves (Levitt, B. Blake)
This I Believe: the personal philosophies of remarkable men and women

I'd like to add that not ALL fiction is mindless drivel. I love the stories like Wind in the Willows, and other children's classics. Enid Blyton wrote some wonderful books (The Adventures of the Wishing Chair, The Children of Willow Farm, and so many others)... so to say all fiction is puss is just not so. But if you're reading Harlequin Romance, get a grip on reality.

And one other comment - support your local library. Your tax dollars are already going towards it, and it means you're not running out purchasing books you're only going to read once or twice. Sure there's BookCrossings and you can always pass your books along to others, but why not just love the library. Seriously.