There is a wide gap in the writing of history. There is academic history and popular history, and really, you wouldn’t think there would be a huge gap between the two, but there is. Academic history is created for, read by and recognized by those who walk the hallowed halls of universities the world over. Popular history is for the rest of the world, and it’s a whole other story—or history. I’m sure a lot of people would be surprised to discover that many mainstream/popular works, even by revered historians, cannot be cited in academic papers. Because, after all, it is just history for the unwashed masses. So, why am I telling you this? So you’ll have a little background before we dive into THE FORGOTTEN FOUNDING FATHER by Joshua Kendall.

The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of American Culture embarks on the tale of the man best known for a dictionary and how he fits into the creation of American Nationalism. Unbeknownst to most American’s Webster was, like many men of his age, a revolutionary and nationalist. Kendall works to build a case that Webster was an integral force in the founding of American nationalism and was a key component in the creation of a distinctly American, as opposed to British, culture.

Kendell presents an interesting case. His depiction of Webster as a founding father is not completely convincing, although he does offer some solid reasoning. There is certainly no escaping the fact that the spelling book Webster produced and his famous dictionary are defining parts of the American experience. Was he a founding father? Was he a definitive creator of American? I’m still not completely convinced.

The truly wonderful thing about this book is its sheer readability. It brings these people, often so remote to most of us, to vivid life. Their infighting, their passions and failings all seen through the eyes of our “hero” Noah Webster. Kendell paints him as a real person, full of passion for his country, dislike for some of his fellow countrymen, love of his work—in other words, a person we can know and see in the larger context of the movements of history. That’s really what makes this book work, the personal feeling that Kendall gives to it, the fact that it reads almost like a novel.

On the other side of the coin there is a problem with books like this—popular history. The writer can often make assumptions and assertions that pass by, and can even be quoted as fact, that are a little shaky in their veracity, and there is no one to call them on it. Piecing together history can be a delicate thing at the best of times, dealing with biographical history is never the best of times, because you are viewing the events through the filter of a single experience—even if you use many sources to produce the work.

The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of American Culture is definitely worth a read, don’t get me wrong. It’s an interesting slice of history that adds to a larger puzzle of the revolution and post-revolutionary years. I hope that reading this book will open up that part of American history to readers again and they will go in search of more books on the subject. It’s such a fascinating time, take a moment and visit it with Noah Webster, The Forgotten Founding Father.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Putnam Adult | Pages: 368 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

Follow me on Twitter @muffymorrigan

Ah, the glamorous life of the astrophysicist, scaling ancient pyramids, foiling the enemies of the state, getting the girl… No, wait, that’s archaeologists. In fact, the world of astronomy is a long way from wine, women and song as Mike Brown relates in his HOW I KILLED PLUTO AND WHY IT HAD IT COMING. The long arduous processes that the world-at-large is unaware of are the core of this book, and it could be boring.

Could be, but it isn’t.

I do like a book that gives me that sense of being smarter at the end. Like Stephen Hawking’s landmark A Brief History of Time, Brown’s How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming takes readers into the fairly unknown world of astronomy and astrophysics and makes it accessible and understandable. That’s no mean trick, there is a lot of math involved in this stuff and Brown boils it down and relates it in a way that I didn’t have to go back and reread to know what we were actually talking about. (And some “popular” books in this genre are very much that way.)

How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming is the story of Brown’s quest for a planet, trying enter that tiny group of men who have discovered a planet in our solar system. What his years and years of work results in is not the addition of a planet, but the downgrading of Pluto to “dwarf planet”. Along the way he records the backlash of, well, practically everybody, from the scientific community to hate mail from grade school students.

Brown also shares his life as he shares his work, so as the search for a planet, and the politics of astronomy are the center of the action, his family and his life are a part of it as well and make the book that much more enjoyable. I found his insights into physics fun and meaningful and they will stick with me for years, far longer I’m sure than the long forgotten formulas I labored over in college.

This is possibly one of the most readable books in the genre, easily surpassing the ones that have come before. Brown explains things like how they predict the orbit of planets years in the future in simple terms without making the reader feel like an idiot. I really hate that and have set books aside because of that. I know I don’t know a lot about this stuff, that’s why I’m reading the book. And Brown made me feel smarter, more knowledgeable. I know why poor Pluto had to die, I know why it had it coming and even better, thanks to Brown’s wonderful book I can actually explain it to someone else. Whether you are an astronomy buff, or are just curious how a planet becomes not a planet, How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming is a fascinating and entertaining read.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Spiegel & Grau | Pages: 288 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

I grew up, like many people, watching Julia Child happily toddling about her kitchen creating masterpieces of food with seeming ease. Of course back then I only saw her as this sweet, tough, often funny, woman who cooked up a storm, and didn’t realize her place as a “great” in the world of food. For a long time after discovering her place as a “great” I lost a little of that love for the woman from my childhood. AS ALWAYS JULIA: THE LETTERS OF JULIA CHILD AND AVIS DEVOTO has restored that love. Through this collection of letters, I found two wonderful women, Child and her mentor and friend Avis DeVoto.

Child and DeVoto met when Julia sent a fan letter to Avis’ husband Bernard DeVoto about his article on kitchen knives. Avis answered it, and the two began what would become their lifelong correspondence. It was after Child mentioned that she was working on a cookbook that DeVoto became an advocate and helped her get that first publication.

Joan Reardon has done an amazing job in collecting and editing this massive work. It had to be a daunting task, these are two chatty and opinionated woman and their correspondence covers not just food but pretty much everything that two women can talk about over the course of many years. Some readers might be surprised at the frank nature of some of their discussions, but for me, it was a chance to really get to know them and understand and their world on a very personal level.

I know the idea of reading a collection of letters might seem odd, even dry, reading to a lot of people. I would include myself with that crowd a lot of the time. I’ve read books of letters and sometimes I’ve found myself wondering just how bored some poor Victorian lady had to be to write seven pages about the dust in India. As Always Julia is nothing like that, it is more like a novel, personal, intimate and highly readable. The more I read, the more I wished I’d had a chance to know both these amazing women.

Whether or not you are a fan of Julia Child to begin with, you will be by the end. If you don’t love to cook, it doesn’t really matter, food is a big a part of the letters, but they are really about life. Take the time to read As Always Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis Devoto it is funny, frank, sad and even agonizing and worth every minute you spend getting to know Julia and Avis.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | Pages: 432 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

While Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, it can also be stressful, incredibly busy, and sometimes not so much fun. In an effort make the Holiday season more enjoyable, Laurie Notaro compiled a book of 10 true stories of her life. Notaro is amazing, and AN IDIOT GIRL’S CHRISTMAS: TRUE TALES FROM THE TOP OF THE NAUGHY LIST does not disappoint! There has never been an author that I’ve read that can make me laugh out loud throughout an entire book, but somehow Notaro succeeds in doing just that.

Her books are all made up of short stories from her life experiences, and let me say this; I want to be friends with this woman! Awkward and so true to life, her stories have me nodding as I read them and feeling connected to her because I’ve DONE the things that she’s done – and generally with the same results.

An Idiot Girl’s Christmas is a collection of Notaro’s family (and friend) Christmas stories. I absolutely loved the entire book. Coming from an Italian family myself, the little nuances that make up Notaro’s family are hilarious to me – they exist in my family as well.

With stories like “Deck the Mall” where Notaro recounts her adventures of taking her wonderful and sassy grandmother Christmas shopping at the mall (one particularly hilarious line has Nana telling an Aveda sales girl that she is “Out of her mind”) to “Where do Good Trees Go When They Die” (I’ll let you read that one on your own), this book is one of Notaro’s best.

There were a few stories that were recycled from her previous works, but that’s to be expected when you’re attempting a “theme” collection (and I’ll forgive it because the stories are all fantastic enough to be repeated).

Notaro’s writing is second to none. She can weave a world through writing that makes you feel like you’re there, experiencing the situations with her; and every last one of them will make your sides hurt from laughing.

While the stories are funny, there is a genuine quality that I love about them. You can really tell that Notaro means everything that she says, and while there might be a hint of exaggeration (not saying there is!) for dramatic flair, it never feels over the top. An Idiot Girl’s Christmas is genuine and heartwarming, and is guaranteed to make you smile.

If you’re looking for something for that hard to shop woman on your list – An Idiot Girl’s Christmas: True Tales from the Top of the Naughty List is the perfect answer.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Release Date: 2005 | Publisher: Villard Books | Pages: 160 | Buy on Amazon

Follow me on Twitter @singmesweet

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain carries the subtitle “A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook,” and it truly acts like a valentine. It expresses Bourdain’s honest sentiments about the food world, and, like a true bloody valentine, it will also leave some hurt and heart broken. The book covers a variety of topics like Bourdain’s early life, his addiction to drugs, why he will never go back to St. Barths, and why the fish at Le Bernardin is always good. He does address some of the grief he’s given to some celebrity chefs (Bobby Flay, Mario Batali) and reinforces why he hates certain others (Rachel Ray, Sandra Lee, Paula Deen). Last, but not least, there’s a great epilogue-type chapter where Bourdain revisits some of the people he wrote about in Kitchen Confidential and how they have changed (or not) in the past years.

Many people are familiar with Anthony Bourdain’s work, whether they ate at Les Halles when he was the chef there, or they watch his popular TV show No Reservations on The Travel Channel, or they read his nonfiction best seller Kitchen Confidential. One of the best assets of Medium Raw is that Bourdain writes it the same way he speaks on his TV show or other appearances: raw, with feeling, without pulling any punches, without unnecessary flowery language. This is best on display in two chapters of the book (with wildly different aims): “Heroes and Villains”, where Bourdain discusses who he sees as villains or heroes in the food world (sometimes for interesting reasons), and “Lust” where he describes his favorite food memories from his travels (which he describes as food and travel porn). “Lust” is my favorite chapter of the book, the imagery and language used force you to enter Bourdain’s world and make you wish you could be at the same taco stand in Puebla or having a hot pot in Chengdu.

Bourdain’s writing also gives you a great feeling of a conversation going on between the author, the subject of the chapter, and the reader, and it draws you into the narrative very easily. This is best shown in the chapter “The Fury” about David Chang (the brains behind New York hotspots Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ssam, Ko, and Milk Bar) where Bourdain spins the tale of Chang’s background while bringing you the conversation they shared over chicken skewers. At the end of the chapter, you understand more about the brilliance behind Chang, as Bourdain provides some perspective during the narrative to help the reader understand how important he is to cooking, but also why he is the person he is today. It’s very powerful stuff to read and opens up the reader’s appreciation to intensity of the cooking world.

Medium Raw is a great book for fans of Anthony Bourdain or those who enjoy learning more about the food world (as well as foodies!). It’s only age appropriate for adults, as the language and situations described are too mature for younger readers. If you’re still not sure about Medium Raw, I recommend watching an episode of No Reservations, it will give you a good idea of the tone and style of the book while providing you insight into Anthony Bourdain.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Medium Raw:

If a gas leak blew up this building? Fine dining as we know it would be nearly wiped out in one stroke. Ming Tsai would be the guest judge on every episode of Top Chef, and Bobby Flay and Mario Batali would be left to carve up Vegas between themselves.
- Bourdain on the guest list at a special dinner he attended

“You’ve been a bad boy,” Sandra was saying, perhaps referring to casual comments I may or may not have made, in which I may have suggested she was the “hellspawn of Betty Crocker and Charles Manson.” The words “pure evil” might have come up as well. It is alleged that the words “war crime” might also have been used by me- in reference to some of Sandra’s more notorious offerings, like her “Kwanzaa Cake.” Right now, I have no contemporaneous recollection of these comments.
- Bourdain on an encounter with Sandra Lee at a premiere after-party

We spent a somewhat less than romantic New Year’s Eve at a party hosted by the Gaddafis. That should tell you something. Enrique Iglesias provided the entertainment. A detail that lingers in the memory like the birthmark on one’s torturer’s cheek.
- Bourdain on a bad trip to St. Barths

John F. Kennedy said something truly terrifying—guaranteed to make every parent’s blood run cold: “To have a child is to give fate a hostage.”
- Bourdain on becoming a father

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Ecco | Pages: 304 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

Journalist Ariel Leve chronicles her pessimistic attitude and neurotic tendencies in her new memoir, It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me. It’s a compilation of her “Cassandra” columns, which she used to write for London’s Sunday Times Magazine. In these short essays, she discusses everything from how hard it is to get out of bed and leave the house, to relationships, to being a hypochondriac. Since she lives in New York and London, she also has an interesting perspective on the differences between the cities, such as dinner parties in New York versus London.

I tend to be a bit of a pessimist myself, so I could totally relate to many of Leve’s musings. Her affinity for naps and her dislike of the question “What’s new?” (“I switched toothpaste, paid the phone bill, and bought a humidifier. I’m no Sharon Stone.”) reminded me a lot of myself. I like how she embraces her crankiness and says things that a lot of us are too afraid to admit. Since Leve’s a New Yorker and most of her observations are about everyday life, I got a Seinfeld/Larry David vibe from the book—only more feminine and introspective.

I can easily recommend It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me to pessimists, chronic worriers, and hypochondriacs—that’s a no-brainer. At worst, they’ll think, “What does she have to worry about? She should try being me.” As for happy-go-lucky folks? I just don’t know if they’ll get it. Perhaps they should first try reading some of her Cassandra columns to get a feel for the dark (but funny!) world of Ariel Leve.

Quotes from It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me:

Just then I discovered something very important. There is a world of difference between having nothing to do and having no plans.

People like having solutions. Men especially. If there’s a problem, it has to be solved. What’s wrong with having a problem and talking about it until you get tired? Sooner or later you give up and move on.

All I want to do is sleep. I suspect it relates to my fundamental inability to embrace the fact that I’m alive.

I feel bad that maybe I’m not doing enough. But then it occurred to me I’m doing more than most. I’m not having children. That’s about as environmentally friendly as it gets. Putting fewer people on earth does far more to prevent global warming than buying organic blueberries.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Harper Perennial | Pages: 304 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

After being blown away by Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, I decided to pick up his latest book, Food Rules. Pollan’s thesis is that we should avoid processed foods and eat a more traditional diet, and Food Rules has 64 rules designed to help you make better food choices. It’s divided into three parts that each support Pollan’s now famous advice to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” The first section is designed to help you distinguish real food from the processed food he calls “edible foodlike products.” In part two Pollan advocates eating “mostly plants” and treating meat more like a side dish. Part three is about the importance of eating in moderation and changing our relationship with food.

I think the best way to describe Food Rules is as the Cliff’s Notes version of In Defense of Food. He removed all the scientific content and extensive research from In Defense of Food and distilled the content down to 64 rules. Unfortunately, I think he has removed the best part and I didn’t find Food Rules as compelling as it could’ve been. However, I can see why some would find this book appealing because it’s short and very readable. People who are too busy or too intimidated to read the very complex In Defense of Food will find that Food Rules is a great way to find advice that can be easily incorporated into their everyday lives. The rules are short, easy to remember, and more than a few will make you chuckle.

Having read Michal Pollan’s previous book, I can’t say that I learned anything new from Food Rules, but I’m probably not its intended audience. I recommend it to those unfamiliar with his work because it’s a great way to learn his basic principles. However, if you have the time and the interest definitely check out In Defense of Food.

Quotes from Food Rules:

Rule 7: Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.

Rule 20: It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.

Rule 36: Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Penguin | Pages: 112 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

When David Sedaris goes on a book tour he can fill huge auditoriums with fans eager to hear his humorous observations and stories. His new CD, Live For Your Listening Pleasure, was recorded last year at various stops on his tour. It’s a new standalone album (there’s no corresponding book), but if you’ve had the opportunity to attend one of his events, you might have heard a few of the stories before. Here’s a list of the contents and my thoughts on each:

Cat and Baboon – This fable consists of a conversation between a cat and a baboon and I thought it was a cute way to begin the album.

Author, Author - When I saw him at an event in 2008 he read Author, Author but it was just as funny the second time around. It’s about his experiences on tour (which are hilarious), but he also describes a shopping trip at Costco with his brother-in-law, which had me in stitches. Only he could turn something as mundane as shopping at a warehouse store into an entertaining story.

Innocence Abroad – I had never heard this one before and I think it ranks up there with some of his all-time best. As the name implies, it’s about traveling abroad, in particular, an obnoxious houseguest he hosted at his home in France. It’s worth listening to just to hear Sedaris’ pronunciation of “Nicaragua.”

Laugh, Kookaburra – I’d read this story before in The New Yorker but I enjoyed it more this time since he actually sings the Kookaburra song (something I wasn’t familiar with).

Diary Entries – He ends the CD by reading random entries from his diary and there are lots of funny observations and excerpts from conversations he had with the people he met at book signings.

Live For Your Listening Pleasure is a little over an hour long and is a great way to experience David Sedaris. His audiobooks are always great, but I think several stories on this album were chosen specifically because they work well aloud. It’s the perfect medium for Innocence Abroad because his over-the-top pronunciations probably wouldn’t translate quite as well in print. Sedaris fans will love Live For Your Listening Pleasure and I think it would probably be a good way for new fans to become acquainted with him as well.

Quotes from Live For Your Listening Pleasure:

“WE’VE GOT TO GET SOMETHING ELSE IN THIS CART,” I told him.

When did you last touch a monkey?

If Los Burritos Grandes was a mountain range amongst which toiled an oppressed peoples, well that would be different.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Hachette Audio | Format: Audio CD | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

I’ve been wanting to read In Defense of Food for a while now, but it wasn’t until I saw Michael Pollan’s recent appearance on Oprah that I finally picked up the book. His premise sounds simple: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” When I first heard that, all I could think was “well, duh.” But where his argument starts to get interesting is Pollan’s claim that most of the heavily processed food in the supermarket is not food at all, but “edible foodlike substances.” I think we’ve all heard the warning that processed food probably isn’t good for us, but it’s the kind of thing that goes in one ear and out the other. Not anymore. In Defense of Food presents the most thoroughly researched, compelling argument against processed food and the Western diet (lots of sugar, refined grains, and meat) that I’ve ever read. Pollan also gives common sense advice about eating (example: “don’t eat food incapable of rotting”) that will help you navigate the aisles of the grocery store.

In the first part of the book, Pollan lays out his argument against the culture of nutritionism, or the practice of reducing food down to it’s nutrient components (protein, carbs, fat). I am so guilty of this; I pour over nutritional labels, painstakingly comparing calories, fat, and sugar between brands of food. So his argument that maybe foods aren’t “the sum of their nutrient parts” made me defensive. That didn’t last long, though, because the man has a point. Scientists have yet to figure out all of Mother Nature’s secrets and there’s probably a lot more going on in food than we know. Plus, if you only look at certain nutrients, processed food can appear to be as healthy as whole foods, which is exactly what the food industry wants us to think.

Pollan methodically presents his argument against the Western diet, complete with evidence to backup his claims, but the book never gets dull. It’s chockfull of things I hadn’t heard before, like that low fat milk has all sorts of potentially unhealthy food additives in it to make it creamy and that 75% of the vegetable oil in our diet comes from soybeans. Pollan also keeps things interesting with his biting sarcasm and great sense of humor. That’s really evident in my favorite piece of advice from the book: “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” It’s funny, but also great, common sense advice.

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” sounds doable for the average person, but I still came away from the book feeling extremely overwhelmed. Pollan paints a picture of food in America that is very bleak: from a government that subsidizes corn and is manipulated by food industry lobbyists, to a billion dollar industry that survives on removing nutrients from food and adding them back in (and puts high fructose corn syrup in everything), to a culture that demands cheap, fast food. How are we possibly going to overcome all this? It’s going to be a lot more complicated than simply “eating food,” but at least Pollan is starting a national dialogue regarding our eating habits.

Reading In Defense of Food was a truly eye opening experience and I highly recommend the book to everyone. I will warn you that after reading it, grocery shopping will never be the same. While I’m not ready to surrender my beloved Coke Zero, since reading this book I am more mindful about what I’m eating. I also plan to add Pollan’s other books, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, to my reading list.

Quotes from In Defense of Food:

Early in the twentieth century, an intrepid group of doctors and medical workers stationed overseas observed that wherever in the world people gave up their traditionally way of eating and adopted the Western diet, there soon followed a predictable series of Western diseases, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.

When the emphasis is on quantifying the nutrients contained in foods (or, to be precise, the recognized nutrients in foods), any qualitative distinction between whole foods and processed foods is apt to disappear. “[If] foods are understood only in terms of the various quantities of nutrients they contain,” Gyorgy Scrinis wrote, then “even processed foods may be considered to be `healthier’ for you than whole foods if they contain the appropriate quantities of some nutrients.”

How convenient.

A century ago, the typical Iowa farm raised more than a dozen different plant and animal species: cattle, chickens, corn, hogs, apples, hay, oats, potatoes, cherries, wheat, plums, grapes, and pears. Now it raises only two: corn and soybeans. This simplification of the agricultural landscape leads directly to the simplification of the diet, which is now to a remarkable extent dominated by-big surprise-corn and soybeans.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Penguin | Pages: 256 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

Star Trek: The Next Generation was one of my favorite shows to watch in high school, and I still catch the occasional rerun every once in a while. Although he wasn’t one of my favorites while on the show, Wil Wheaton has been one of my favorite tech personalities to follow over the last few years. He usually provides a good perspective on tech trends with a little bit of snark and pop culture thrown in there. When I found out he was writing a book about Star Trek: The Next Generation, I was instantly curious to see what he would have to say about the show and his experiences during the filming and being connected to the Star Trek Franchise.

Memories of the Future is not a tell-all book; Wheaton describes it as looking through your high school yearbook and reminiscing about the cool, the bad, the weird and the memorable. This book is Volume 1, and covers the first half of Season 1 from “Encounter at Farpoint” to “Datalore.” Each chapter is chockfull as Wheaton includes reviews, a synopsis of the events of the episode (along with his comments), quotable dialogue from the episode, obligatory technobabble from the episode, and a behind the scenes memory. At the end of each chapter he wraps it up by talking about how the episode does compared to other episodes from the season and in the early part of the show. Wheaton’s commentary and snark throughout the chapters are great, especially when he talks about his acting ability (or lack thereof), his character’s wardrobe of weird sweaters, and the fans’ reactions to his character.

Memories of the Future is great for all adults who are Star Trek fans (especially The Next Generation), but I wouldn’t recommend it to younger readers because of some of the language in the book and the unlikeliness that they would know much about the show. The book is being sold through Lulu.com, which is a service that allows printing on demand of books. There is no audiobook as far as I know, but instead you can look for Memories of the Futurecast, a podcast hosted by Wheaton to help promote the book during the Fall 2009, where he spends an episode giving a sneak peek of one of the chapters and sometimes providing additional comments/stories. You can also follow Wil Wheaton on Twitter, his username is @wilw. Wheaton has announced that he is working on Memories of the Future, Volume 2, which covers the remaining episodes of Season 1, though no release date has been given at this time.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Monolith Press | Pages: 138 | Source: Purchased