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Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To by David Sinclair. Canada link USA link The author is a world-renowned geneticist with labs at Harvard and in Sydney, Australia. He conjectures that it is possible and may actually be simple to fight aging. People could live much longer while at the same time be much more healthy in their final years before going quickly at the end. The book is a bit deep into biochemistry in places but a fascinating read when he talks about his and related research results. It gets a bit noisy from the rumble strips when he wanders out of his lane of expertise and plugs Northeastern United States Liberal tropes, but we are used to filtering out that noise, aren’t we?
He does not make recommendation but there are promising things we can do to maybe increase our health span if not our life span if we are already older. Get skinny. Get cold (and maybe hot) once in a while. Be hungry once in a while. There are also promising drugs and supplements that have not been fully tested in humans: NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide), Resveratrol and Metformin for three. He takes those.
If the research works out it is tremendous news for the next generation. There is an excellent chance the millennials will live long enough to pay off their student loans for economically silly degrees even at barista wages. Or they can do what this guy did.
Grave Descend by John Lange. Canada link USA link Another lurid cover. Another early book by Michael Crichton. A sunken boat in the Caribbean. Fun read.
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene. Canada link USA link Graham Greene was a co-worker of Malcom Muggeridge, whose autobiography is reviewed below. At times they were both British Spies. This funny novel by Green shows some of the bureaucratic bumbling that spy agencies are capable of. We have the movie on order. I hear it is fun, as well.
The True Story of the Great Escape by Jonathan F. Vance. Canada link USA link This Canadian author became obsessed with the Great Escape at a young age and eventually tracked down and interviewed as many of the survivors as possible. This book based on his interviews and other research is even more gripping than the superficial coverage by the movie.
The Energy Paradox: What to Do When Your Get-Up-and-Go Has Got Up and Gone (The Plant Paradox, 6) by Dr. Steven R. Gundy. Canada link USA link This is an interesting read. I have no idea why I bothered borrowing it from the library as I don’t particularly suffer from lack of energy. I guess I have seen a few YouTube clips where the doc and his books are mentioned. As interesting as it is, colour me skeptical overall. It just seems like one of those situations where if all you have is a hammer the world looks like a nail. The premise of the book seems to be that we all suffer from leaky gut and that is caused by leptins in foods that we commonly eat. Not sure I want to climb onto that one trick pony. As others have said there are other things such as NSAIDS that cause leaky gut. It is interesting that the good doc also sells supplements that just might be just what you need.
Other than that, the book explores other research on some good ideas that may be worth following but not necessarily for the reasons he says. Time controlled eating is one of them. Mouse research showed that mice that ate in a narrow time frame lived much longer than mice allowed to eat around the clock even though the time-controlled mice ate as much as the browsers. It didn’t seem to matter what they ate, either. The high-fat, high sugar time-controlled cohort lived as long as the healthy diet time-controlled mice. They tended to die from cancer, however.
Once I hit near where my weight feels right I may play with some of his suggested vegetables and oils (sesame oil) and stay away from some of his no list items.
Diet food list https://gundrymd.com/dr-gundry-diet-food-list/
Summary of one of his previous books https://growth.me/books/the-plant-paradox/
The doctor may not be as keen on getting the prescription ahead of the diagnosis as my impression of the book suggests. One of James Altucher’s podcast guests says he stalked Dr. Gundy for a year and went through an extensive battery of tests and then follow up tests to see how he was responding to the seventy (!) supplements a day he takes.
When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman. Canada link Canada link Another darkish mystery with psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware as the main character. Keeps you guessing.
Just Eat: One Reporter’s Quest for a Weight-Loss Regimen That Works by Barry Estabrook. Canada link USA link Estabrook tries all sorts of diets and gains the weight back each time. Eventually he gains enough knowledge of his eating habits that he overcomes his self-delusions and changes what and how he eats. Spoiler Alert: He loses the weight and stays skinny without fad diets.
The Kaiser’s Web by Steve Berry. Canada link USA link A modern day political thriller based on the mystery of what happened in the final days in the Fuhrer’s bunker
Shaken by Kevin Tumlinson. Canada link USA link “Alex Kayne wanted to make the world a better, safer place for everyone – now she’s on the run.” A quickly written, quick-to-read thriller that is worth every penny of the teaser price through Bookbub. I enjoyed it enough I ordered a couple more of Tumlinson’s books through the local library. Finished those in May.
Chronicles of Wasted Time: An Autobiography by Malcolm Muggeridge Canada link USA link
We all tend to think history started with us. Teens think they invented love and its accessories. Fake news is not a new thing. History may seem old to us but it happened in real time. A time travel novel I read recently has the character a bit gobsmacked by going back over a hundred years and expecting everything to be grey and sepia. It was in living colour! This author brings history alive.
Malcolm Muggeridge was a journalist in England in the twenties and thirties. He became disillusioned with the lies the newspapers were knowingly printing. He decided to move to the worker’s paradise of the Soviet Union with his family in the 1930’s. Cue further disillusionment. He mentions the cover-up by the New York Times of the massive death count in the Ukraine from Soviet policy. After leaving Russia, while he still could, he passed through Nazi Germany and saw the other side of the same totalitarian coin.
The book goes on to cover the rest of his life, his travels to India and his activities in the Second World War. He was a bit of a cad. He treated his wife poorly. The book is a bit of a slog at times with lots of inside baseball historical and literary references. It is also a compelling account of Muggeridge turning from disillusionment with man to a faith in God.
Guilt by Jonathan Kellerman. Canada link USA link Another Alex Delaware mystery.
The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Time’s Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History by Rindsberg et al. Canada link USA link From the water is wet genre. I haven’t read this, but the title says it all.
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