Family of Spies

Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor by Christine Kuehn

Grandpa was Nazi spy with interesting history in Hawaii. There were rumors of "baby spy" in the family that would go try to get intel. This book is part memoir and part family history. The author explores the skeletons in his family's closet. They were raised as an all American family. However, Grandpa was executed as a spy. (Though the family gives other reasons for what happened.) The book is an interesting exploration of interrelated bits of World War II history.

Quirky

What can we learn when looking at inventors that made multiple contributions to society? Quirky provides sketches of some significant inventors. This is interesting. However, the authors also try to draw some conclusions and generalizations. These are rather unsatisfying. (In one case, she even mentions that serial inventors get less sleep. Great! We all just need to sleep less and then we will be more creative.

The book provides short bios of Einstein, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Marie Curie, Edison and others. They all made multiple significant inventions. They each had a number of quirks. Most did not follow the standard education pattern. Edison had almost no formal education. Jobs dropped out of college. However, what they lacked in education, they made up for in a desire to learn. They were also dedicated to their craft. They would rather create than work a regular job. They also seemed to fail in the people department.

Being in the right place and the right time was also important. Had Steve Jobs been raised in Wisconsin, he would have likely never been exposed to Silicon Valley technology and would be a total unknown today. The chaos in Germany made life difficult for Einstein, and inadvertently allowed him to shine. The inventors oten had a strong attitude that they could succeed at what they were doing. I'm sure there are many people with similar attitudes that are lost to history. They just were not at the right place for their innovation to spread to the world.

Is there anything we can learn from these inventors? Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that we should not be regimented into the system. Those that are most innovative often do things their own way. But aren't these also the biggest troublemakers? How do you distinguish between the two? 

Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Chese belong in a healthy diet

This is a "diet" book without being a diet book. It dives deep to understand the science (or the lack thereof) in many of the dietary recommendations today. Many of the heavily pushed recommendations (such as the low-fat diet) were created with flimsy dietary underpinning. However, once the establishment started running with these ideas, the burden of proof was on all challengers to "prove" that their option should even be listened to. (Even more amazing was that these recommendations seemed to go against very well entrenched industries such as beef packers.) This history shows how little you can truly take "government standards" at face value. Science is often very political, with the "best campaigner" often winning out over the "truth".

The author advocates a "high fat, high protein diet". Cholesterol and saturated fat are not the enemies. Bacon and eggs are more filling and provide plenty of nutrients, providing a better path towards weight-loss than low fat candy. (I love how sugary candy advertises that it is "low fat") Snack food producers have gone out of their way to substitute different "fats" because one is deemed healthier at the moment. (Coconut oil? Margarine? Butter?) In the end, the snack is the snack, and the changes are made more for marketing than for our benefit. I like to go with the simple test: 1. Do I enjoy eating it? 2. Do I feel good afterwards. (Now if I would just focus a little more on #2 than #1...)