Book Forty-Two: Thug Kitchen

Social media savvy readers may be familar with the Los Angeles based Thug Kitchen and blog of the same name.  Meant to inspire and encourage you to 'eat like you give a f*ck' the team behind the blog have written their first cookbook.  Perhaps you've seen trailer.  (NSFW)

As a fan of the blog, Facebook page and their passion for whole food and real meals, I was excited to pre-order the official cookbook.  It's beautifully organized and begins with an easy to read, don't stress the f*ck out over what you don't have in your pantry angle.  It's where the kale meats the chickpeas that this cook takes umbrage.  Pun intended.

I take no issues with the cookbook being meatless.  I use nutritional yeast (Huff Post talked all about it here back in the summer) and Bragg's amino acids more than the next person.  I have nothing against quinoa or tofu.  What I do have a problem with is recipes that like to 'disguise' tofu as meat or cauliflower as 'potato'.  WTF?!  A potato is a potato--meant for smashing and serving with gravy.  Cauliflower is not.

As I see it, any cook book that mistakes mashed lentils as a good substitute for gravy with biscuits is suspect.  My dear sweet kitchen-dwelling ancestors are turning over in their grave at the very idea.  Please do eat like you give a f*ck.  It's better for you, your family and the environment.  But please, exercise caution when substituting.

Book Forty-One: 52 Loaves

You have to admire someone with passion and in this book, it's all about bread.  Obsessed with developing the best peasant loaf, the author commits to baking bread each week for a year.  He tasted the perfect bread years ago and has been trying to reproduce it ever sense.   Beginning with a back yard wheat field, Alexander commits to his quest.  Bless his long suffering family!

Author William Alexander may write about bread but it's digressions into faith and family that make the book.  His obsession takes him to Morocco when food poisoning sets in, to Paris to bake a loaf in a communal oven, to Normandy to train and bake with monks and to his own backyard where a weekend DIY turns into a precarious clay oven.

Alexander eventually learns the true meaning of perfection but not before he tries to hoodwink TSA agents with his levain and enters the baking contest at the New York State Fair.  While the book explores what makes bread the live blood of communities, he doesn't delve too far into the mechanics which makes the book highly entertaining.

As I see it, 52 Loaves is a delightful read.  The author includes several recipes that his mentions throughout the book should the reader be inspired to start their own levain.  Other resources include a lovely bibliography for further reading.  It's difficult to say to whom this book would appeal to but I'd think bakers and admirers of humanity and their passions won't be disappointed.

Book Forty: Forbes' The Great Business Decisions of All Times

This selection came courtesy of the fall book club at the Firm.  It's always fascinating to see what our CEO and leadership team members are thinking.  This little gem from Fortune profiles the people and companies behind what many business leaders would call the greatest decisions.

Profiles of Johnson and Johnson, Zappos, IBM, Apple, Ford, HP, 3M and Boeing will definitely get you thinking. Regardless of what you might think about Steve Jobs or Henry Ford, there is no denying the decisions they have made in the past have shaped entire industries, setting the standard for their industries.  Clearly they were memorable because historians, economists and business leaders are still talking about them.

One of the challenges of our book club was to isolate one decision that was a favorite.  For me, it was Johnson & Johnson.  The immediate reaction of the CEO at the time when their product was being tampered with stands out.  Advertising agents were saying it was the death of a brand.  The naysayers--including the FBI and FDA, mind you, were telling Johnson & Johnson not to pull their product.  Loyal to the company credo to put the needs and well-being of the people we serve first, 31 million bottles of Tylenol were recalled estimated at a retail value of 100 million dollars.  The company even advertised in national media not to use their products. Johnson & Johnson unknowingly ushered in an era of tamper-proof bottles and garnered the respect of consumers everywhere.

As I see it, this is an interesting compilation of stories.  Those seeking an in-depth profile should look elsewhere.  If you're looking for quick discussion points or a jump-start for conversation, this is your book.  It's a quick, light read.  Also of note:  the seven deaths caused by the tainted Tylenol remain unsolved.  Did you know that the Unabomber was once a suspect?

Book Thirty-Nine: How to Train Your Dragon Book 2: How to Be a Pirate

Our intrepid young Viking is back!  Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is not that heroic by Viking standards; however, Hiccup is heir to the Hooligan clan being the son of the chief.  In school, Hiccup struggles in skills like shouting, senseless violence, and advanced rudery.  If Hiccup is skilled in anything, it's the 'try, try, again' method.  His cleverness and ability to speak his up when adults are about to engage in stupidity shows Hiccup might just be chief material.

In the second book, we find Hiccup and his best mate, Fishlegs learning sword-fighting at sea with hilarious results.  While at sea, the Hooligan gang comes across Hiccup's famed ancestor's, Grimbead the Ghastly, coffin.  As an reader of the first book can imagine, misadventures ensue!  As you can imagine, dear reader, this is another recommendation from my Sweet Niece.

Author Cressida Crowell clearly understands her audience.  Amid the pages are pencil illustrations and written notes that are terrible (in a good way) but guaranteed to make children laugh.  She has wonderful character development, not only for Hiccup, but for his dragon Toothless, his best mate Fishlegs and all the players that make up the Hooligan clan.  Friend or foe, Crowell creates a world that children can relate to.  She takes it a step further by not writing down to the reader.  Must like Hiccup, she cleverly disguises life lessons in the adventures of the Hooligan clan. 

As I see it, the How to Train Your Dragon series, would not be my first choice for a young reader; however, I am pleased as punch to know that quality writing is still available for a new generation.  I often wonder what's going on in that growing brain of hers.  I am pleased that tales of virtue, heroism, and good can be found--even if they are cloaked in tales of Viking hooliganism. 

Book Thirty-Eight: An Object of Beauty

Besides being an actor, comedian, banjo-picker and all-around guy, Steve Martin is an author.  And a surprisingly good one.  Set in the fine art world of NYC, Lacey Yeager is youngster working at Sotheby's, eager to charm her way to her own art gallery.  The book is narrated by Lacey's friend, an art journalist and unwitting confidante and conspirator.

As I read An Object of Beauty, I was struck by it's parallels to The Great Gatsby.  Lacey is our Daisy.  The art world is our Gatsby.  And Daniel is our Carroway.  As Lacey navigates and charms her way through the art world, Daniel serves as the reader's compass.  It's not that I didn't like the book so much as I didn't understand what drove it.  What drove me to finish this novel was the need to understand how Lacey and Daniel were going to intersect.  They do, dear reader, but with lackluster results.

As I see it, An Object of Beauty is very much in the same vein as Martin's novella, Shopgirl.  That, too, suffered from a lack of purpose.  Connecting to these characters is a difficult task.  Lacey is one-sided, obnoxious and obsessive.  She lacks a morality--a humanity--that would have allowed this reader to connect.  The elusive art world is a member's only club that stopped admitting years ago.

Book Thirty-Seven: Sin in the Second City

Minna and Ada Everleigh were unlike any other madams in Chicago's Levee district.  The Everleigh Club known for stunning Everleigh 'butterflies' drew politicians, industry moguls, foreign dignitaries, and more to the doorstep thanks to gourmet food, healthy women, fair wages, and discretion.

Author Karen Abbott explores what is known of the aristocratic sisters, then turns her pen to the political and society atmosphere that would be their undoing.  Not everyone was happy about the sisters' attempts to elevate the industry. Rival madams set out to destroy the sisters going so far as to try and frame them from the death of department story heir Marshall Field, Jr.  What the sisters couldn't know was the tide was changing.  It would be the reformers who would whip the nation into a frenzy over 'white slavery'--the alleged practice of kidnapping young girls and forcing them into brothels--that would be their demise. 

Sin in the Second City is a colorful look into the famous brothel and the two sisters who, unknowingly, would help usher in 20th Century modernity.  Abbott writes a compelling read that name drops Rockefeller, Capone, Taft, and Barrymore.  More interestingly, is how this hedonistic culture subsisted alongside the Victorian propriety of the day. Thanks to Abbott's meticulous research, you are transported to the Levee district.  You can feel the grit of the streets and the satin sheets.  The accompanying pictures scattered throughout the book are a treat.

As I see it, Sin in the Second City is a great historical read.  It's borderline exhaustive--or feels that way--look at a interesting time in American history.  As a business model, the sisters only delivered what was very much in demand.  As a reader, I was more fascinated by the sisters and their ability to reinvent themselves than the brothel.  History buffs will be delighted.

Book Thirty-Six: Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends

At the risk of sounding like 'whipper-snapper' is part of my vocabulary, I loathe books like these.  Ever After High is where the offspring of our fairy tale princes and princesses go to learn the skills they will need to carry on the fairy tale.  As in the halls of Ever After High, the pages of this book is filled with the insipid dialogue of Apple White, Raven Queen, Madeline Hatter, Briar Beauty and Sparrow Hood.  Oh wait... it get's worse.  They listen to Taylor Quick and One Reflection on their MirrorPods.  Their school schedule involves classes like Muse-ic, Poison Fruit Theory, Home Evil-nomics and spend time in the Charmitorium.  Anyone vomiting yet? 

If you manage to get past the stupidity mentioned in the last paragraph, you will find a story inside.  Raven Queen--heir of the Evil Queen and destined to become the evil to Apple White's purity--doesn't want to be 'evil'.  She doesn't want to follow in her mother's footsteps and is trying to escape her destiny.  Apple White is concerned that her Happily Ever After is in danger if Raven Queen doesn't commit to their shared fairy tale.  Hilarity, ensues!  Or not.

I think I 'get' what best-selling author, Shannon Hale is trying to do.  I'm positive that I don't agree with it.  Books of this nature aren't empowering to young girls.  I feel it panders to them.  Fairy tales are just that.  Fanciful stories that both entertain and enlighten.  This sopping, blended mess is too bland in its touting 'follow your destiny' propaganda.  It's poorly written and gives the impression that Hale can't come up with anything original.  Maybe she's just trying to help Mattel sell dolls.

I'm taking this book entirely too serious.  And as I see it, any book recommendation from my Sweet Niece is a book to be read.  It breaks my heart that she didn't enjoy 'Ramona Quimby, Age 8'.  However, I will always try to encourage an independent, free-thinking spirit.  She enjoys these little hardbacks alongside a myriad of other books and I won't judge.  Perhaps Ever After High is an entertaining fluff piece that cleans the reader's palate between heavier tomes?

Book Thirty-Five: Contagious: Why Things Catch On

"What makes things catch on?"  Author and marketing professor Jonah Berger answers this question in Contagious.  With a delightful tone, Berger examines how and why social influence effects everything we do.  He also provides actionable steps to creating influence in this social savvy world.

The book is a fun read and while this reader would have preferred more stories illustrating his points, Berger makes some fascinating conclusions.  Examining the emotional triggers behind why we insist on using one product over another or the behavior triggers that have us all trying to accumulate rewards points, it's easy to feel manipulated by the time this book is through.  Berger ends his stories to make room for his STEPPS.  These steps are on the mark from my perspective but I'm no entrepreneur.  The STEPPS is a calculated and daresay proven technique to creating buzz around just about anything.  Berger has clearly exposed the collective consumer psyche.

As I see it, Contagious is a very approachable book.  The author's repartee with the reader is witty and straightforward.  And while you will read over several buzz words, you won't find the typical business jargon herein.  Overall, it's an interesting read and serves two purposes: consumer education and marketing 101.  If you just want to know why you feel compelled to purchase 'that' shirt or use 'this' brand, you will find your answer here.  More importantly, if you were ever curious about the phenomenon that was Rebecca Black, you will want to read chapter two.