What are you reading now?

[George K]

Oh, started this today:

This is the 2nd (or 3rd, if you will) book in the Revelation Space "Inhibitor" trilogy. The first two books, "Revelation Space" and "Chasm City" are pretty contemporaneous, and "Redemption Ark" moves the story forward.

Reynolds' world-building, so far, is on a par with the Dune universe. It spans hundreds of years, and most of it is based on real physics, as understood today. Reynolds is/was a real astrophysicist, and he wanted to write stuff that didn't rely on magic, as in Star Trek (transporters, warp speed, etc).

This is, I think, the 4th or 5th book of his I've read in the last few months. All of the stories are intertwined, if not with characters, certainly with technology and history (some take hundreds of years apart). If I had to use one adjective, "sprawling" would be it.

This is hard, hard, science fiction. At times confusing because of interweaving story lines (as in "Chasm City"), but totally rewarding.

One reviewer commented that he loves books that make him work for enjoyment, they're not, if you will, "candy."

All of the books in the "Revelation Space Universe" qualify.

[Catseye3]

I believe the two greatest advances in human health are 1) more intensive attention paid to the microbiome and 2) greater respect and attention given to the brain-gut connection.

[Catseye3]

@doctor-phibes said in What are you reading now?:

What he says about artificial sweeteners is interesting. I've had a pet theory for a while that the reliance on these awful things has made the population considerably fatter.

Many voices have decried artificial sweeteners for many years, and have been mostly shouting in the wilderness. They truly are "awful things". There's a theory that the brain can't tell the difference between them and real sugar. I don't know how true that is. But even without that, you've got some awful chemicals there.

I'm on my third week of no diet drinks, drinking only water. After many years of struggle, I'm thrilled that doing without soda, diet or regular, is presenting no problem at all. I can't see ever going back.

[George K]

@catseye3 said in What are you reading now?:

I'm thrilled that doing without soda, diet or regular, is presenting no problem at all.

I haven't touched soda in years. I have a SodaStream, and I love it. It's nothing but carbonated water.

If I feel the need for real thirst-quenching, there's always (cheap) Scotch.

According to Fung, artificial sweeteners spike insulin more than sugar. So....

“The important question is this: Do artificial sweeteners increase insulin levels? Sucralose13 raises insulin by 20 percent, despite the fact that it contains no calories and no sugar. This insulin-raising effect has also been shown for other artificial sweeteners, including the “natural” sweetener stevia. Despite having a minimal effect on blood sugars, both aspartame and stevia raised insulin levels higher even than table sugar.14 Artificial sweeteners that raise insulin should be expected to be harmful, not beneficial. Artificial sweeteners may decrease calories and sugar, but not insulin. Yet it is insulin that drives weight gain and diabetes.”

“Artificial sweeteners may also cause harm by increasing cravings. The brain may perceive an incomplete sense of reward by sensing sweetness without calories, which may then cause overcompensation and increased appetite and cravings.15 Functional MRI studies show that glucose activates the brain’s reward centers fully—but not sucralose.16 The incomplete activation could stimulate cravings for sweet food to fully activate the reward centers. In other words, you may be developing a habit of eating sweet foods, leading to overeating. Indeed, most controlled trials show that there is no reduction in caloric intake with the use of artificial sweeteners.17

The strongest proof of failure comes from two recent randomized trials. Dr. David Ludwig from Harvard randomly divided two groups of overweight adolescents.18 One group was given water and diet drinks to consume while the control group continued with their usual drinks. At the end of two years, the diet soda group was consuming far less sugar than the control group. That’s good—but that is not our question. Does drinking diet soda make any difference to adolescent obesity? The short answer is no. There was no significant weight difference between the two groups.”

[Doctor Phibes]

plus, the artificial sweetener tastes like ass, whereas sugar tastes like sugar.

[George K]

@doctor-phibes said in What are you reading now?:

artificial sweetener tastes like ass

I really hope that's not the voice of experience.

[Horace]

diet drinks are gross.

[Mik]

[Catseye3]

Hey, Mik, do you like baseball? You might like his book Blockade Billy.

[George K]

@george-k said in What are you reading now?:

This is the 2nd (or 3rd, if you will) book in the Revelation Space "Inhibitor" trilogy. The first two books, "Revelation Space" and "Chasm City" are pretty contemporaneous, and "Redemption Ark" moves the story forward.

Halfway done.

Remarkable work. As I said, it's as complex and rich as "Dune" without the political/spiritual overtones.

If you're @jolly a science fiction fan, get into this world.

As I said, it's not "candy," like Scalzi's stuff, because it makes you work for its attention. Just fabulous.

I'm tempted to, when I finish this one, go back and re-read the first book, simply because I feel like I missed so much. I loved "Redemption Space." Wait, perhaps I'll re-read "Chasm City" as well.

So good.

[kluurs]

Based on George's experience, I picked this one up. Fascinating book with an excellent review of the history of the diet industry. Having lived through the pronouncements, it is quite illuminating how long the experts have retained a machine model - calories in/calories out even in the face of continuous failure.

[George K]

@kluurs said in What are you reading now?:

Fascinating book with an excellent review of the history of the diet industry.

The thing I found amazing is how clearly he explains what could be pretty complicated physiology. As I said, I didn't find "The Cancer Code" quite as compelling, but certainly worth a read.

Perhaps that's because he really doesn't offer any suggestions, unlike "The Obesity Code."

[xenon]

Reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I don't usually read old tomes, but even after reading a few pages I was struck by how modern some of his ideas sound.

(The importance of free speech, equality before the law).

Good, simple writing.

[Horace]

@xenon said in What are you reading now?:

Reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I don't usually read old tomes, but even after reading a few pages I was struck by how modern some of his ideas sound.

(The importance of free speech, equality before the law).

Good, simple writing.

Conservatism has all the best ideas, sort of by definition - the test of time and all that. Don't attempt to convince a lefty of that though, they are convinced that everything conservatives have ever done for them, the blood, sweat and tears shed in defense of those good ideas, are nothing compared to making sure 6 year olds should be able to have gender reassignment surgery.

[Catseye3]

@kluurs said in What are you reading now?:

it is quite illuminating how long the experts have retained a machine model - calories in/calories out even in the face of continuous failure.

There's a lot of money in obesity. Diet "foods" like Snackwell, weight loss plans like Weight Watchers, the advantages to food growers of keeping the population hormonally screwed up through use of things like GMOs and pesticides, etc which complicate weight control. Not to mention the immense profits flowing to the healthcare industry, not only from patients seeking help with their obesity, but to research in and treatment of obesity-related diseases like diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
And this is a bit of a stretch, because I doubt legislators think in these terms, but a population that doesn't feel well won't give you a lot of grief by way of informed protest; they're too tired.

[Doctor Phibes]

@horace said in What are you reading now?:

Conservatism has all the best ideas, sort of by definition

Not to get into an argument about semantics, but it's actually classical liberalism where all the good ideas came from. Back in the 18th century, conservatives were a right bunch of assholes.

[George K]

Based on Copper's recommendation...

Only about ¼ of the way through it.

Funny, exciting and sad at the same time. This is one of the most "conversational" books I've read in a long time.

By that I mean, "OK, I'll let you buy me a (cheap) Scotch beer. Here's my story of how I became a shuttle astronaut. "

Very much a "light" read, but worth the time. At the beginning he sows the seed of NASA's perceived invulnerabilty. You know things are going to go South, but I haven't gotten there yet.

With a testosterone-fueled swagger and a keen eye for particulars, Mullane takes readers into the high-intensity, high-stress world of the shuttle astronaut in this rough-hewn yet charming yarn of low-rent antics, bureaucratic insanity and transcendent beauty

[George K]

Catching up on my medical reading...

[George K]

[kluurs]

@george-k let me know what you think of that - I was thinking about that book.