Doug’s Book Review

Title: Living Gluten-Free For Dummies
By: Danna Korn
ISBN-10: 0471773832
ISBN-13: 978-0471773832

Having the whole book about eating gluten-free is an amazing resource. I sure wish I had something like this 20 years ago when I had to start cutting out wheat and gluten- from my diet!

The first chapter starts out with the basics for example why go gluten-free? In my case, I already know; but you may wonder if you should go gluten-free, even if you have no real reason to do so. It also covers the basics of avoiding gluten, and some of the pitfalls you may need to avoid when cutting gluten out of your diet.

A separate section covers planning in preparing a gluten-free menu. At first, it seems like a very daunting task! As I discovered the hard way, and as it says in the book, this is easier than you think.

There is also a section about the gluten-free lifestyle. Eating out can be a real hassle when you’re trying to avoid gluten. For awhile, I found this so onerous, that I didn’t even bother. This is entirely unnecessary, and really isn’t that hard once you know a few things.

There is also a chapter about raising gluten-free kids, and another about the emotional obstacles to eliminating gluten in your diet.

If you’re just starting and gluten-free diet, you’ll find us a very useful book.

Another excellent resource is Allergy Details, a web site about allergies.

I never thought shipping containers were all that interesting, until I read The Box. Ugly and ubiquitous, they have changed the world in ways that are hard to imagine, even as we ourselves are experiencing the changes.

Did you ever wonder why in the last 20 years - less even - more and more products are being manufactured overseas? What you may not realize is that many things are not actually made all in one place. Parts are made here, components there, various raw materials from all over the place … it was not always so, because it was not always either practical nor economical.

Why are companies moving away from vertical integration and towards specialization?

Why is there less variety in the stores? Why is it that you can buy the same thing almost anywhere in the world?

How come you could, at one time, be a passenger on a freight ship, and now it is all but impossible?

Some of these questions are answered directly in The Box, and others you can well guess yourself after reading the book.

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Blackfly Season is a murder-mystery with plenty going on. On the whole, I found it entertaining and absorbing, although gruesome, and in truth, the ending was rather unsatisfying. On the other hand, others may enjoy it from cover to cover. I enjoyed about three quarters of it or so, and as I say, it was entertaining.

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Any travel book with a title like Bad Trips has to be compelling reading, and this book lives up to that promise.

Consisting of 50 short stories, or excerpts from longer works, this book is a perfect way of discovering authors to add to your reading list.

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Do you feel there just aren’t enough hours in the day? I feel like that all the time. The fact is though, that people that accomplish a great deal experience the same length of day that you do!

How do they do it? For one thing, successful people are very efficient with their time.

This book packed with strategies to make the most of the time we have, and avoid wasting time. I would say this book is a must-read (unless you are already 100% efficient with your time, or you have not desire to accomplish anything).

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