Books I've Read This Week

The Simpsons And Their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh is a fun book combining two of my favourite things, math and The Simpsons. In it Singh goes through a number of Simpson's episodes and explains the mathematical jokes embedded within. A high percentage of the writers on The Simpsons have advanced degrees in math or physics. If you are a fan of this type of humour you probably already read xkcd and SMBC.

The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf is a diet book, I mean that's no shock, it's right there in the title. As a man of advancing years (that's not true, I'm not old) I've gained a couple of extra pounds around my midsection (that part is true) and I looked into this Paleo craze a bit. The diet has got a good hook to it, eat like your neanderthal ancestors and the pounds will just fly off and you'll be healthier. Basically, you need to avoid any refined foods so stuff like bread, pasta and boxed foods are out. Considering this is probably where the majority of Americans get their calories from crossing out these foods amounts to a calorie restriction diet. Sure you can eat as much protein and veggies as you want but it is way harder to over eat these foods. Does the diet work? Yes, yes it does. I tried it out myself for two weeks and I found it worked extremely well. I lost 10 pounds over the two week period and these strange things called abdominal muscles started appearing. Did I stick with it? No, I found it way to hard to avoid eating refined carbs. Possibly as life becomes more predictable for me I'll be able to get back into the paleo lifestyle but for now I'm going to drink that beer and eat that morning glory muffin.