Sunday, October 10, 2010

Fifth Batch of Dewey Entries

This was by far my most interesting batch of books thus far for the Dewey project. 

I read a book about America's obsession with bottled water despite our tap water being the best in the world.  I buy a case of bottled water per year in case of an emergency.  Other than that, I don't buy it.  But at work we often get boxed lunches with a bottle of water, or there are bottles of water available to take on a table.  I drink those despite there being filtered water a few steps away.  I need to get one of those steel thermos things to keep at my desk so I don't take the bottled water.  Not only is bottled water bad for the environment, it's also been proven to be less safe than tap water. 

The 200 series in the Dewey decimal system is religion.  I picked a book about Wicca because I wanted to learn more about it.  The thing is that I got 20 or so pages in, and I realized there was a definite slant to it.  It was definitely anti-Wicca.  So I look at the back, and I sigh when I read that the author is part of Focus on the Family.  You know, that evangelical right wing group.  It was my own stupid fault for not reading the summary and the author notes before I started reading the book.  I think it's difficult to learn an accurate representation of a religion when it's written by someone who thinks the people that follow that religion are wrong and sinful.  According to the author, TV shows like Charmed and Buffy have made society go down the path to destruction.  The book did give a very cursory look at the religion, but it spent way too much time on why Christianity is a better alternative that I didn't come away with anything tangible about the Wiccan religion

I read a book with slow cooker recipes.  Did you know you can make desserts and salads in your crockpot?  I found several recipes that look really interesting.  I can't wait to try out the breakfast and dessert crockpot ideas, if only for the novelty of eating breakfast out of a crockpot.

I also read a book about exercise physiology.  It was textbook-ish, so I more or less focused on the chapters I could understand without a background in biochemistry.  I found the book really, really interesting.  There were quite a few chapters on nutrition, types of training methods, caloric expenditures, and obesity.  Lots of great info!

Dean Koontz's memoir about his golden retriever was very enjoyable to read.  He's a wonderful writer, and he told such tales about his dog that it almost made me want to go get one.

I read a fun book of British essays entitled Never Hit a Jellyfish with a Spade.  Hilarious!

I have an iPhone, so I thought iPhone for Dummies might be a good read. It was written in 2007 when the iPhone first came out.  I only learned a couple of things.  However, what I found the most fascinating was that apps (in 2007 they were called widgets) received half a page in the whole book.  Half a page!!!!  Turning it on got about 4 pages.  It's just kind of funny how times have changed.

And finally I read a book called 10-10-10 by Suzy Welch (third wife of GE's Jack Welch).  She recommends an approach to make decisions that consider the implications in a near term (10 minutes), longer term (10 months) and really long term (10 years) perspective.  When you analyze each decision like that, it helps you keep your perspective.  The book was okay, but I found the whole backstory of her being Jack Welch's mistress and eventual third wife the most interesting. 


Making My Way Through Dewey

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031.02        Frauenfelder, Mark.  The World's Worst.
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081               Rakoff, David. Don't Get Too Comfortable.
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133        Horn, Stacy.  Unbelievable.
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153.83   Welch, Suzy.  10-10-10.
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177.7    Stone, Deborah.  The Samaritan's Dilemma.
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248.845             Neumann, Connie. Parenting in the Home Stretch.
255.1                Okholm, Dennis.  Monk Habits for Everyday People.
261.850973     Zacharias, Karen Spears. Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?
277.3083         Meyers, Robin.  Why the Christian Right Is Wrong.
289.3082          Solomon, Dorothy Allred.  The Sisterhood.
299.94               Russo, Steve.  What's the Deal with Wicca?
302.34082           Paul, Marla.  The Friendship Crisis.
305.4092             Merrill, Wendy.  Falling into Manholes.
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332.02401            Epperson, Sharon.  The Big Payoff.
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378.19822           Peril, Lynn.  College Girls.
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608    Cooper, Christopher.  Patently Absurd.
612     McCardle, William D, Frank I. Katch, Victor L. Katch.  Essentials of Exercise Physiology.
621.38456  Baig, Edward C.  iPhone for Dummies.
636.7527  Koontz, Dean.  A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog.
641.58      Hall, Dawn.  Busy People's Slow Cooker Cookbook.
658.812     Price, Bill and David Jaffe.  The Best Service Is No Service.   
663.61      Gleick, Peter H. Bottled & Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water.
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750.11        Richardson, Joy.  Looking at Pictures.
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771.33         Revell, Jeff.  Nikon D5000: From Snapshots to Great Shots.
782.421649  McQuillar, Tayannah Lee.  When Rap Music Had a Conscience.  
794.000     Orbanes, Philip E. Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game.
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817.000 Scottoline, Lisa. Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog.
828.92    Browning, Guy.  Never Hit a Jellyfish with a Spade.
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910.4     Leffel, Tim.  Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune.
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937       Nardo, Don.  Life of a Roman Slave.
940.21   Netzley, Patricia D.  Life During the Renaissance.
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973.92      Strauss, William and Elaina Newport.  Sixteen Scandals.
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