Book Review: The Professor and the Madman

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even wonder how an enormous work like the Oxford English Dictionary gets commissioned and completed? This is the extraordinary story of the humble beginnings of a professor and a madman who helped the professor track down the origins and the use of thousands of words that appear in the Oxfond English Dictionary.  Simon Winchester's writing is simple yet engaging. I began this book on a Monday morning when I wasn't feeling quite well and finished at 9:15 pm that night (it's 9:20 as I bang out this review). It's an easy and fascinating read.


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Oh, crap!

If you asked me what my favorite beer is, I'd have a devil of a time naming one because there are so many that I love. It's easier to name a few that I don't really care for: Busch, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Coors, Miller and Miller Lite, Rolling Rock, and Yuengling come to mind. However, I can name a beer that I absolutely and totally disliked. Here's a picture of a bottle:

I picked it up at a store that sells hundreds of varieties. It looked interesting. But it tasted and smelled horrid. The bouquet is a lot like what comes out of a bottle of Clorox bleach.  The smell is so bad that it's difficult to judge the taste of this beer on its own. It's name is Barnwood Blonde Ale and it's brewed by Crown Valley Brewing Co., in Ste. Genevieve, MO.  Avoid at all costs!

Spice up your life!

One food columnist I follow is Heidi Swanson who runs a beautiful website. She's vegetarian, she's a photographer, she writes about the interesting places she visits, and she shares some of the many creative recipes she comes up with. If any of you ever want to live off writing, this is the way to do it.

Anyways, a few days ago she wrote about a green rice with smoked paprika recipe -- I haven't tried the recipe but I was intrigued by the smoked paprika. I love things with a smoky flavor -- chipotle peppers, dark smoky whiskies, smoky cheeses, etc. Of course I had to get a tin of this paprika -- which Amazon happily carries.  I was completely and totally blown away by the superb flavor of this paprika. It's hotter than typical paprika but not really hot (not as hot as Indian dry red chili powder or even the crushed red pepper you find at the typical pizza joint) but it has a deep smoky flavor to it. I now sprinkle it on homemade pizza or sandwiches or even put it into a yogurt salad. It's simply marvelous!

There is a good bit of evidence that swimming is one of the best exercises -- it works out the whole body, it is low-impact, and it is cardio-vascular.  I have embraced it with joy in the last few years and regularly swim for exercise (lap pool) and fun (ocean, when the opportunity presents). After some trial and error, I have gravitated towards this pair of Speedo swimming shorts: they are called Speedo surfrunners and they run for about $20 on amazon.com.  Most long swim shorts are clingy and don't perform very well in the pool during lap swimming. Swimming tights or bikinis are...well...too tight for those of us whose bodies are not like Michael Phelp's.  These are not too long, they are not clingy, they are made of a special material that dries quickly and resists bacteria. They last long too...in fact I've used my last ones for about 3 years and they looked as good as new when I left them behind at my swim club by mistake.

An inspiring true story

I came across this very inspiring true story about Michael Uslan -- the producer of the first Batman movie -- together with a long interview with him. There are many vignettes of wisdom here, particularly for young people....about finding direction in your life, about following your passion, about sticking to your roots, about ....read it in Michael Uslan's own words...here's the link: Uslan story at Knowledge@Wharton.

Book Review: Cutting for Stone

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, 2009, Alfred A. Knopf, NY.

***** (5 stars -- my highest rating).

In post-Colonial India, a Catholic nun from the Carmelite Order of Madras and a trained nurse, Sister Mary Joseph Praise, is sent to N.E. Africa to staff one of the many missionary hospitals that exist there. On board the ship that is taking her to Africa she encounters a very private and quiet surgeon, Thomas Stone.

"Among the Calangute's passengers was a young surgeon -- a hawkeyed Englishman who was leaving the Indian Medical Service for better pastures. He was tall and strong, and his rugged features made him look hungry, yet he avoided the dining room. Sister Mary Joseph Praise had run into him, literally, on the second day of the voyage when she lost her footing on the wet metal stairs leading up from their quarters to the common room. The Englishman coming up behind her seized her where he could, in the region of her coccyx and her left rib cage. He righted her as if she were a little child. When she stuttered her thanks, he turned beet red; he was more flustered than she by this unexpected intimacy. She felt a bruising coming on where his hands had clutched her, but there was a quality to this discomfort that she did not mind. For days thereafter, she didn't see the Englishman."

Through an unusual set of circumstances Sister gets to know, trust, and love this man (and he in return). When their ship reaches Africa, their paths take them in different directions but very soon they meet at the missionary hospital called "Missing" in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sister Mary Joseph Praise becomes Stone's third hand in the operating theater and through the years they become a very successful team at the hospital helping poor and affluent locals who seek them.

On the fateful day that this partnership is broken due to Sister's death, twin boys Shiva and Marion are born at Missing. In the womb their heads were joined together, but after birth and separation of heads, they are still somehow able to share their thoughts and feelings without verbal communication. This book is the story of Shiva and Marion as seen through Marion's eyes. But to characterize it simply as the story of Shiva and Marion would do it great disservice as it also gives you insightful glimpses of Colonial and post-Colonial India, of the life and times of Emperor Haile Sellasie of Ethiopia (you'll learn here why Bob Marley and his followers are called "rastafarians"), of the politics of N.E. Africa, and most importantly of medicine, surgery, and the medical system in the U.S. and elsewhere. This is one of those books that is bold, grand and sweeping in its intent but one that does not disappoint. The writing is simple but at the same time the pictures that are painted are vivid and colorful.

I now see medicine and particularly the surgeon's role in a completely new light thanks to this book. The writer himself is a doctor and surgeon who is currently a chaired professor at Stanford University -- obviously he knows a little about the subject matter. I've found

myself in the operation theater twice in the last four years and always entered it -- or rather wheeled into it -- with fear. While I have no desire to be back there anytime soon, I will be a lot less fearful next time knowing a little more about the science of surgery than I knew before.

After reading two pages of this book, I was hooked and it would be no exaggeration if I said I couldn't put this book down. It made me laugh but it also brought tears to my eyes -- so powerful is this story of love and sacrifice and the tragedy of Africa. This book belongs way up there in my list of books I won't forget for a long time -- I give it my highest rating.

Why "chai" drinks suck in the U.S. (and other places)

The other day I paid close to $3 for a tall chai (skim milk, no water) at Starbucks. It was one of the better "chai" drinks I've had in the U.S. but it was pretty pathetic compared to the real stuff you get from even ordinary street vendors in India. When Indians make it at home it's much better than what street vendors serve, so Starbucks' chai is a couple of notches below real chai. And Starbucks' chai is way better than most other places [sigh].

How Starbucks can improve chai:
1. Real chai is not made from refrigerated chai syrup. You begin to heat water to bring it to a boil, add sugar, "chai masala" (a dry ground mixture of spices like cardammom, cinnamon, dried ginger, etc. -- available in most Indian stores -- get the Badshah or Kamal brands), and other herbs (ginger, "lili chai", etc.) and wait until the water comes to a boil. When it does, reduce the heat and add Indian chai. Heat milk up in a microwave and add it to the simmering tea mixture, bring it all to a boil and switch off the heat. Add herbs that are only meant to be added after the heat is off (e.g., fresh mint). Wait for a minute or two, serve it and drink it while it's extremely hot.

2. Chai is served extremely hot. Sort of like when I order "coffee with steamed milk" at Peet's. It should burn your tongue if you drink it without blowing on it (blow on it stupid, don't sue me). Starbucks serves chai latte luke warm. Sacrilege.

3. Real chai has a very faint tinge of cinnamon. It should have a stronger flavor of cloves and cardammon and ginger. Most tea in the U.S. has a very strong cinnamon flavor. That's not real chai. And no...you can't have it your way even if you like the taste of cinnamon.