Books and Me

by Dr. Michael Mosley  (2017) The fact that this is my third Michael Mosley book so far this year is a pretty strong clue that I am a dedicated fan of this doctor-turned-journalist. He churns out these books on similar subjects and I read them all avidly.  This is yet  another  book primarily on the microbiome and the latest (as of 2017) ways to improve it, which of course is predominantly through diet (a lot of tasty though often meat based recipes are provided), but also through fasting, exercise, getting a good night's sleep and minimising stress. It might seem like reinventing the wheel, given all the other stuff I have read on this subject in the recent past, but actually, I am constantly grateful for the revision as well as the updates. For example, it is easy to fall off the fasting wagon and a little reminder of why it is worth it, particularly when coupled with the advantages of  HIIT,  is always a good thing.   And of course the ...

By Edward Bullmore (2018) This is a persuasive and exciting read, so exciting in fact, that it's extremely hard not to skip to the end to see how things turn out, but it is worth resisting the urge as there are so many gems along the way.  The author, a professor of Neuroscience and Head of Psychiatry at Cambridge University, is clearly attuned to explaining things in simple language whilst at the same time somehow managing not to seem patronising, and you learn such a lot along the way that you don't mind that you are reading an "Immunology and Medical History for Dummies". In the course of discussing his central hypothesis, (that depression may be caused by inflammation), we find out not only about macrophages, lymphocytes, microglial cells, cytokines, anti-TNF antibodies and the vagal nerve, but he also untangles the theories of Descartes and covers Celsus, Paracelsus, Hippocrates and Darwin to boot, and all this encased in a gripping narrative of med...

by Martin Blaser (2014) I was initially concerned that "Missing Microbes" would replicate the information I had already gleaned from other sources, such as Tim Spectre's "The Diet Myth" (2015), but I needn't have worried.  I have recently taken to rationalising the highlighting system in Kindle books so that I will have a clue as to what sort of information it is.  Pink indicates new and vital information, blue  denotes new vocabulary that I wish to retain and yellow indicates material that is repeated but that is so important that I wish to ram it home and retain it.  "Missing Microbes" is covered in pink  and   blue  .The only place where yellow  cropped up was in the two page epilogue. In other words, this book is cram pack full of new and, given the state of the science, pretty detailed information principally about a certain microbe that is, or at least should be, very close to all our hearts, (ie: in our stomachs). Of cours...