Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us (New Book!)

I recently found a new book at the library called, you guessed it,  Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. It was written by Michael Moss, who "was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2010, and was a finalist for the prize in 2006 and 1999. He is also the recipient of a Loeb Award and an Overseas Press Club citation. Before coming to the [New York] Times,he was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, New York Newsday, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has been an adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Journalism and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons." At least that's what his bio says on his website. I must admit though, his writing is pretty cool. I'm really curious about how Moss will present the information in this book. Most non-fiction writing that I've read has been based on anecdotes, and I actually like that. I'd rather not read a long, monotonous (Yeah, yeah, I know the book's not talking, but you know what I mean.) essay about why monkeys eat bananas. I mean, there are so many better ways to present factual evidence. Let's see Moss' non-fiction prowess....

(About the Author)

Pi - an irrationally awesome sensation

Well, this past Friday was.... *drumroll*.... Einstein's Birthday! (and National Pi Day.) Alright... Sorry about the nerdy pun, but I had to. Was I the only one who ate pi(e)? I hope not. Anywho, I was reading a CNN new article the other day about the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and I thought about how wildly crazy it was! I mean, sure it's pretty awesome, but doesn't e feel left out? Oh well.

Here are some celebrations from all around the country:

San Francisco, CA- The San Francisco Exploratorium holds an annual pi extravaganza including parade of people holding the digits of pi that ends at a "pi shrine" (pictured below).

Princeton, NJ- Einstein's home for his final 22 years, kicks off the weekend on Thursday and rolls into jam-packed activities on Friday, including a pizza pie-making contest, pie eating contests, a tour of Einstein's neighborhood, an Einstein look-alike competition, and, of course, a pi reciting competition. (and the winner walks away with $100π)

Overall, I think Pi Day really helps bring out our inner math nerd. It's a day to fascinate ourselves with the workings of mathematics and science and, hey, maybe we'll even find the next Einstein...

(Outside reading)

New Tri, New Plans :3

A while back, I read Divergent and Insurgent, both in the Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth. Last weekend, I began the final installment of the series, Allegiant. Right now, I'm on page 120 and since it's been so long since I'd read the other books, I'm LOST. It's not that it's a difficult read at all... Roth just alludes to the first two books so frequently that it's mind-boggling! I think I'm just going to read the first two books again. Any-who, the concept of the series is that there is a dystopian society in which people are classified by their personalities and put into "factions". As children, people live in the same factions as their parents, but once a year, a "Choosing Ceremony" is held and those who are 16 and have completed their "aptitude tests" (essentially personality tests that determine which faction you should choose), are given the choice to either leave their factions or take up a new one.

Each of the factions represents a specific virtue that members value. They are, according to Veronica Roth's blog, "Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent)". Personally, I think it was a mistake for the "founders" to structure the society in this manner because it is in human nature to have a diverse range of judgement classes to base reactions and actions upon, so it would be unnatural to make a person behave in a specific manner based upon the faction they were born into, or even the one they choose. This made the series rather predictable to me because these tight restrictions are unreasonable, evolutionarily, so it would obviously give way to people who don't conform: the Divergents. And with non-conformers comes revolution.