Review by New York Times Review
CONVICTION, by Denise Mina. (Mulholland, $27.) Anna McDonald, at loose ends while her philandering husband takes their children on vacation, decides to clear an old friend's name after hearing him slandered on a true-crime podcast. Mina's incredible new mystery seems to have been written in a white-hot rage. THE GUARDED GATE: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America, by Daniel Okrent. (Scribner, $32.) In 1920s America, a mix of nativist sentiment and pseudoscience led to the first major law curtailing immigration. Okrent focuses on eugenics, which argued that letting in people of certain nationalities and races would harm America's gene pool. FALL; OR, DODGE IN HELL, by Neal Stephenson. (Morrow/HarperCollins, $35.) Stephenson tackles big questions - what is reality? how might it be simulated? - via the tale of a billionaire whose mind survives in the digital world long after his physical death. A THOUSAND SMALL SANITIES: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism, by Adam Gopnik. (Basic Books, $28.) This charming and erudite book challenges both authoritarian populists and illiberal leftists, arguing in favor of a liberal tradition that supports both social progress and individual liberty. LAST DAY, by Domenica Ruta. (Spiegel & Grau, $27.) Ruta's darkly glittering novel flits among characters - including a trio of astronauts, a 15-year-old girl and a tattoo artist - during the planet's final hours. Despite the heavy subject matter, comic moments leaven the book, and Ruta sprinkles in startling observations. THE BODY IN QUESTION, by Jill Ciment. (Pantheon, $24.95.) In this deliciously acerbic and intelligent novel, two jurors meet at a murder trial, and, sequestered at an Econo Lodge, begin a passionate affair with unexpected reverberations on their lives and the legal proceedings. Among the book's other pleasures, Ciment knowingly but matter-of-factly depicts class distinctions. THE way THE WAY WE EAT NOW: How the Food Revolution Has we eat now Transformed Our Lives, Our Bodies, and Our World, by Bee Wilson. (Basic Books, $30.) In this useful and informative book, a British journalist delves into the ways globalization has revolutionized our relationship THE BURIED: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution, by Peter Hessler. (Penguin Press, $28.) In stories of everyday life in Cairo, Hessler captures a country looking to make sense of what the Arab Spring has wrought. MIND FIXERS: Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness, by Anne Harrington. (Norton, $27.95.) Harrington argues that the "biological revolution," which rejects Freud to seek a physical basis for mental illness, has overreached. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 14, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
This compelling overview of global eating habits by acclaimed food writer and Wall Street Journal columnist Wilson (Consider the Fork, 2012) seesaws back and forth between alarming paradoxes. We eat to live, but what we eat is killing us. Food is often readily available (and sometimes even hard to escape), but overly processed fast food contains few nutrients, resulting in simultaneously malnourished and obese populations. And so it goes, as Wilson's entertaining text compares how humans used to eat before mass consumerism, when considerable time was devoted to preparing and enjoying meals with how we eat now, when food choices, dining styles, and meal times have become so markedly individualized. After about 200 pages of delivering dining angst, the book starts offering hopeful and helpful alternatives. Scale back portions, reform school lunches, elevate and celebrate the art of cooking, enact legislation against sugary drinks and junk food, and increase global consumption of vegetables. The epilogue offers even more focused advice: ditch plastic and Styrofoam in favor of ceramic and glass, drink plain water, skip the snacks, think about what you're putting in your mouth, and slow down. Wilson's many fans and new converts alike will find her arguments convincing. This diet advice goes down easy.--Kathleen McBroom Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
English food writer and historian Wilson explores the evolution of food and changing tastes around the world. This latest work, after First Bite and Consider the Fork, shares research and insight on the transformation of global cuisine and eating habits in recent decades, from sustainability to satisfying cravings. While our tongues may drive our food tastes and preferences, Wilson considers all of the other determining factors of what ends up on our plates, including corporations and economics (or what's profitable for us to consume), busy schedules that have eliminated the time to cook, and diets and fads. The author delves into the reasoning why both food insecurity and obesity are co-occurring and epidemic, and her research includes trends currently driving Western diets, including keto/paleo, fasting, and orthorexia (the trend of "clean eating" to a disordered level). Occasionally, the chapters are tangential in an attempt to include the most information possible, much like an overfilled buffet plate. However, the research is solid and readers will come away with a new understanding of what we eat and why. VERDICT Much more than another culinary history, this is a fascinating read for both foodies and sociologists alike.--Jennifer Clifton, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A wide-ranging look at how food today is killing us through its abundance.British food historian Wilson (First Bite: How We Learn to Eat, 2015, etc.), who writes a monthly column on food for the Wall Street Journal and has been named BBC Radio's food writer of the year, avers that diets are getting worse across most of the world. "We snack more, we eat out more, and yet we often enjoy food less," she writes. In her view, we are in the fourth stage of diet transitions, following the low-fat one of prehistoric hunter-gatherers to the cereal-rich one of the agricultural revolution to the third healthier, more varied one that followed. In stage four, diets are getting sweeter, fatter, and meatierand not just in the rich countries. The author has talked to researchers, economists, and other experts, gathering data from around the world. Happily, she presents the data in an appealing, informal, almost chatty fashion. If readers want to know more about, say, the decline in cooking oil prices in China or the rising cost of green vegetables relative to ice cream in the U.K., a few charts provide this information. More interesting is Wilson's discussion of trendy foods, where she exposes frauds and fads; she gives close attention to such foods as quinoa, yogurt, skyr, kale, pomegranate juice, and coconut water. The author also explores the dilemma of eating out versus cooking at home and examines the rise in popularity of meal kits, which provide customers with all the ingredients and instructions for making a home-cooked meal. She optimistically predicts that we may be entering another dietary transition to healthier foods, and she offers tips for enjoying our food while waiting for this new food culture to emerge. Though Wilson offers an enjoyable reading experience, her failure to consider potential future food shortages as climate change reduces arable land and the population grows makes some of her predictions questionable.Though not a complete picture, this book is an entertaining choice for naturalists, foodies, and health-conscious readers. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
