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Book review: The Food Lab (J Kenji Lopez-Alt)
The Food Lab is J Kenji Lopez-Alt’s fantastic book that documents the results of his culinary experiments. If you like to cook and are science-minded, this is a must-read. The author J Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Culinary Advisor for Serious Eats and the chef and co-owner of the restaurant Wursthall in San Mateo, California. He has science in his genes (both his father and maternal grandfather are scientists) and studied Architecture at no less than the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I first ran across his work through Serious Eats several years ago and have been a follower ever since. Kenji makes frequent guest appearances in food podcasts such…
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Book review: The Fast 800 (Dr Michael Mosley)
The Fast 800 is one of the most recent diet books by Dr Michael Mosley, author of the famous 5:2 diet. His books focus on the use of “intermittent fasting” for weight loss, blood sugar regulation and general health. The author I first heard from Dr Mosley through his piece on high intensity interval training (HIIT, see video below). I later learned about his 5:2 diet and know a few people who have done it. It wasn’t until I read his bio that I realised that Dr Michael Mosley became a psychiatrist after working in other fields, and then decided to move away from the medical profession. He is mostly…
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Book review: Lifespan (David Sinclair)
Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To is a remarkable book by Harvard professor David Sinclair. Sinclair postulates that aging is a disease and can be “cured” by activating the right pathways. The author David Sinclair is a Sydney-born biologist who earned his Bachelor of Science and PhD at the University of New South Wales (NSW). He is now a professor in the Department of Genetics and the co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School. He also has a lab in his alma mater UNSW. His work focuses on aging and how to slow it down or…
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Book review: Sleep Smarter (Shawn Stevenson)
Continuing with the sleep health theme of the month, here I review Shawn Stevenson’s bestselling book Sleep Smarter. The author Shawn Stevenson is the American podcaster behind The Model Health Show. He was diagnosed with degenerative bone and disc disease as a teenager, which led to weight inactivity, poor food choices and subsequent weight gain. One day he made the decision to reverse what doctors thought was irreversible. He fixed his exercise, diet and sleep and now helps other people to improve their lifestyle. The book This book has an interesting structure. It’s divided in 21 chapters, each one is a tip for better sleep. At the same time, every…
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Book review: Why We Sleep (Matthew Walker)
If you are a subscriber to my newsletter, you know this week is Sleep Awareness Week. One of the factors driving negative health outcomes is lack of sleep. Among the people leading research on this topic is Professor Matthew Walker. Here, I review his bestselling book Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams. The author Matthew Walker is a British scientist and academic with a degree in neuroscience and a PhD in neurophysiology. He is currently a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, as well as the founder and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. He has published numerous papers on…
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Book review: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (Samin Nosrat)
My introduction to the now celebrity chef Samin Nosrat was through Michael Pollan’s book Cooked. Soon after she started making appearances in several of the podcasts I listen to. She talked about her culinary story, which led to the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering The Elements Of Good Cooking and the Netflix show of the same name. The author Samin Nosrat is a writer, teacher and chef, born to Iranian parents who migrated to the US. Samin started her professional cooking career in the prestigious Californian restaurant Chez Panise without having done any formal culinary education. For more details on this story, listen to any of her interviews or…
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Book review: Culinary reactions (Simon Quellen Field)
Culinary Reactions: The Everyday Chemistry Of Cooking is a book for the scientists who love cooking or the cooks who love science. If you are neither of those, you might find this book frustrating. Consider yourself warned. The author Simon Quellen Field is the CEO of Kinetic MicroScience, a company that designs and sells science toys. The book Culinary Reactions is an exploration of food and cooking from a scientific point of view. Throughout the book, there are chemical lessons, recipes and some nutrition-related topics. I listened to the audiobook because that’s my preferred medium these days but keep in mind the following: The audiobook is not narrated by the…
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Book review: Healthy Gut Healthy You (Dr Michael Ruscio)
Healthy Gut Healthy You is the long-awaited book by Dr Michael Ruscio, an American functional medicine practitioner, researcher and podcaster. Dr Ruscio started off as a chiropractor and discovered functional medicine during his own healing journey. He focuses on treating the gut as the first step for improving a wide range health conditions, many of which don’t manifest as gastrointestinal discomfort. In both his book and his podcast, Dr Ruscio offers a very sensible clinical approach. I think this is a product of working with real patients and noting what actually works. He avoids dogma and excessive testing, restrictions and treatment. Healthy Gut Healthy You The book has 5 parts:…
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Book review: The Longevity Diet (Prof Valter Longo)
The Longevity Diet is one of these few diet books worth reading. It was written by Prof Valter Longo, one of the leading scientists in the field of longevity. Prof Longo has been experimenting with fasting-mimicking protocols in order to extend life and vitality. One of the coolest facts about Prof Longo I learned from his book is that he wanted to become a rock star and that’s why he travelled from his home town in Italy to the US. He was on his way through a jazz composition major when he decided to change gears and pursue an interest that had been dormant in his mind: to study the…
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Book review: Gastrophysics (Charles Spence)
Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating is a recently published book by British experimental psychologist Charles Spence. I had heard about his work in a few food podcasts I listen to, particularly his experiments with “sonic seasoning” – the effect that sound has on taste and texture perception. The introduction was written by British celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck, with whom Spence has collaborated for a number of years. This fact certainly gives the author more credibility than the Ig Nobel Prize he won in 2008 for his sonic seasoning research on potato chips. What is gastrophysics? As described by the author in chapter one, gastrophysics is…
