Saturday, October 3, 2020

More Books from Libby

 I continue to read/listen to books "available now" on Libby:

A couple of weather related books "Mercy of the Sky - the story of a tornado", " Extraordinary weather", a book about food and obesity "Salt, Sugar and Fat", a book about electricity "Simply Electrifying"; a book about "Mosquito" and a Hollywood couple self claimed "The greatest love story ever told".

The following are my quick notes while listening.


This is a book about the More, OK Tornado.

On the afternoon of Monday, May 20, 2013, a large and extremely powerful EF5 tornado ravaged Moore, Oklahoma, and adjacent areas, with peak winds estimated at 210 mph, killing 24 people and injuring 212 others.

The book provided interesting background info about meteorology, weather forecasts, and Gary England - a well known meteorologist.

It also gives vivid detailed description of what happens during tornados: trees uprooted, cars picked up like toys, people's clothes ripped off, naked people after tornado!!

Interesting and thrilling for early chapters.

Majority of the book is stories from survivors, so later chapters have so many repetitive descriptions of the consequences of tornado!!



These are ingredients we need. consume in moderation.  consume what is needed.  The author gave very detailed and extensive background on food science, and I learnt a lot.

I got to know the bliss point for Sugar, the optimal amount of sugar for cravings, and heard the story  about making and marketing Tang - the orange juice. Fat make food fluffy, salt  makes food tasty.

It also introduced the way professional chef taste food.

Many back room stories, and chronicle of major food products and related discovery process, how food/beverage industry  make people addicted to certain type of processed food - fat saturated bread, sweet drink and salty processed food. 

The main goal is to tie processed food to obesity.

One hand it is disheartening to see food/beverage industry executives put profit above everything. On the other hand it is also irresponsible on the author's part to blame the obesity solely on these essential ingredients for human healthy, and on food industry. 


This book tells a fascinating story about electricity:

From Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod to show that lightening is from electricity (sentry box experiments : large box with people standing on insulation, a rod 30 feet into sky to draw lightning).

To James Watt's Steam Engine, his innate curiosity , patience for observation and interest in precise measurements 

To Faraday's faith and Maxwell's equation 

Michael Faraday linked magnesium and electricity through his experimental observations.

James  Maxwell theorized Faraday's observations to develop mathematics electromagnetics

Their great work embodied British royal society motto:  on the word of no one! Law of nature should be discovered through experimentation

By the time of Maxwell, the foundations of electricity has been laid.

Then it came the age of Edison, when great engineers found ingenious ways to utilize electricity

Samuel Morse  created Morse's code revolutionized the communication of human beings. 

Thomas Edison, a practical genius, invented light bulbs among other things to make electricity stepped into people's life. He also built 
Edison General Electric, GE's origin.

The embellishment of Edison's glorious career was that he was against  alternating current (AC).

It was George Westinghouse and Nicola Tesla who promote AC and made relevant inventions to make long distance transport of electricity practical.

People did not have to live close to power plant to use it. But there were few people who could afford electricity.

Samuel Insull's  electricity exchanges democratized electricity! By then modern electric industry was formed. 

This would have a been a perfect ending to the story of modern electricity.

But the author continued on. Most chapters after 6 were irrelevant to electricity, or have farfetched connections to it. The author morphed into a political activist. 

Readers can safely skip later chapter of the book.
 



The book was really not about mosquitos but human history. One chapter would be more than sufficient for a popular science level description of mosquitos. The author made exaggerated claim on the impact of mosquitos on human history. A new angle  to look at history, yes, but a farfetched one


I had to pinch my nose to continue listening at the beginning...because of the foul language the authors used ...the authors, the couple on the cover of the book, read the book themselves.

They recorded the audio book in their 18th year of marriage, an eternity for Hollywood couples, so a very big deal. They did have a happy marriage, happy family - them and their pets, no children.  

“All happy families are alike" - really nothing special. 

Greatest love story ever told? definitely not.


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