Monday, August 20, 2012

A.J. Jacobs and my new Kindle

Well, this sure seems awesome.

Amazon just had an epic deal which allowed you to score a new Kindle (low-end version) for only $45 which was insane, so I figured I'd get one just because, well, it's such a good deal it would be silly not to. I also figured it might be a smart idea to get this fancy computer-y reading device, it might trick me to get away from the computer more often and spend more time reading at night or on trips and stuff.

So far - it works :) I've been meaning to read the new A.J. Jacobs book called "Drop Dead Healthy", that I read the synopsis for on the plane to Peru a few months ago. This guy is pretty awesome and does a crazy personal experiment and then writes a book about it, he has done a few of them already ("The Year of Living Biblically", amongst others).

Anyhow, with my most recent year-long activity of "getting right" as my friend Crystine would put it, I'm definitely in the right mindset to read this book. Kindle is kinda epically badass (and also dangerous!) since they give you the first chapter for free, and now that I've ploughed through the whole thing, it's not a lot to ask for another $12 to read the rest of the book... delivered wirelessly and instantly. I'm now seeing why the Kindle was almost free :) Anyway, it is totally awesome and has already had the effect of getting me off the computer (other than well, right now) to read more. I think I'm gonna go read another chapter of this A.J. Jacobs book right now :)

For anyone interested, here's the description of it. Seems fascinating, and also this is totally where my head is at these days, so I'm psyched to get reading.

Having achieved enlightenment in The Year of Living Biblically and sharpened his mind in The Know-It-All, bestselling author A.J. Jacobs had one feat left in the self-improvement trinity: to make over his body and become the healthiest person in the world. In Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, the intrepid Esquire editor-at-large explores every aspect of the body—from biceps to the brain, from testosterone to toenails—to get into shape. A self-described “mushy, easily-winded, moderately sickly blob” Jacobs, at the urging of his family, vowed to retool every part of his long-neglected body. The task was massive.

He assembled a team of expert medical advisers, a group that included A-list doctors, researchers, nutritionists and trainers. He pledged to disentangle medical myths from reality. He listened to his sage, 96 year-old grandfather’s advice, as well as the chiding of his hippy aunt, Marti. He made a 53-page list of things to do to improve his health. It includes everything from the traditional—“eat leafy green vegetables” and “lift weights”—to the unusual—“win an Academy Award” (Oscar winners live three years long than non-Oscar winners) and hum to prevent sinus infections.  Then, over the course of two years, he subjected himself to a grueling but entertaining regimen of exercise, diets and experiments that yielded surprising insights—and tested the patience of his wife, Julie.

No comments: