Outlive by Peter Attia, MD

How long is long enough? Can living long be a conscious goal? Do we want to add more years to life or life to the years?

Death has been a long understood phenomenon. It is bound to happen when one is born. The death is one aspect of life which developed our consciousness to longevity and after life both.

A goal of staying active till the last day of their lives, and delay it as much as humanly possible by any means from healthy living (eating, exercise, and saying no to all the vices) to taking medical help (medicine, procedures, therapies and what not) is not the latest fed. The history is full of people who tried to find the panacea for long living.

This book covers a wide range of topics but largely focuses on the four major health hazards (cancer, cardiac, mental and diabetes) which cause a large number of deaths but are assumed to be avoidable with the right food, medicine, and lifestyle. It suggests not only the right lifestyle choices but what else do we need to maintain a healthy body composition. Additionally, it goes deeper into the latest research in the field of the four horsemen (health hazards) that one need to be aware of.

All the physical things apart, the one question that it doesn't pick or choose not to address is what we're going to do with long life. Living a long life to break a world record doesn't sound very convincing but the reason behind lusting after longevity is very personal choice, and in all probability one is less likely to know and be convinced about this notion of living long.

The idea of outliving yourself is paradoxical until you go answer the next question in line - why so long.

Peace

The Big Myth by Naomi Oreskes

Telling a lie ten times doesn't make it truth but it can definitely get you enough people who wish/believe it to be true even if they don't see the wider implications of such beliefs.

In a political and business nexus it is difficult to know who is getting what to say or do something. It takes time for the truth to come out from such arrangements but there is always space to deny the truth or add more narrative to make it irrelevant. Yes, making the truth irrelevant on the expanses of something which can never be paid.

We know that business and politics are not the same thing but no one knows where one ends and the other begins. How come politics became the business? Something which was meant to work for social good end up being an instrument for driving business agendas. Business says that everything has a price but it never tells you what anyone is paying beyond the monetary value of anything. Not because it can't see because it chooses to unsee it and make others believe it doesn't exist.

People have always been manipulated by labels and slogans, and it is not going to change. We hear the words equality, climate change, right to a hundred things but what was the last thing that changed by these discussions. We just end up chasing another loose end generated or thrust upon.

Peace

Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz

Memoir about a lost father and found love.

This is well articulated but doesn't try to drive any point which was obvious. This tells the stories fairly simply and the narrative doesn't hold you as a reader.

Don't remember the reference for this one but missing this is not big for sure.

Love 

The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris

The history of England is as complex as history can be. But based on this book, it doesn't look very old for the current form it evolved to.

It has all those wars, religions, ego clashes, family, murders and all the possible combinations of the aforementioned which makes it not very interesting read. It is boring unless you are not even initiated in the history of any country.

The only interesting part is when you're done reading it, and contemplate how the current identity politics work in UK.

It is not that we don't learn from history, the case is that most of the people are ahistorical.

Peace

Butts: a Backstory by Heather Radke

This one started from the very physical aspect of the butt but moved towards a narrative about how the butt represents the persecution of a woman, and how it gets objectified in the pop culture.

It started at a good note but moved towards a lot of mismatched references towards how the standards and ideas of a woman's body is constantly changing. It is surprising to see how the shape and size of human body is constantly under scrutiny, and represented.

It is not worth the read if you're already aware of the latest discussions around feminism and journey of woman representation in pop culture.