Pf Reveiws
The Diet Delusion – Gary Taubes (Vermilion, £12.99)
As someone who has fought, won, lost and fought again the battle of the bulge for most of my adult life, I was looking forward to reading
The Diet Delusion – at last, something that would tell me where I was going wrong, and let me in on the secret to miracle weight loss? So why has it taken me two months to open the book, apart from the fact that it’s very long? Am I frightened to find out what I already knew, if you take in more calories than you expend, then anything left over has to go somewhere and it's not into the atmosphere?
In America this book was initially going to be published as
A Big Fat Lie: what if fat doesn't make you fat? This was softened for publication to The Diet Delusion.
The main premise is that ‘carbs’ are bad and fat/protein is good, and my earlier belief that eating more food than you need leads to obesity is challenged. Taubes explains the plight of the Pima Indians, the Sioux, the South Sea Islanders, African-Americans and the Zulus, where obesity coexists with malnutrition and under-nutrition – where people are obese on less than two thousand calories a day, but where the carbs are 65% of the diet and fat only 21%.
Taubes is an exponent of the high-fat nocarbs diet. In fact, he says that even adding in a small amount of carbohydrate can stop the diet working. I love a nice juicy steak and can see the appeal, but what about my favourite breakfast of muesli with yoghourt and fresh blueberries? I think I will stick with moderation and eat my wholemeal bread and five a day.
Would I recommend this book? It has very good reviews on Amazon, but it didn't ‘grab’ me. If you want a history of obesity, some science and a good workout for your arms, this could be the book for you.
Rosie Sheppard
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Summary: The Dark Knight is Christopher Nolan’s sequel to his film Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader. The film also stars Health Ledger, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal, so there are a few big names in there. It is: Haunting and impressive, though it is about time that Christian Bale got something for that bad throat. It isn’t: The self-conscious quip-filled Batman of previous incarnations. It will appeal to: Fans of blockbuster action adventure films and anyone who thought the Batman franchise just wasn’t dark enough. Worth seeing for: Health Ledger’s Joker, which (though perhaps not Oscar-worthy) is a departure from his romantic hero roles that will leave you asking “Jack Nicholson who?” |
The Outcast — Sadie Jones (Chatto and Windus,£7.99 in paperback)
 The Outcast chronicles the lives of two middle-class families living in post-war Surrey, although the main character is the son of one of these families, Lewis Aldridge. The events of the novel essentially stem from a tragic event witnessed by the young Lewis, who from that point becomes something of an outcast from his peers, hence the title.
I would strongly recommend this book if you’re looking for a good holiday read, and the fact that this is a first novel for Sadie Jones, makes it all the more impressive. It is part of the Richard and Judy Book Club, but don’t let that put you off. The plot isn’t particularly complex, but the simple narrative really draws you into the story and the lives of the characters. It is beautifully written, and successfully captures the repressive atmosphere of the time and location the characters are in.
One of my favourite aspects of the book is that the narrative is given from the perspective of a variety of characters, and having an empathy with each of them makes the story all the more compelling. I also appreciated that, although there is a romance element to the story, it is underplayed and not the driving force of everything that happens.
Though some of the themes are melancholy and there is almost a sense of a foreboding throughout, I certainly would not describe this book as ‘dark’, as the main characters are so appealing.
My only problem with the book was that its simple style and ability to hold your interest make it a compulsive read, and I finished it quite quickly when I would have liked it to carry on.
Diana Spencer |