been doing a bit of reading lately...
the botany of desire by michael pollan
divided into four parts, the botany of desire is about the interaction between plants and humans, specifically how a plant can influence man's decision to help extend its genetic line. the four sections of the book are the tulip, the apple, marijuana, and the potato. each section details how man has planted, nurtured, used, and carefully manipulated each plant for man's own use and pleasure all the while doing the plants bidding, working as a de facto pimp. of course some of this is pretty far-fetched and i've caught the author reaching in some of his "factual" extrapolations but there is also some pretty interesting stuff. take his point on intoxication, for example. consider for a moment the lure of intoxication. man has always been interested in getting fucked up, at first it was tied to ritual or religion, gaining insight on a celestial plane. then it became recreational, smoking some ganj or ingesting cocoa leaves. why do people like to get fucked up? and its not just people, have you ever given a catnip to a cat? sheep will lick a powerfully hallucinogenic rock mold and trip and grind their teeth until they have bloody stumps in their mouthes. there's also a good portion of myth-debunking, one of my favorite past times. ever wonder why johnny appleseed is so revered in american folk yore? yeah, good ol johnny planted millions of apple trees in america but have you ever eaten an apple grown from a seedling? they taste like sour crap, all apples in your the produce sections of your supermarkets are grown from cloned trees. what use would the early pioneers have of sour apples? they'd use the apples to make apple beer and applejack, or apple brandy. good ol johnny appleseed, pride of the american pioneer, is probably responsible for many a successful post-barn raising ho-down more than starting the old addage "an apple a day."
killing pablo by scott bowen
at the peak of his power, influence and wealth, pablo escobar of the medellin cocaine cartel in columbia was listed as the 7th richest man in the world by forbes magazine. america was in the throes of its cocaine obsession in the 1980's and pablo escobar was the big kahuna of the cocaine wave. mainstream enterainment likes to forcefeed us images of the jersey mob and tony soprano or some blinged- out new jack hustler in south central LA but pablo was the king of the dope mountain. and in a country as poor as columbia, you don't just own the country, you become it. for over a decade, no president in columbia got elected without pablo's campaign contributions. political careers were made and broken because of the balance stricken between pablo and the united states, a country that desperately wanted to restrict the flow of cocaine over its borders. for a time, pablo even served on the columbian national legislature. pablo was a god in his home of medellin, building churches and lighted soccer stadiums, owner of banks and housing developments. when he surrendered, he built his own prison complete with a secret stash of automatic weapons used when he made his escape. through it all, he maintained is position through ruthless tactics such as murder and kidnapping. he eventually got too big for his britches and gained the attention of every spook and intelligence gathering agency in north, central, and south america. the united states government devoted nearly $1 billion to the capture and eventual shooting of pablo escobar. that's your tax money and mine we're talking about, kiddies.
survivor by chuck palahniuk
tender branson lives a life of endentured servitude as as one of the emissaries sent by his religious cult, the creedish, to live among the rest of society as a cook, gardener, and housekeeper. left behind the rest of the creedish after a mass suicide, tender branson becomes a media icon a la benny hinn. he publishes a prayer book filled with incantations such as the prayer to delay ejaculation and the prayer to relieve traffic congestion and goes on a nationwide tour of healing and salvation. with the help of fertility hollis, an infertile surrogate mother with the ability to see into the future, branson escapes from the trappings of fame and his merciless agent by revealing the final score of the super bowl and fleeing for his life. its a really brillaint book but doesn't try and wow the reader with grandiose narration, just the cold hard truth about how fucked we all are.
and i've been reading the owners manual for my new car
the botany of desire by michael pollan
divided into four parts, the botany of desire is about the interaction between plants and humans, specifically how a plant can influence man's decision to help extend its genetic line. the four sections of the book are the tulip, the apple, marijuana, and the potato. each section details how man has planted, nurtured, used, and carefully manipulated each plant for man's own use and pleasure all the while doing the plants bidding, working as a de facto pimp. of course some of this is pretty far-fetched and i've caught the author reaching in some of his "factual" extrapolations but there is also some pretty interesting stuff. take his point on intoxication, for example. consider for a moment the lure of intoxication. man has always been interested in getting fucked up, at first it was tied to ritual or religion, gaining insight on a celestial plane. then it became recreational, smoking some ganj or ingesting cocoa leaves. why do people like to get fucked up? and its not just people, have you ever given a catnip to a cat? sheep will lick a powerfully hallucinogenic rock mold and trip and grind their teeth until they have bloody stumps in their mouthes. there's also a good portion of myth-debunking, one of my favorite past times. ever wonder why johnny appleseed is so revered in american folk yore? yeah, good ol johnny planted millions of apple trees in america but have you ever eaten an apple grown from a seedling? they taste like sour crap, all apples in your the produce sections of your supermarkets are grown from cloned trees. what use would the early pioneers have of sour apples? they'd use the apples to make apple beer and applejack, or apple brandy. good ol johnny appleseed, pride of the american pioneer, is probably responsible for many a successful post-barn raising ho-down more than starting the old addage "an apple a day."
killing pablo by scott bowen
at the peak of his power, influence and wealth, pablo escobar of the medellin cocaine cartel in columbia was listed as the 7th richest man in the world by forbes magazine. america was in the throes of its cocaine obsession in the 1980's and pablo escobar was the big kahuna of the cocaine wave. mainstream enterainment likes to forcefeed us images of the jersey mob and tony soprano or some blinged- out new jack hustler in south central LA but pablo was the king of the dope mountain. and in a country as poor as columbia, you don't just own the country, you become it. for over a decade, no president in columbia got elected without pablo's campaign contributions. political careers were made and broken because of the balance stricken between pablo and the united states, a country that desperately wanted to restrict the flow of cocaine over its borders. for a time, pablo even served on the columbian national legislature. pablo was a god in his home of medellin, building churches and lighted soccer stadiums, owner of banks and housing developments. when he surrendered, he built his own prison complete with a secret stash of automatic weapons used when he made his escape. through it all, he maintained is position through ruthless tactics such as murder and kidnapping. he eventually got too big for his britches and gained the attention of every spook and intelligence gathering agency in north, central, and south america. the united states government devoted nearly $1 billion to the capture and eventual shooting of pablo escobar. that's your tax money and mine we're talking about, kiddies.
survivor by chuck palahniuk
tender branson lives a life of endentured servitude as as one of the emissaries sent by his religious cult, the creedish, to live among the rest of society as a cook, gardener, and housekeeper. left behind the rest of the creedish after a mass suicide, tender branson becomes a media icon a la benny hinn. he publishes a prayer book filled with incantations such as the prayer to delay ejaculation and the prayer to relieve traffic congestion and goes on a nationwide tour of healing and salvation. with the help of fertility hollis, an infertile surrogate mother with the ability to see into the future, branson escapes from the trappings of fame and his merciless agent by revealing the final score of the super bowl and fleeing for his life. its a really brillaint book but doesn't try and wow the reader with grandiose narration, just the cold hard truth about how fucked we all are.
and i've been reading the owners manual for my new car