Since I was a child, I was a boy thirsty of knowledge and a big part of my life was reading books.
Non-academic related, to be truthful, 80% of the books I read each week were comic book related but it was something that my mother did to keep me preoccupied while she was out working and a way to stay out of trouble. When I say trouble, no I’m not talking about drugs, smoking or anything that is bad, but I suppose the girl next door to my grandparent’s home, always spent our time playing “Spin the Bottle” and were often smooching.
And I could remember my aunt being quite direct towards me and saying, “you don’t know where that girl’s mouth has been. She drinks water from the gutter”.
The other trouble and it’s something I felt terribly as a child was playing with the other neighbor and me telling my younger brother to hide near a bush and he got stung by a lot of bees. Needless to say, I got in big trouble and if I recall, my punishment involved a slipper (punishment Filipino-style) and being grounded for a very long time.
So, books were something I read a lot of growing up. May it be an encyclopedia, a History of Disney book which my father bought me and many cheap comic books which my parents purchased for me.
By the time I was in college and was Editor-in-Chief for the Asian college newspaper, the official college newspaper, would often get a plethora of books for review consideration. And since no one really wanted to read the books they received, I was often asked to take them and read them, I did. Also, because the cost of comic books were way too expensive (and seeing how much they cost today, I feel for today’s younger generation).
Because of my written work, I am often asked by publisher’s to review their books and so, if there is a book that catches my attention, I no doubt jump on it.
The first book I am reading is “Nodding Off: Understanding Sleep from Cradle to Grave” by Alice Gregory.
For me, I am interested in reading books about sleep, especially how it impacts health.
I am a guy who is a workaholic and sleep is something I know I need to do more of.
Since college, studying late and only getting five hours of sleep, I think 5-6 hours has remained the norm and to make things worse, I have a weird thing when it comes to coffee. Sometimes the caffeine hits me like 12 hours after I drunk coffee and it keeps me up. Playing video games before I sleep can keep me up. The sound of the dogs panting or snoring keeps me up. Certain sounds wake me up from sleep, but I find the noise of an A/C or fan to be soothing.
Nevertheless, I am interested in sleep. It’s something I talk about with family, friends, co-workers and I’m always at awe for those who get 8-10 hours of sleep a day.
I know my body and how I react when I don’t get enough sleep or I’m interrupted from deep sleep. But I wanted to know more about the science of it and so I was captivated by what Alice Gregory had to write. Especially about REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and (NREM) Near Rapid Eye Movement Sleep. And I read tests on mice who were deprived of both, no REM and they died within a few weeks. Without NREM and they survived a few weeks more. But scientists agree that sleep is important.
But I wanted to find out if lack of sleep could lead to the worsening of eyesight. Granted, being around a computer and typing all day is not good and years of glaring at blue light is bad as well. But is there a correlation between lack of sleep and decreasing of vision. I was interested to see if Alice Gregory touched up on that.
I liked how she wrote about the idea of toxins building in the brain and sleep is like taking a shower and cleaning the toxins out.
The book also goes into a break down of sleep. May it be for a baby, pre-school and school-aged children, adolescents, youth, adulthood and older adults.
I liked how the book brings up the differences in other countries, especially those who have a few hours of daylight.
The book also goes into depth about insomnia and in addition to the topics that are covered in the book, she does point out studies which she does include the sources of such studies as well. So, the book is well-researched and presented.
And Gregory concludes with ways to help people get more sleep. The section on what she has to say about not using sleeping pills, I can understand.
Also, she touches upon caffeine and helps makes sense of why caffeine affects me many hours later.
Overall, “Nodding Off: Understanding Sleep from Cradle to Grave” by Alice Gregory is well-researched and presented quite well, easy to read and I definitely recommend it!
The next book I am reading is “Tokyo Vegan Guide” by Chiara Park Terzuolo.
It’s important to note (as one who reads my blog already knows), I’m not a vegetarian. I’m a flexitarian and I do eat meat and dairy, but of the 365 days a year, my consumption of meat and fish is limited to two days a month (and holidays). So, I do peruse a lot of vegetarian sites for recipes, go to vegetarian restaurants and read vegetarian blogs and books.
I found out about Chiara Park Terzuolo’s book through Metropolis Magazine (an English magazine that is available for free in Tokyo). It was an issue about “The Best Burgers in Tokyo” and they included a vegetarian page which Chiara discussed her favorite places to eat at. While it was only a short page, it was enough for me to order her book and add it to my itinerary for when I’m in Tokyo once again.
The book is a straight text-based, no photos book. It features restaurants which Chiara has experienced in different cities
I do wish the cities were broken into alphabetical order, as for Shibuya or Shinjuku, or even by ward. As I would look towards the back, expecting them to be in the “S” section, Akihabara to be in the front, etc. But it’s all good, there is an index at the rear of the book, so that helps a lot.
I also like the fact that she was very selective of the restaurants that she features and knows how many restaurants close down quickly.
As some of you who read my blog, numerous restaurants that were trendy on Cat St. or Omotesando (and other areas around Tokyo) are now gone and that goes to show how building lease, restaurant competition and bad location can easily affect a business, despite how popular it may be with certain people.
Also, liked that she included the kanji for certain restaurants. For example, I have stayed at Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro and had no idea they had a shop right near by. I passed by that area many times, especially for the market next door. But it’s good to know that restaurant next door has vegan gyoza.
Some areas mentioned, I have been to or have been there for other restaurants, such as the Doutor in Shinjuku next to Shinuku Gyoen Park and next door to Tully’s Coffee, had no idea there was a vegan restaurant on the fourth floor.
So, I’m glad I got this book. Gives me time to plot and research for my Vegan Restaurant Tour that I would like to do and this book provides me with a solid resource.
So, if you are looking for a Tokyo guide to Vegan restaurants and a book that is inexpensive, definitely give “Tokyo Vegan Guide” by Chiara Park Terzuolo a try!
The next book I am reading is “Suffering” by Paul David Tripp.
I have read books on coping with death of a family member but I was looking for a book that dealt not with just death, but also illness, unemployment and difficulty in relationships.
I’m sure many adults have experienced one or all of that.
But I know for me, whenever I have been in the lowest place of my life, I have turned to prayer and it’s something that I learned a lot when I was a college student working at the USPS data encoding. And I would pick up a radio show called “Adventures of Odyssey” that opened my eyes up to the importance of prayer and it no doubt has given me a sense of peace, whenever I was troubled or confused.
As a workaholic, I’ve noticed that I have used work as a way to try not to let emotions come out. I lock them away until suddenly, out of nowhere (usually when I’m alone), watching a film or reading a book where something similar I saw/read triggers that emotion and I eventually breakdown.
I have lost family and friends these past few years that have been hard and because I try to be professional or show no sign of weakness when I’m around people, trust me, I do suffer, I do feel emotional pain, I do cry and it does bum me out.
I’ve talked about it before, how a good friend’s death sent me to a form of depression that I was not consciously aware of until I put on 70 pounds and was told by my doctor after having health problems that I need to change my life if I want to live long.
I went strong for nearly a year and a half until two family members died and once again, I started to deviate from my goals of becoming healthy because I felt I lost my drive.
And there have been days where I’m in the dark and praying to God to hear my prayer because I was so lost that I needed his guidance.
So, in many ways, I wanted to give Paul David Tripp’s “Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense” a try.
Paul David Tripp is a pastor of the Westminister Theological Seminary and his book showcases suffering but also integrates certain excerpts from the Bible.
Reading this book, I felt a lot of healing was in store. Paul’s book really opened my eyes.
Paul writes, for those that are suffering, ask yourself, “Has my suffering caused me to begin to believe things that are not true and therefore say things that are not true to myself?”
Also, for one to count their blessings because a thankful heart is the best defense against a doubting heart.
And one thing that made me smile and also tear up a bit because it’s so true, Paul writes, “So as the battle of doubt and faith rages in your heart, you don’t have to run from God; he graciously welcomes you to run to him. When you humbly confess your struggle to believe in the midst of your suffering, God welcomes you with arms of love and blesses you with his presence, power, and sustaining grace”.
If you believe in God, which I do, I noticed that whenever I’m at my lowest of lows, I run to God.
And as I wrote about how the deaths of friends and family members had affected me physically/healthwise, Paul writes, “Loss of hope renders you weak and timid, lacking in motivation and courage. It causes you to hide instead of move out. It causes you to give up quickly instead of press on. It causes you to fear rather than believe. It leaves you convinced that you can’t do what, in fact, you have the power to do”.
There are a lot of inspirational words that give one hope and make one stronger, make one understand certain verses in the Bible, including ones that people tend to misinterpret.
I also like how he has questions for one to ask themselves after each chapter.
If anything, for those who believe in God and those who fell-out of God and have been wanting to find their way again, to understand their own suffering, I recommend this book. In fact, I can see this book as an excellent resource to come back to and read again, but also would make a great gift for a family member or friend or anyone in need.
Definitely recommended!
And another book I am reading is “To Shake the Sleeping Self” by Jedidiah Jenkins.
Jedidiah Jenkins is the Editor-in-Chief of “Wilderness Magazine”, former attorney, a former roommate of actress Kristen Bell but he’s also one of the few Instagram pages I visit to read what he posts with each photo caption because he is an eloquent writer.
I am always in the lookout for travel books, travel books that have substance and knowing from his Instagram, I knew that reading Jedidiah’s book was a must.
In 2011, Jedidiah made the decision to bike 14,000 miles until he got to Patagonia (from Oregon to the southermost tip of South America). His parents walked across America in the ’70s and were featured on the cover and interviewed in the August 1979 issue of “National Geographic” and the book covers his spirit quest which began in 2013.
While Jedidiah did all he can to make sure he was prepared, he would go along with a guy named Weston (name was changed for the book) who was more or less a free-spirit and did things his way. Needless to say while both traveled together for a long period of time, I think it’s predictable to say that two people, two different personalities and traveling together would be pushing each other, not necessarily to madness but for the most part, they were able to travel so far together.
We also get to read the family dynamics, especially between Jedidiah and his 67-year-old mother (at the time) joining him when he reached certain areas.
But part of the wonderful and fascinating part about this book is the adventure and experience. Sure, there were some questionable things that involved Weston (and seriously, I would have ditched him earlier on) but I guess, there is importance in traveling long distance with a friend and also someone who could watch your back. And while you may want to roll your eyes about Weston and not be surprised what he did towards the end of their trip, if you follow both men on Instagram, it’s good to know they are still friends.
But for the most part, I really enjoyed the book and reading the memoir about Jedidiah’s adventures. The people he met along the way, discovering himself and the thoughts that ran in his head at the time.
I read an uncorrected proof but for the most part, it was a fascinating read, which I’m sure adventure seekers may be inspired to do something similar to what Jedidiah did, meeting new people along the way and living life with no regrets.
Another book I recommend!
