I suppose one should be somewhat objective when reviewing a book for others, worried that to gush and rave would be to overhype the story and turn the reader off before they’ve even opened the cover. In this case, I’m just going to have to take that risk because I can’t hold back my enthusiasm for The Passage by Justin Cronin.

My heart pounded as I ripped through each page. If you’ve ever felt the overwhelming need to keep reading a book that has grabbed you by the hair on the back of your neck and won’t let you go, you’ll know how I felt.

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I have a confession to make. You might say that I’m a book designer who is in a committed relationship with the printed book, but I find no shame in experiencing a casual rendezvous with eBooks. Don’t judge.

In the past, I would lug home manuscripts like an old burro to mine for that perfect cover concept, that is, until I was introduced to an eReader. So now I no longer throw my massive paper girth around apologetically on buses, planes and trains. The eReader’s portability is flattering to any body shape – slimming and stylish. When I stand on a crowded platform, people seemingly steal envious glimpses at the little device held in my hands. It shouts, “Hey big fella, what do you think of my large reading list?” And it tickles me to think of curious onlookers wanting to know what my jacketless read is. For these reasons, I am liberated by the eReader.

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… that one of the main arguments of the pro-city movement is efficiency? A smaller space means fewer resources spent getting everything you need.

—From Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder by Ken Greenberg

Excerpt from Walking Home:
In the end, it is the quest for both financial and environmental sustainability that is pushing the pro-city offensive to its tipping point. Rising energy costs are impacting every element of post-war housing patterns, including mobility, the size of our personal space, social arrangements, food security and the changing shape of the economy. This confluence of powerful new factors is propelling a profound shift in the way we perceive, use and value the dense and mixed city, both as an ideal and as a practical solution. What we have learned is that it is through our collective actions in cities, that we have the inherent capacity to rest more lightly on the planet. We use less energy if we live in smaller spaces and spend less time on the road. Also, through concentration, cities allow us to draw more efficiently on emerging renewable energy sources — wind, solar, geothermal, heat recovery — and to deal more effectively with our waste through recycling programs. But the move to greater sustainability is not about changing one or two aspects of behaviour or substituting a fuel source. It’s about the way that all these elements fuse, how the benefits of each build on the others. To fully realize this potential, a major rebalancing is needed: overcoming entrenched habits, sharing spaces for multiple purposes and creating more opportunities for the kind of mix and overlap that enable people to live closer to where they work.

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Olive oil has been a vital component in a heart-healthy, Mediterranean-style diet for a millennia. The fresh news is the many additional benefits of olive oil that support its designation as a Hot Hormone food.

Olives and olive oil are rich in antioxidant compounds called polyphenols, which are known to have anti-inflammatory, anticancer and anticoagulant benefits. Olive oil also provides a rich source of plant sterols to curb inflammation, aid hormonal balance and control cholesterol. But the various ways olive oil benefits weight loss are most exciting. And these effects are not only because of its ability to reduce inflammation.

When we include them in our daily diet, monounsaturated fats such as olive oil encourage the release of our appetite-suppressing hormone leptin. Olive oil, in particular, has been shown to improve our sensitivity to insulin. In a study published in Diabetes Care (July 2007), 11 subjects with insulin resistance and increased abdominal fat used three different diets for 28 days. MORE…

… that playground roundabouts were installed in rural Africa to provide water through children’s play, but there are reports that the adults are having to do most of the spinning?
—From Adapt: Saving the World One Failure at a Time by Tim Harford

Excerpt from Adapt:
Consider the PlayPump, a clever-sounding idea in which a deep well is connected to a pump powered by a children’s roundabout as a way of bringing fresh water to isolated communities. As the children play, the roundabout spins, and the pump fills a large tank that can be tapped as needed. The PlayPump removes the need both for unreliable electrical pumps and for hours of labour from hardworking women: clean water simply appears as a by-product of innocent play.

Or does it?
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Inspired by a beloved breakfast treat—yogurt parfait—this recipe borrows the main components (granola, yogurt, and fruit) and transforms them into a delicious dessert. The pie is not too sweet, but you can adjust it to your preference by drizzling as much honey as you like.

Makes one 9-inch pie

for the crust
1½ cups plain granola
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

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1. How would you summarize your book in one sentence?

The Midwife of Venice is the story a 16th century woman with poor impulse control who risks her life and the lives of the entire Jewish ghetto to save the man she loves.
 

2. How long did it take you to write this book?

The first draft – no time at all – maybe seven months. The 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th drafts quite a bit longer.
 

3. Where is your favourite place to write?

In my estudio in Colima, Mexico with the hummingbirds dive-bombing the wild hibiscus outside the window and the vanilla vines doing lascivious things to the white stucco walls.
 

4. How do you choose your characters’ names?

I love names and collect them as I hear them. I slot them into a file – called – wait for it – ‘Good Names’. When I develop a new character this is the first place I go.
 

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… that Averell Harriman, FDR’s lend lease representative in England, put his privileged position with Winston Churchill in jeopardy when he began an affair with the very much younger Pamela Churchill, the prime minister’s daughter-in-law?
—From Citizens of London: How Britain was Rescued in Its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson

Excerpt from Citizens of London:
Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt had first met at an official dinner in London during the waning days of the Great War. Then an assistant secretary of the navy, the thirty-six-year-old Roosevelt had come to the British capital as part of a European fact-finding tour. Although charming and good-humored, he did not cut a particularly impressive figure at this early stage of his government career. To one of his colleagues in Washington, he was “likable and attractive but not a heavyweight.” According to former secretary of war Henry Stimson (who more than thirty years later would be appointed to the same post in Roosevelt’s cabinet), he was “an untried, rather flippant young man.” Unabashed by such criticism, Roosevelt always sought to be “the life of the party” and “never happily surrendered the limelight to anyone.” But on the evening of July 29, 1918, the limelight at the dinner at Gray’s Inn had been commandeered by a man who was also accustomed to being the center of attention and whose ego was, if anything, even larger than Roosevelt’s. MORE…

… that JFK and the CIA sought advice from Ian Fleming on how to deal with Fidel Castro? —From Red Heat: Terror, Conspiracy, and Murder in the Cold War Caribbean by Alex von Tunzelmann

Excerpt from Red Heat

Earlier that year, Ian Fleming, the author who had created James Bond, went to a dinner party in Georgetown hosted by the presidential hopeful, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy had long been a fan. In 1957, his wife, Jacqueline, had given a copy of From Russia with Love to Allen Dulles, saying, Here is a book you should have, Mr. Director.”77 From then on, it had become a tradition that Dulles and Jack Kennedy would exchange copies of Bond novels as they appeared, Dulles adding comments in the margins. The director of the CIA was not present at this particular dinner party, though at least one other agency official was.

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