Category Archives: Books

BOOK: “A Cook’s Tour” by Anthony Bourdain

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A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme CuisinesA Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Bloomsbury

Anthony Bourdain’s work is a joy to read if you love gonzo writing, and food — lots of food. It’s like reading Hunter S. Thompson, if Thompson were obsessed with the meals that he ate. A Cook’s Tour is Bourdain’s second work of nonfiction, after Kitchen Confidential, the book which turned him from Executive Chef at a high-brow New York restaurant to a Personality — writer, TV star, and celebrity. Where his previous book explored life in the kitchen, this one ventured out into the world, to Portugal, Scotland, Japan, Mexico, Cambodia, San Francisco, and Vietnam — to name a few.

I must admit, if Bourdain had been the kind of foodie that was obsessed with foam reductions and $300 per head tasting menus, his writing would hold limited intrigue for me. But because this was a guy who seemed as happy with a streetside bowl of pho or a simple hunk of grilled meat on a stick as he was with fine dining, I find his work relatable. It also avoids the cognitive dissonance of reading someone who wrote like Hunter Thompson, but who only talked about escargot and wine pairings. It lent Bourdain authenticity.

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who travels, loves food, or lives at the confluence of the two.

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BOOK: “AI for Good” by Josh Tyrangiel

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AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That MatterAI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter by Josh Tyrangiel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Simon & Schuster

— Out Now —

There’re a lot of books out about artificial intelligence (AI) these days. There are how-to manuals. There are books about the making of billionaires on the back of AI-centric business models. There are books that consider how AI will destroy the human economy (and possibly humanity as we know it.) Josh Tyrangiel’s book seeks to carve out a niche by taking a positive view towards AI but focusing not so much on how it produces more billionaire tech executives, but rather on how it can help fix persistent social problems in education, healthcare, governance, and human communication and connectedness. Of course, this isn’t a completely separate topic from business use of AI (e.g. healthcare is one of the biggest businesses in America [which is no doubt emblematic of America’s unrelentingly shitty healthcare;]) however, these are areas that each feature their own unique challenges, problems for which the lessons of the business sector, broadly, are often of limited value.

I found this book to be illuminating. It introduced several fascinating characters from various domains. Among the most intriguing discussions were those with a short-lived DOGE employee and one with a Hoosier high school principal. It was also interesting to learn about the evolution of AI language translators.

If you are interested in how AI is being applied beyond hardcore business uses like supply chain optimization and computer programming, you may want to give this book a look.

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BOOK: Bokuden Ryu Jujutsu by Otsuka Nobuyoshi; Trans. by Eric Shahan

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Bokuden Ryu Jujutsu: A Record of Intensive Lessons in Jujutsu with Additional Secret Teachings on ResuscitationBokuden Ryu Jujutsu: A Record of Intensive Lessons in Jujutsu with Additional Secret Teachings on Resuscitation by Otsuka Nobuyoshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Translator Amazon Page

This is a manual, written in 1916, of the Bokuden Ryu school of Jujutsu. Tsukahara Bokuden was a sixteenth century samurai and is one of the most famous of Japan’s swordsmen, having been instructor to a Shogun and a Provincial Governor, and the school of Jujutsu described in this book was said to have been founded by him.

The manual mostly consists of textual and line drawn descriptions of thirty techniques of the system, mostly throws and takedowns. Each page has an English translation appended to the original manual’s text and drawings. Most techniques are explained over two or three pages (i.e. two or three drawings.) The book also includes three resuscitation techniques and a few odds and ends. There is also a nice set of atemi maps – i.e. drawings showing various vulnerable spots on the body, and a brief biography (a few pages) of Tsukahara Bokuden.

The translator points out errors in the original and corrects them in the translation (e.g. there are a couple of techniques in which attacker and defender labels are swapped.)

If you’re interested in Japanese martial arts and the evolution of Jujutsu, I’d recommend this manual. There is not a great deal of fine detail to be gleaned, but the concise descriptions do offer insights into what is unique and what is common to the system.

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PROMPT: Changed

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a piece of media (book, movie, song) that changed how you see the world?
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Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

Also: Quiet by Susan Cain; Water Margin by Shī Nài’ān; and Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

BOOK: 齐天大圣 by Yinuo Wang

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齐天大圣 Monkey King: A Bilingual Chinese Storybook (Pinyin & English) with HSK Vocabulary (Learn Chinese with Mythology：Bilingual Pinyin Edition 9)齐天大圣 Monkey King: A Bilingual Chinese Storybook (Pinyin & English) with HSK Vocabulary by Yinuo Wang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon Page

This book collects episodes from the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West, and condenses each into a page or two. Specifically, these are episodes from early in the story of Journey to the West, before the protagonist (a.k.a. Sun Wu Kong / the Monkey King / the Great Sage Equal to Heaven) actually departs on his journey to the west with a monk to get Buddhist scriptures. It is Sun Wu Kong’s origin story in a highly condensed form.

The illustrations of the book are aesthetically pleasing and are colorful and non-threatening (i.e. suitable for young readers.) Also, the book has quizzes and vocabulary building exercises at the back.

My biggest criticism of the book would be that it bites off more than it can chew. With single pages for major events and no room for transitions, the plates are a bit incongruous and don’t feel like a story as much as like viewing someone’s scrapbook. A lesser criticism would be that with a loose translation style (which is fine,) it sometimes translates the same characters in two different ways. (As it does with the title card which it translates quite literally as “The Great Sage Equal to Heaven” and the opening page where it translates the same four-character phrase quite loosely as “The Great Monkey King.”) This would not be an issue if the book were not a book for learning to read.

As I said, this is more like Sun Wu Kong’s scrapbook than his life story, but it is a nice way to practice beginner level reading. I’d recommend it for those beginning to read Chinese, particularly if one already knows the Journey to the West story.

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PROMPT: Change the Ending

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Daily writing prompt
If you could change the ending of any book, which one would it be?
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Titus Andronicus. A bit over-the-top with the familial cannibalism and all. Just sayin’.

BOOK: “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk

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Fight ClubFight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – W.W. Norton

Through a weird and wild storyline, Palahniuk offers insight into two (intertwined) crises of identity that have only grown more prominent since the book (and the David Fincher film adapted from it) came out in the late 90’s. First and foremost, there is a craving for, yet confusion about the nature of, masculinity. As men raised by women struggle to ape masculine behavior only to over-emphasize conspicuous features such as violence and aggression while missing more subtle aspects such as the instinct to protect and a grasp of responsibility, self-empowerment, and fortitude. The second identity crisis is self as consumer, wherein people start linking who they are to their consumption, and this becomes demoralizing because it’s such a hallow way of seeing oneself. (I say the crises are “intertwined” because it’s a long and painful fall to go from “protector” to “consumer-” the latter having nothing at all to feel good about.)

This is one of those books that people either find illuminating or unreadable. There is a lot in the book that is stomach-turning. For many, this will be the violence, but — for me, and I suspect many others, — it’s the “mischievous” pranks that Tyler Durden and the unnamed lead “play” as they work as waiters. Upton Sinclair once said of The Jungle that he aimed for the reader’s heart (i.e. to bring awareness to labor issues in the meat packing industry) and hit them square in the stomach (i.e. people’s main takeaway was that how their food was made was gross and needed to be corrected.) This may be a similar situation. Palahniuk, I suspect, is trying to show how these full-grown men in some ways haven’t escaped the grossest era of boyhood as they attempt to find their power in the world, but it mostly reminded me to not eat at banquets or other gatherings of rich people.

I found this to be an insightful book and would highly recommend it for anyone trying to figure out some of the oddities of the world in which we find ourselves living.

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PROMPT: First Time

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a book, movie, or TV show that you wish you could experience again for the first time?
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I would not be the same person. It would not be the same book.

BOOK: “Shuhari” by Nobuo Suzuki

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Shuhari: The Three-Step Japanese Path to Lifelong Growth and SuccessShuhari: The Three-Step Japanese Path to Lifelong Growth and Success by Nobuo Suzuki
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Release date: August 11, 2026

I was introduced to the concept of “shuhari” as a student of Japanese martial arts, and over time I discovered it to be one of the most useful concepts for personal growth and development. Shuhari is by no means exclusive to martial arts and is applied to arts in the broadest sense — really to endeavors of any type (as is true in this book which references not only martial arts, but literary arts, graphic arts, cinematic art, and even sciences.) The idea is this: one begins by repetitively practicing what one is taught in as close to an exemplary fashion as possible (shu,) then one starts adapting the principles one has cultivated to changing and unpredictable circumstances (ha,) and finally one abandons the forms and embraces the spontaneous (ri.) In short, we follow the rules (shu,) break the rules (ha,) and abandon the rules (ri.)

Recent years have seen a flood of books on cultural life philosophies, starting and continuing with those of the Japanese culture, but venturing out into Scandinavian (Sisu and Lagom,) Goan (Susegad,) and many others. One could easily fill a shelf each with the popular books on “ikigai” or “ganbatte.” It’s kind of a surprise to see that it’s taken this long to venture into the invaluable concept of “Shuhari.” It is an idea whose time has come to go global.

In a broad sense, this is a book on learning and creativity, and I’d highly recommend it for anyone looking to reevaluate their approach to learning and / or creating.

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BOOK: “Saiweng Lost His Horse” [塞翁失马] by Qixia Yu

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Saiweng Lost His Horse 塞翁失马: A Story about Life and Values (Bilingual Chinese Idiom Stories)Saiweng Lost His Horse 塞翁失马: A Story about Life and Values by Qixia Yu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Author Amazon Page

This bilingual illustrated book tells the famous Taoist story often referred to as “good news? bad news? who’s to say?” (or words to that effect.) The story, originally contained in the Huainanzi (i.e. The Book of Master Huainan,) shows a wise old farmer subjected to the ups and downs of life. The old man’s neighbors are always surprised when the farmer neither celebrates positive events or bemoans negative ones — realizing the truth contained in the taiji symbol (yin / yang symbol) that the seed of the light is always in the dark and vice versa.

The book contains text in Simplified Chinese, pinyin, and English. It also has pretty illustrations. It’s very kid’s book-like (i.e. short, illustrated, and formatted as such;) though the story, itself, is not particularly juvenile.

I was surprised when this would not open on my laptop “Kindle for PC” reader as another book in this series had. (I like to read illustrated works (and Chinese writings) that way as it’s generally easier to take in than on my phone or Kindle because the big screen is easy to see and enlarge as necessary. That said, I was quite pleased with the ease with which I could magnify the text on my Kindle device. I had none of the frustration reading it on Kindle that I frequently have had with graphic novels and such in the past.

I enjoyed reading this story and found it quite helpful to me as a Chinese language learner. I’d highly recommend it for those learning to read Chinese.

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