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I read four good books during my first three weeks in India.

Fast Food Nation
Eric Schlosser

Quick Review: Another hard hitting but insightful investigative journalism work by Eric Schlosser (see also: Reefer Madness). In true Schlosser fashion, the book takes hard swipes at the mistreatment of immirgrant workers, antiunion habits of corporations, powerful lobbiest groups (here the big Meatpacking companies), and the commodification and over reliance on technology supposedly running rampant in today's America. The book ends with only weak suggestions for solutions and a somewhat hypercritical afterword, but the heart of the book is grade A.

Relation to Iowa: Alot of the horror stories of meat packers and slaughter houses gone wrong come straight out of Iowa. Council Bluffs and Denison are both mentioned (one CB worker died falling into a renderer/grinder and a Denison guy lost his arm -if I can remember correctly?)

Relation to India: I've had maybe five meals with meat since landing in Delhi a month ago, three of those were at the Jaipur McDonalds. Even though I finished the book the weekend we were in Jaipur, even though I was fully repulsed by how embedded most Americans' fast food addiction has become, and even though the true scope of how un-foodlike modern fast and junk food has become, I STILL, without hesitation, ate three of my five meals in Jaipur at McDonalds, the only one I've seen while in India. While mulling over how industrial (Schlosser would say unnatural) and fake our food has become (artificial and natural flavors are simple lab chemicals that give food its flavor- in everything!), it helps to be on a steady diet of fresh veg Indian food. Really can't wait to get back to burgers in August.



Einstein
Walter Isaacson

Quick Review: The first big real biography I've ever fully read and a good un for sure. Isaacson paints an interesting picture of an interesting man: a person with a mind good for both revolutionizing science and helping to escape the lifey troubles all people have to cope, a man who embraced his celebrity and cared for all of humanity but was distant to those meant to be closest to him. Smoothly glides between biography, science writing, and narrative to create a great read about a guy you only wish you could've met.

Relation to Iowa: Book mentions Iowa City when talking about one of Einstein's travels through the states while looking for a job.

Relation to India: I'd like to think that, at least while in India, I've taken up some of Einsteins personal fashion methods. In his latter years, the aloof nature of his mismatched clothes helped reemphasize his whole absent minded professor-ness and some believe that without his famously unkept hair, he never would have reached the level of celebrity he did. As I planned to do laundry only once this trip (you have to hand wash everything), I've had to get creative with my outfit selection these last few weeks. And who knows? With everyone here trying to dress Western, maybe I'll start a new trend by going around in my brightly colored tees and maroon athletic shorts. (Actual quote: "Your fashion, it is looking the best. Yes.") I've worn my swimming suit out and about on multiple occasions and haven't gotten a haircut in three months; though I'll probably take up one of the street barbers' Rs.30 ($0.66) offers soon.



The Undercover Economist
by Tim Hartford

Quick Review: A quick pop econ book that covers about 70% of econ 101's most basic fundamentals and manages to use nearly 0% of the associated jargon. Pretty good everyday illustrations of a wide variety of concepts. The book goes along with us as we buy overpriced coffee from a stand, search for good prices at the supermarket, and surf the web on our phones.

Relation to Iowa: "There are two ways we can make cars in America. We can build them in Detroit or grow them in Iowa... in Iowa we simply water corn seeds and harvest a crop, load it onto an ocean vessel and send it out into the sea. It will return to us as cars using an amazing corn-to-cars technology called Japan." The book uses the state in any example involving agriculture. Yay Iowa!

Relation to India: Has some interesting stories about traveling to the Cameroon. Has some typical ideas about spurring development in places like Cameroon. Tells a very rich story about China's historic economic turn around. Good lessons on both stagnant growth and rapidly developing nations which can be applied (and seen) right here in India.



We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families
by Peter Gourevitch

Quick Review: The saddest story I've ever read, but probably only because it all actually happened. Peter Gourevitch's recounted survivor stories from post-genocide Rwanda tell of a country desolated by harsh colonial rule followed by harsh dictatorships and rocked by an ethnic slaughter resulting in about an eighth of the population being killed, most commonly by way of machette. The book gives a reliable account of the history, before and after colonialization, of Rwanda and the more recent events preceding the 1994 Tutsi genocide. Gourevitch remains objective when berating the international aid networks and organizations (for ignoring the details of the situation and accidentally giving aid for years after the genocide to the killers and political leaders responsible) and the so called developed world, which vowed after WWII to never again let an ethnicity be cleansed, (for turning a blind eye during and after the genocide). The author is superbly introspective, especially when interrpreting the accounts of his informants. There is more to this tragic story than I can do justice explaining here, so just Wikipedia it or get the book.

Relation to Iowa: Only book that doesn't really mention Iowa. Not even once, go figure.

Relation to India: When Peter Gourevitch writes on the intricacies of visiting Rwanda, a nation with visible ties to its colonial past and a great many seriously impoverished people, I feel like he is writing about India. Almost. Although India has a somewhat corrupt police force and its people (at least outside of Mumbai and Goa) often act as if in awe when spotting a foreigner, there isn't really any remaining signs of India's inner country post colonial struggles (Pakistani partition in 1947 turned those into good old fashioned international hostilities). Also unlike in India, Rwanda suffers a dearth of foreign investment and economic growth, whereas Indians become gloomy when news spreads that their economy may only grow by six or seven percent this year due to the recession (taken into the context of human history anything over five can be considered extraordinary). Reading We Wish to Inform You.. makes it sound as if there is another planet I've yet to see: not just the (1)cozy or (2)growing, but the third. Better reserve the gonetorwanda-brb.blogspot.com url now just in case.