Be the Change

Bibliophile

I've been crazy about reading lately. Maybe it was making the resolution to read 52 books in one year that's scaring me into wanting to read all the time, but I've finished 2 books so far this year, and I'm currently reading 3 books!

ASIN: 1400080797	The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet Product Type: Book
	Amazon's Price: $ 14.39 Buy Now!

A blend of physics and Buddhism? This is a perfect book for me, as it discusses topics in which I'm very interested. I also love how lightheartedly sarcastic Buddhists can be. For instance:

In Parmenides' opinion, if things changed, then the appearance of something that previously didn't exist would become possible. But something that doesn't exist can't start to exist. So change is impossible. The viewpoint is typical of a philosophy that is rooted in the real existence of things. According to this way of thinking, all results must exist already within their causes, because nothing new can emerge. Buddhism's answer is as follows (in the terms in which it was given to Hindu philosophers with similar ideas to those of Parmenides): "If results exist within their cause, let them rather buy the cotton grains to wear. If the result was present in the cause and indistinguishable from it but not manifest, with the money you spend on cotton cloth, buy some cotton seeds and clothe yourselves with them! They too will serve the purpose of cotton clothes protecting you from the cold and wind, for, as you maintain, the cloth aspect exists in the seed."



There are a lot of arguments going on back and forth in the book, and I find much of it to be quite humorous. I don't agree with everything in the book, but it presents a lot of interesting ideas. In fact, it presents so much that I don't read too much of the book at a time. I can read ten pages and it'll give me enough to think about for the rest of the day. So I'm reading other books at the moment, too.

ASIN: 030726999X	The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy) Product Type: Book
	Amazon's Price: $ 10.35 Buy Now!

I'm finally finishing the trilogy I started early last year. I think part of the reason I put this off (besides the fact that the books are rather violent) is that the word "Hornet" is in the title and I'm terrified of hornets. I don't like thinking about them, even, so I put off reading a book with their name in the title...

I really like the bit on women warriors at the very start of the novel.

ASIN: 1583333398	The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess Product Type: Book
	Amazon's Price: $ 16.43 Buy Now!

I've been wanting this book since I first heard of it, and although it just arrived yesterday evening, I've read almost the whole thing already. It makes a lot of sense, and I'm eager to start it out. I'm at a point where I'm happy with the number on the scale, but unhappy about the fat/muscle ratio of my body. I'm ready to lose fat and gain muscle, and that's exactly what this book promises. I can definitely see how women have a hard time with this plan. On my tough workout days, it asks me to eat almost 1,000 calories more than I'm used to consuming. Women are brainwashed into thinking that cutting calories is the only way to lose fat, and I think that's just not true.

There's also the fact that the number on the scale is likely to not move a whole lot. As you lose fat and gain muscle, that number probably won't change much, and I think women rely on the scale far too much! Even though the number won't change, I expect to see results in my body shape.

Women also somehow think they'll "bulk up" like men do if they lift heavier weights. Even my husband is warning me that he doesn't like the look of women bodybuilders. I don't either, and I don't expect to be able to look like them just because I'm not going to use 3-5lb weights!

I'm taking part in a 28-day challenge at the moment (at www.sparkpeople.com, a great FREE website for healthy living, by the way), but once I'm done, I'm going to start the 6-month weight-training plan outlined in the book. The hardest part for me will probably be upping my protein intake. My current nutritional plan calls for me to consume 60g of protein per day and that's already tough enough for me to do. This new one asks for even more than that, though drinking a post-workout protein smoothie will help with that.


I've been doing well with the rest of my "resolutions" for 2012, all except for reviewing. I need to catch up on that...