"A People's History..: Caveat: By no means was I an avid reader in high school; that came at a later juncture. I was a rando closet reader in elementary and high school. I would pick-up a book here-and-there outside of required reading, yet nothing too off-cuff. My junior year of high-school, I picked up a copy of HZ's 'A People's History...'. As each chapter unfolded, I found myself consistently submerged in these accounts of history that I was never destined to be taught. The read: It was heartbreaking and inspiring in one-fell swoop; the feeling is almost impossible to describe. That being said, I would like to lovingly introduce Howard Zinn's 'A People's History of The United States...' into your repertoire. Enjoy, my friends. <3"
I picked up In Defense of Food because I had heard a lot about Michael Pollan, the book’s author, and his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I think what sucked me in about the book was that it’s not just about the problems we face with food production and nutrition in the United States, but it’s about the process of how we got to where we are today, and a look at where we came from in the past. He provides a background of how industrialization and politics have shaped what we produce and consume, but he also talks about what can be learned from anthropological studies of people all over the world from all types of consumption models and even dental studies that demonstrate how food impacts our health. As a former anthropology student, I absolutely loved that open, cross-cultural perspective. I never felt like the book was about proving some particular point or pushing people towards a particular decision about the way they eat or consume in general, but about awareness of where we are and where we came from. In Defense of Food changed the way that I see food. Today, I don’t always make wise decisions about my own eating and consumption, but in general I definitely think more about the impact to my body, my health, my abilities, in terms of what I put in it. I read this book at a time when I was trying to figure out if life was just what I saw happening around me. Not to sound dramatic, but I think reading and considering this book was for me a beginning step in reframing the way I saw my life, what are options in the society I live in, and how I could take control of what I will or will not be a part of. Reframing how I saw food, which was sort of big for me as someone who has always loved eating and cooking, and shifting my diet accordingly, taught me that change was possible. That taking care of yourself and pursuing the type of life you want is possible. In learning to eat healthier and seeing and feeling changes that resulted, I felt more motivated to push myself in my physical endeavors. Seeing successes there helped me feel better physically and feel mentally tougher — strong enough to take other steps to push for more control of my personal/social life, my career, my happiness. So for me, it was life changing. It’s not a self-help book, and it doesn’t read like one. But like most good books, it has the potential to help you see things a little differently. And sometimes that’s all it takes.
Growing up, I hated reading. My large stack of Garfield comics were the closest "books" I read as a kid. Perhaps these were early signs that I was attracted to visual storytelling, a hint to my eventual future as a filmmaker. However, I think it's simply that there weren't many stories that captured my imagination. It wasn't until my dad recommended George Orwell's 1984 that I found literature that spoke to me and held my very short attention span. I discovered my attraction to dramas, often choosing something serious over something funny. (Comedies are very scarce in my DVD collection.) Around the same time period, I discovered Alan Moore's The Watchmen and Judith Guest's Ordinary People, my two favorite novels. On one hand, both works handle vastly different subject matter. The Watchmen follows a group of aged masked heroes who are investigating the death of one of their old partners. Ordinary People recounts a personal tragedy and how a whole family copes. However, both books shaped my new perspective on storytelling. Instead of seeing stories as a collection of scenes, I instead saw characters making decisions and reacting to events. The Watchmen in particular bridges my past with the present, a graphic novel with impactful imagery and mature storytelling. It wasn't just a superhero comic. It's a meditation on aging, legacy, the Cold War, ethics, morality, the blurred lines between good and evil, and humanity's ability to destroy itself. It digs deeper than most novels I've read, and there's still plenty of thrills, twists, and suspense to keep you sucked in. Most of all, it's about people trying to come to terms with decisions and events beyond their control. It's what I like to call an "intimate epic". The Watchmen started my love for human storytelling, influencing my work in documentary filmmaking and interest in journalism and nonfiction.
