Conservative Book Talk

Have you ever tried to lose weight? More than a few pounds? It takes more than a special diet as Irvin Cobb discovered. Cobb thought that he was just “big boned” and that his size was genetic. His family always filled out in their thirties….

Cobb recounts the true and humorous story of his attempts to reign in his weight. Cobb wasn’t a lazy glutton. He just had a sedentary lifestyle and a special relationship with his food. He and his food had a special bond he told himself. (The bond was more obvious to everyone else.) Interestingly, Cobb describes the various self-delusions that he went through to convince himself that he wasn’t overweight.

• The suit didn’t fit anymore cause it was cheap and shrunk.
• The weight gain was a family trait.
• He wasn’t fat, just well developed.

But, lest you think that this short work was boring, it was anything but that. Cobb eventually went to several doctors who were apparently quacks. Only a quack would call him obese. Cobb went to the gym and the steam room. He tried running. He tried everything but changing his eating habits.

His mealtimes were sacred.

It wasn’t until an obviously obese friend and he both got on scales together that his self-delusion started to crack. When Cobb realized that he was only a couple of pounds shy of the man he always viewed as obese, reality struck.

Eventually, Cobb owned up to his obesity and decided to solve the problem. He read every book on the subject and found that each generation of doctors and dieticians had a different philosophy. Some said that meat was evil. Other that you should avoid starch. Still others said to eat starch and meat to excess. In the end, they only agreed on one point: boiled spinach was acceptable.

You will empathize with Cobb, well I did anyway. Let’s just be perfectly clear: I have never EVER had to take One Third Off, but I have to be careful. I have also found that Cobb’s solution is correct. The only solution to drop 10lbs or 1/3 your body weight is the same regardless of who you are: eat less, eat healthy and exercise. Gag. None of it is fun, but then life isn’t about having fun.

You can hit the above picture and buy it from Amazon (and support the site) or you can do like me: free audio or free text.

Tags: book, diets, fat, Irvin Cobb, Matt Gardenghi, obese, Personal Development, weight, weight loss

Dead Men’s Money begins in a manner reminiscent of Stevenson’s Treasure Island. There is a young man, whose father is long dead. A mother who rents a room to a stranger. A stranger with secrets. And a secret trunk. The mysterious stranger becomes ill and needs to send the young man, Hugh Moneylaws, to a secret meeting in the middle of the night.

…a meeting that never occurs on account of the murder of one principal and the death of the other.

Hugh quietly notices a stranger traveling the country streets that night but doesn’t pay much attention. Later when he finds the corpse, who was supposed to be alive and conversing with him, Hugh is propelled into a tangled web of intrigue that crosses three continents and leads to other nefarious murders.

Hugh an apprentice/head clerk to the town solicitor, a Mr. Lindsey, rapidly becomes embroiled in mystery death and intrigue. Mr. Lindsey and Hugh track this strange killing over the next several weeks. On several occasions Hugh comes within a hands breadth of death and once even closer. There’s plenty of intrigue with more than one twist throughout.

The good? The book is engrossing and brings out plenty of morals. The author emphasizes personal discernment, responsibility, importance of justice and a good character and so on. Intriguingly, the father of Hugh’s fiancee, prohibits them from being married for several more years. He wants to see Hugh better established and the lovers accept that judgment. I can’t see THAT being very popular anymore.

Overall, I had no complaints with the story. There were no objectionable elements that should discourage anyone from reading the book. If I had any complaints they would revolve around the writing style or plot structure, and to be honest, nothing stands out as worth mentioning. I wouldn’t say to drop everything to read this story, but you could do much worse. If you need some light reading, then by all means grab this and enjoy.

Audiobook and Text

Tags: classic, dead, dead men's money, enjoy, Fletcher, Matt Gardenghi, men, money, novel, read, youth

Yes. That’s the same Milne of Winnie the Pooh. According to this article at Wikipedia.org, Milne’s four Pooh books completely overshadowed the rest of his writing. He even came close to regretting the Pooh stories as everyone compared the rest of his works to those four books. He was a victim of his own success….

The Red House Mystery is an intriguing mystery published in 1921 and was Milne’s only foray into the genre. One critic accused Milne of having an “intricate and clever but not realistic plot.” And that would be accurate; a very good read, but not one that you can solve as you go along. True, you can get closer than with many other titles, but Milne excludes the reader from two or three critical facts that prevent anyone from solving the crime. ‘Tis a shame. Does anyone know of a mystery writer that grants sufficient detail for the reader to solve along the way?

In this story, Tony Gillingham stumbles onto a murder and without permission proceeds to solve it. Tony was a wealthy chap who refused to simply flit around on his enormous fortune. He decided to see the world, by which he meant to see the world through various English jobs. Whenever he saw a job that took his fancy, he made a deal with the shopkeeper/owner. He would work for one month free. If the boss liked him, he would earn double wages on the second month. If the boss didn’t like him, then he would leave without pay.

He never left without pay. In this manner he experienced much of England and became a true Renaissance man. It was between jobs when he stumbled upon the Red House where his friend Bill was spending several weeks. Having been invited to drop in if he was in the area, Tony did just that. Upon arriving at the house, he discovered that a murder had just taken place. He proceeded to offer his assistance to the household, which had yet to gain entry to the locked office. Over the next two or three days, Tony and Bill discover secret passages, intrigue, and plots within plots.

This story is worth reading, but one warning. There is quite a bit of language in this book. Read it at your own discretion. You can buy an edited reprint from here. The original text is here and librivox.org has provided the audio book.