Along with a couple of remaining childhood artifacts, Mom sent me The
Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket,
which is fun, and precisely one of the kinds of books I enjoy
reading; but then I started to think about exactly what kinds of books
those are. I realized I have two broad categories, which are maybe
best expressed as food:
- Fruit Books: The Zen of Fish, The Basque History of the
World, America Afire, Against the Gods, Beasts of
Eden. Popular science or history, or intelligent scifi or fantasy,
stuff that rests the mind and that I usually finish quickly. Like
fruit: fun, tastes good, necessary, but not good for monopolizing your
diet.
- Carbohydrate Books: Denser Zen books, Ayurveda, technical books,
Godel, Escher, Bach. Thick, time-consuming material that can
take months to work through, but rewards with a deeper understanding
of material usually touched on by Fruit Books.