Green book review: The Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen by Talya Lutzker

Today we'd like to introduce you with another great green book published by Book Publishing Co. This book takes place in the kitchen and is a great way to help get you through snow storms, like the one we have right now on the East Coast! If you don't have it with you right now, get it in time for the next storm :)

Our book for today is The Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen Finding Harmony Through Food By Talya Lutzker.

What this book is about?
The Ayurveda Vegan Kitchen offers people the opportunity to follow an Ayuvedic diet without the use animal products. Ayurveda is a holistic healing system developed in ancient India to increase an understanding of the human body, mind, and spirit. It organizes the elements of ether, air, fire, water, and earth into three body types, or doshas. Although each person is unique, one of these doshas will predominate their constitution and will need to be balanced on a regular basis. 

Dairy products are important foods in traditional Ayurveda; however, for every milk-based food that Ayurvedic healers revere, there is an equally effective whole-food, vegan alternative. Following the same nutritional principles as traditional Ayurveda, Talya created over 120 delicious recipes that provide healing flavors and harmony to the mind and spirit. Easy-to-follow symbols on each recipe page show how the unique chemistry of that recipe can be used to balance the body'’s constitution. 

Since a healthy digestive system is at the core of ayurvedic medicine, these recipes will keep you on track and in good health.

Our review:
The Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen was a very new idea for me as a reader. Although I am not much of a meat person, I am a milk, cheese, and honey person. With that in mind, I still found the book to be packed full of information. It also has an outline that is very descriptive, helpful, as well as surprisingly insightful. The Ayurvedic system is about bringing balance to yourself, both your mind and your body through your diet. It explains the “Dosha” and then provides recipes to fit your personal needs. The author did a good job of keeping the informative side of the book fun and interesting and not overwhelming and boring. I give high praise in that regard as that is not an easy feat. 

As to the recipes, I obviously didn’t get to go through the entire book and try them all out. Instead I picked three that looked like they would work for me. The recipes themselves were very easy to follow, making the meal easy to prepare if you have the right ingredients. However, that could be a real issue for some people depending on your city and where you live. Thankfully I happen to have an organic market literally right next door. Again however, even with a full grocery full of organic and whole foods, I still had trouble finding some of the items I needed.

The recipes themselves, cooked up nicely, and looked great, even if I do say so myself. The taste, two of the three were actually pretty good. One though, was absolute gak. That is not to say the recipe is bad, but apparently I am not a mung bean fan. Who knew?

All in all I would recommend this book for anyone that is interested in the Ayurvedic system. It’s easy to read and follow, includes loads of great information, along with informative recipes that are easy to prepare from what I was able to try.

You can purchase the book on Amazon.com

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
Plant a tree for every book you read!

Last day to help a bookstore - please check Lorem Ipsum fundraising campaign on Indiegogo

Few days ago I received an email presenting a crowdfunding campaign of Lorem Ipsum Books, an indie bookstore from Cambridge, MA. I've never visited the store but from what I've read and seen online it seems like a great bookstore that is trying to embrace technology as a way to succeed in business, which I believe to be key to the survival of any bookstore. 

So we'd like to share with you the email we received and ask you to check the campaign on Indiegogo, where the bookstore tries to raise $29,000. Please try to do it fast though - the campaign ends today (Jan. 31) at 11:59pm EST. And here's the email about the campaign:

Lorem Ipsum Books is a gem of a bookstore, tucked away in Inman Square in Cambridge, MA. With its quirky selection of used books, and its role as a gathering place for book lovers, music-makers and cultural enthusiasts, it's been a wonderful addition to the community.

Well, this is really difficult for me to say… but yesterday we had to face the sad possibility of having to close the bookstore forever. That's why I'm reaching out to you, my friends and fellow book lovers, to see if you will help us keep the bookstore from dying.

And here's why you should REALLY care about this one: Lorem Ipsum has also been working to find ways to make bookstores EVERYWHERE survive through recent tech advancements. We firmly believe that although Kindles have a place in our lives, so do books and bookstores. We want to keep all bookstores open by embracing technology, not running away from it. See our video to see what we've been doing to help bookstores lately: http://www.indiegogo.com/lorem-ipsum-books

You can click below to watch the video we made to show you how much Lorem Ipsum means to us, what it's all about, and why you should help keep this bookstore open for the next 10 years. If you can't give, please share our message.

I bet you know LOTS of people who love bookstores, please help spread the word before it's too late. If you care but can't contribute, please share our story on Facebook and your other social networks. It doesn't take much effort, but it can mean a lot.

It's literally now or never with this bookstore!!! Thank you, thank you book lovers!

Mandalee
Wife of Matt, Owner of Lorem Ipsum Books

Here's the video Mandalee mentioned in her email:



If you want to help Lorem Ipsum Books please go by clicking on the link below:


Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Do you love reading? Love trees? Try our monthly subscription option!

We would like to remind you the option of monthly subscription for Eco-Libris.

If you have a big library at home and you want to green it up one bookshelf at a time, balancing out 5 or 10 books every month on a regular basis, our subscription option can be a good fit for you.

The process is very easy and similar to one-time purchase: On the subscription page you choose how many books you want to balance out each month. Then just click on the 'Buy' bottom and complete the payment process on the PayPal page. That's it.

Then, every month we'll work with our planting partners to plant trees in developing countries on your behalf the number of books you chose (10 trees for 10 books each month for example). You will receive a confirmation email from PayPal following each monthly payment, and of course we'll send you our "One tree planted for this book" stickers on monthly basis.

And that's not all - If you're also a member at bookmoocher, you will receive 1 bookmooch point for every 10 books you balance out!

If and when you'll decide you want to suspend your subscription, you will be able to do it easily and quickly on PayPal website.If you have any questions about the subscription option, please feel free to email us at info [at] ecolibris [dot] net.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Green book review: Killer Fish by Brian Clement

We're back to our weekend green book reviews and our first book for 2013 with a thought provoking book on a very interesting topic from a great publisher - Book Publishing Co. 

Our book for today is Killer Fish: How Eating Aquatic Life Endanger Your Health by Brian Clement, PhD, NMD, LN.

What this book is about?
People the world over are eating more fish than ever before and assuming fish to be a healthful alternative to meat as well as an excellent source for omega-3 fatty acids. Killer Fish alerts consumers to how eating aquatic life endangers their health.

An acclaimed expert in the fields of preventive medicine and natural health, Brian Clement separates myth from fact as he presents powerful evidence of deadly toxins—particularly mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and pharmaceuticals—that travel up the food chain and concentrate in the tissues of both farmed and wild fish and then into the humans who eat them.

Readers are provided with an overview on how aquatic life became contaminated, how fish consumption affects human health, whether farmed fish are safer to eat than wild, the problem of overfishing and the decimation of fish species as well as the true health effects of consuming fish oil. For those who depend upon fish as a source of omega-3 fatty acids, a list of safe alternatives is provided.

The far-reaching health consequences suffered by people who eat these fish have rocked marine scientists and medical communities around the globe. Modern attempts designed to reverse this plight, such as producing genetically engineered fish, have only provided a new set of problems. With Killer Fish, the public has a chance to become educated as to the depth of this problem. Hopefully this awareness will not only safeguard their health, but be part of the solution.

Our review:
In an effort to “get healthy” people all over the world are trying to eat more fish. We are being told on tv and in magazine, and from our doctors, that this is a healthier alternative to animal meats, whether red or white, and that fish is one of the big sources for the Omega-3 fatty acids that we all need more of. This book, however, brings out new data on how we are not only endangering our health with our fish consumption, but we are also hurting the planet as well with over fishing.

The author, Brian Clement, is an expert in the fields of preventive medicine and natural health. He spends a good portion of the book discussing what are the facts and what are fictions in what the media is telling us about the consumption of fish. He provides documented reports and other evidence about the toxins found in fish. I know personally, that Women are told when pregnant about the dangers of eating certain fish due to the mercury content. However according to this book there are many other toxins that no one really mentions, that are bad for humans whether pregnant or not. These toxins include: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), betamethylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), Dioxins, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and many, many more. The list was huge and a bit overwhelming.

I was surprised how Killer Fish really got me thinking about what I eat and what it can do to my health, if I don’t pay attention. The book tries to educate its readers on the dangers of fish consumption, in an easy to read format with plenty of tables and lists for easy reference. It also doesn’t just give you the information and send you on your way. It provides resources and alternatives and ways you can make a change for the better. I was quite impressed with the content in this book. Also, I am happy to note that there is not a lot of wasted words in the book. The author gets right down to the point from word one. All in all I found this book to be a very interesting and thought provoking read.

You can purchase the book on Amazon.com

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris Plant a tree for every book you read!

5 interesting findings from Scholastic's report on digital reading among children

The New York Times reported yesterday that "Digital reading is rising fast among children ages 6 to 17, but this is not necessarily translating into a greater desire to read, according to a report released on Monday by Scholastic Inc.". Here are the most 10 interesting things you can learn from the report:

1. "The percentage of children who have read an e-book has almost doubled since 2010, to 46 percent." This is a pretty impressive figure comparing to the general share of ebooks in the book market, giving you a pretty good indication how common the use of ebooks will be in 10-15 years (like you didn't know..).

2. "During the same period, the number of girls who reported being frequent readers declined to 36 percent from 42 percent." - does it mean that the growing use of ebooks doesn't necessarily translate into reading more books in general? The answer might be found in the next finding.

3. Children "are increasingly using tablets, like iPads, which allow for more activities than just reading. In fact, slightly more children reported having read a book on a tablet than on a plain e-reader device." - it means that they have in their hands a device with which plenty of stuff they can do with it other than reading, so it might not be that surprising that spending more time with the iPad doesn't necessarily translate to more books read.

4."About one-fourth of the boys who had read an e-book said they were reading more books for fun. Boys have traditionally lagged behind girls in reading." - what does it mean in terms of the competition between books and games? Would we see more integration between the two forms to create a more attractive format of entertainment for kids? Probably yes.

5. "Children said e-books were particularly good when they wanted to be secretive about reading. But at night in bed, most children said they still liked to read books in print." - I have a feeling you will receive the same replies from adults!

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

[Image credit: Soppy Chen, Flickr Creative Commons]

Holiday Greetings from Eco-Libris

Wishing you and yours happy holidays

and a peaceful, prosperous and green New Year! 

 Your friends at Eco-Libris

picture credit: lara604, Flickr Creative Commons

and we'd also like to share with you this great Christmas video from our planting partner RIPPLE Africa:

Green book review (and a giveaway!): Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland

This week we're also happy to share with you one of Patagonia Books' brand new eBook offerings, and we're even more excited to have a giveaway of one digital copy of the book we're reviewing today! See details below.

So today we have the pleasure to review a great book from Patagonia Books: Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland.

What this book is about?
In a tale remarkable for its quiet confidence and acute natural observation, the author of Paddling Hawaii begins with her decision, at age 60, to undertake a solo, summer-long voyage along the southeast coast of Alaska in an inflatable kayak. Paddling North is a compilation of Sutherland’s first two (of over 20) such annual trips and her day-by-day travels through the Inside Passage from Ketchikan to Skagway. With illustrations and the author’s recipes.

Our review:
As someone who has spent many, many hours paddling down a river, I could certainly relate to this book. Paddling North, by Audrey Sutherland is the story of her journey at 60 years old, padding all alone, over 800 miles through the Alaskan waters, from Ketchikan to Skagway, in a blow up canoe/kayak. The trip takes two months of her life, but it was the adventure she had been waiting for and planning for, and dreaming of. Every day brought new adventure or trials. Launching at high tides, the rain, the wind, the cold water waves, the utter exhaustion, this is a book not just about the mechanics of a trip, it is about surviving on your own muscle, with a small bit of flair tossed in. Her motto being: Go Simple, go solo, and go now. 

I don’t know about the solo, but I agree with all the rest. She is a refreshingly honest woman, that sees herself and her life with a critical eye, and one I wish I possessed for myself. Then there is the food. When you think of camping trip fare, I think of flame charred hotdogs and warmed in the can within the hot coals of the fire, baked beans. I certainly never thought about fine dining with fresh steak, mushrooms, garlic and curry, and then a class of chilled wine. 

A wonderful perk of this book is that she not only shares what she is cooking, she actually then provides you with the recipe. That is awesome. Easy, anyone can accomplish recipes, too. One of the most inspiring things of this book is the author’s courage and her spirit on her journey. I am truly impressed. If I had to find one thing about the book that I didn’t particularly like, I would have to say that at a whopping 457 pages, it was a bit on the long side. Admittedly, my brain began to wander during the last ¼ of the book, as I grew more and more restless. Regardless of the length, I found it a very good book. Well worth my time. 

You can purchase here (both in paper and electronic formats).

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away one digital copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher, Patagonia Books!

How you can win? Very simple. All you have to do is to add a comment to this post with a reply to the following question: What is your favorite river? (and why..). We will have a raffle on Saturday, Dec 29, 5:00PM EST between all the readers that will reply by then. The winner will be announced the following day.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris