Some good reads

One of my biggest problems in life is that I am very easily bored. I thrive on a constant stream of stimulus and busyness, and I'm always trying to multi-task and do a million things at once. I guess the same is true of my reading habits. I usually start about 3 or 4 books at a time (usually this is only the case when it's not fiction) and get through all of them at a pretty slow pace. In fact, the trend has been that I'm lucky if I get all the way through any of them at all. It's a bad habit and hopefully that will change.

Well, here's what is on my coffee table lately.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
I don't think I will ever look at red meat in the same way, or anything I'm eating for that matter. This is a great book for anybody who shops at a grocery store, or anybody who has ever thought twice about the type of ingredients you want to use in your cooking (which is most of us nowadays). I am now constantly thinking about what I am eating came from and how much corn is in it- if I dare to even find out. This book would make you become a vegetarian just by telling you about the amount of petroleum is needed to get your beef on the table. The truth is that we certainly do live in a society where our food is now at the mercy of science and legislation. I've never wanted to live on my own farm so badly.

The Artist as Citizen by Joseph Polisi
This is a collection of speeches by Joseph Polisi, the president of Juilliard. Some of them are inspiring, funny, at times repetitive, but overall a great collection of short writings that comment on the situation of the arts world today and how we as artists need to engage in our society to fight these problems rather than sit idly by and complain that there is no work. I took a class with Polisi while I was at Juilliard and have great respect for what he has done for the school and about his viewpoints on arts education in general. This book is a great way for me to stay inspired about what I do while not being a part of an academic/artistic community like a school.

This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin
This book revolutionized the way I think about music- not just classical, but all kinds of music, especially pop/rock. I mean, we never do sit down and ask ourselves what it is that makes something fun to listen to and why it makes us feel good listening to it. How do a series of pitches at different frequencies attract us, inspire us, commiserate with us, to the point where many of us are just plain addicted to music? A great read for anyone interested in the intersection of science and music. The science side of it was a bit technical for a non-science person like me, but it is explained well enough by Levitin so that it doesn't go over your head.