Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl. This charming memoir is mostly about the authors stint as editor in chief at Gourmet magazine, which lasted until the magazine folded. Some also about her early life and experience as food critic for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. Her experience at Gourmet tells the story of a lifestyle that will probably never some back, living opulently in New York with lots of expense account money. Basically a life that the internet destroyed. There are lots of funny anecdotes and great descriptions of meals and trips. The Paris excursion of the entire staff of Gourmet is a story of excess that cannot be matched.

Madame Fourcade's Secret War

Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson. This is the story of the french underground and the workings of its spy network. A fascinating story that I knew pieces of, but this tells the entire story from before the war to its end about the braze people who passed on vital information on the workings of the Nazis to the Allies. The impact they had on the direction and outcome of the war is tremendous, and the number of them who did not survive is sobering. Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was a native Parisian of the upper class, raised partly in Shanghai in the 1930s, when that city was more sophisticated than Paris. Tall, pretty and fashionable, she was the last person that the Germans would think would be a spy, which worked to her advantage. The fact that a women was the leader of the french underground was another factor. They passed on information to MI6, the British spy organization who then passed it on to military strategists. MI6 did not know that Fourcade was a women until well into the war, which again was to her advantage, as she assumed correctly that if the British knew she was a women they would have dismissed her information as invalid. The information that was passed to the Allies helped to delay the deployment of the V-1 and V-2 rockets by the Germans, which would have possibly won them the war if they were deployed sooner. Information from the resistance also directed the planning for D-Day in Normandy. This is a great true story that is finally being told.

Ten Caesars

Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine by Barry S. Strauss As the title implies, this is a collection of biographical sketches 10 roman emperors. But the title is a bit odd, since the authors starts by pointing out that Julius Caesar was a dictator and not an emperor. The emperors begin with Augustus, and this book ends with Constantine, the first Christian emperor. Between the two of those there were many more than ten emperors, but the author concentrates on the most impactful. Hadrian, Nero, Diocletian, Marcus Aurelius are all well known names to people. But the succession from one emperor to another was not easy. Many times there were civil wars, and there could up to 4 emperors in a year before a victor came through. In many ways the times covered by this book helped to shape the modern world, as the empire evolved and the Roman empire engulfed many cultures.

The Last Boat Out of Shanghai

The Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia. This book documents the final days of Shanghai as a non-communist city in China. The vehicle used is to tell the stories of 4 people who all ended up immigrating to the United States. The narrative follows them from being young people in the 1930s until the communist victory of the national army in 1949. The four come from different walks of life, rich and poor, educated and orphaned and abandoned. The author begins in the 1930s with the occupation of Shanghai by the Japanese as WWII gets underway. The complicated history of Shanghai with foreigners and foreign governments is used to tell the story of complicated hardships and some tragedy. The resilience of the four is illustrated in their toughness and intelligence in dealing with the many hardships and obstacles they overcome. The author states at the beginning of the book that this is a history that has not been told before. And I think certainly it has not been told in this way, I am sure it is in some history books, but the compelling personal story of these 4 people and the people they interact with gives a richness to the story.

Heart, A History

Heart, A History by Sandeep Jauhar. This is a history of cardiology, more of less. By a cardiologist. Sandeep describes the early view of the heart, and the early heart surgery, which really did not take place until the late 1800s. The development that had to happen to allow heart surgery to take place is pretty amazing, and the people who tended to make the discoveries and break throughs were basically pioneers to did things on their own. And by on their own it was surprising to me how many of these early heart doctors performed experiments on themselves, at time with fatal consequences. The development of bypass surgery, the pace maker, angioplasty if all covered. And it is really surprising how some of the discoveries were not made until the 1980s. Sandeep also provides his own personal stories in this book. His grandfather that died of a sudden heart attack, his own concerns about his own heart help. At times tough to read for some of the procedures, but all in all I found this a very educational book.

Blog 1 IA597

Hello everyone and welcome. Since this is the first time we are teaching this course, and the first time the course is being taught, I will use this blog to reflect on the progress of the class and makes notes of what works, what can be improved and what can be added. Creating this course has been in itself a long process and many people contributed to it coming about. We modeled some of the course on what other Universities are doing, and relied on UA personnel to help shape how the course would look. Here's to a great Spring 2019 semester. Garry

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou. The amazing story of a startup that razed millions of dollars from investors, with the intent developing new blood testing technology that was intended to revolutionize the industry. However, it turned out to be a multi-million dollar, multi-year scam that ruined quite a few people's careers. This involved a lot of very high profile individuals, and not only fooled wealthy investors but media outlets also.