THE CHINA STUDY, by T. Colin Campbell

This is the most impactful book I have read in the last 5 years. Deeply profound! For fear of waxing too long I will try to do the opposite and keep my comments very concise. 1) The China Study is the best case ever for a Plant and Whole Foods based diet. It goes beyond convincing, to indisputable in showing the connection between an animal and dairy foods based diet and the growth of the rate modern diseases in our society - Heart Disease, Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity and auto-immune conditions. 2) It explains almost too well, why nutrition as a huge factor in our health goes so almost unanimously unacknowledged. Our medical schools do not teach nutrition and our academia and policy making agencies are interwoven with the Food and Drug industry. I shall say no more. other than our world would change forever if everyone knew and understood the information that is shared in this book. Thank you, Dr. Campbell.

OUTLIERS, by Malcom Gladwell

Read Outliers end of last year - 2009. Did not like it as much as Gladwell's other book but still entertaining. I registered two key concepts from this book. One, is the old adage that practice practice practice is what makes for excellence. Gladwell focuses on the most successful individuals in sports, industry and the performing arts and establishes that talent alone does not propel one to stardom, it requires talent and thousands of hours of practice. Specifically, Gladwell sets 10,000 hours to be the magic number. The other key concept was that of fortuitous circumstance. In other words, at different times in history or even times of the year, the climate is most supportive of success in a specific endeavor. So, for example, the richest and best known business leaders in technology - Bill Gates, Bill Joy, Steve Jobs - all grew up around the same time period right at the dawn of desktop computing. Similarly, the law practice of Mergers and Acquisitions really mushroomed in the 70's and 80's and those attorneys that had labored in obscurity in this discipline suddenly claimed the limelight.

Ok, interesting stuff. My own conclusion, based on the ideas presented in this book is that the new area just expanding recently is the area of wellness. While there are a few big names, new esteemed companies and new stars should emerge over the next one or two decades, hopefully Dreamclinic among them. The book i itself gets 3.5 out of 5 for me.