Book Notices | The No S Diet by Reinhard Engels / The Wrong Man by Kate White

Reinhard Engels, The No S Diet

Amazon   Reinhard Engels is a librarian turned computer programmer turned diet book author—an unlikely career trajectory. Some years ago, I guess in the mid-2000s, he put the system he'd devised for gaining control of his weight on the internet (check out everydaysystems.com), and it gained adherents. Ultimately the website resulted in this book, which codifies the information available online. You don't need this book to get the info. Indeed, the whole of the diet can be simply stated: No snacks, no sweets, no seconds, except (sometimes) on days that start with "S." But you'll want to read more, because Engels is a brilliant guy who approaches questions from an unusual perspective and offers workable solutions to real-life problems (not only about diet, by the way). This really isn't your average diet book. It's largely about habit building, training yourself to adopt habits that will make your life simpler, your diet better, and your food more pleasurable. I'm reading it now for the second time just because it's motivating reading. (See also the author's podcasts, which are a great resource.) Even if you don't wind up losing weight by No S'ing, adopting the habit of eating as Engels suggests is beneficial because you'll come to have a better relationship with food.

Kate White, The Wrong Man

Amazon   Kit Finn, an interior designer, gets caught up in a deadly situation when she meets a charming stranger on vacation in Florida. But it turns out the stranger may not be who he says he is, and he may be trying to kill her, and at any rate all sorts of bad things happen once she returns to New York. The plot line is promising, and the story is okay, but it was something less than riveting. Kit is rather boring, and her job is rather boring, and her colleague's name is Baby, which annoys the hell out of me. Plus, the dialogue strikes me as unnatural and stilted. So, sort of so-so, I guess, though I apparently really liked an earlier book by the author.