It's All Relative by A.J. Jacobs

It's All Relative by A.J. Jacobs is an entertaining book subtitled Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree with Jacobs telling the story of planning the Global Family Reunion event in 2015. 

The book is all about family trees, looking at the history in one's family, seeing how we're connected with one another, what it means to be in a family, and how it influences who we are. It's a whimsical and interesting look at Jacobs with the Global Family Reunion pursuing the lofty goal of trying to shed tribalism, to move towards more of a shared connectedness between people. 

"Drop Dead Healthy" by A.J. Jacobs

I finished a few days ago Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection
by A.J. Jacobs and found that it combined together solid information with humor and heart (literal reference not intended).



Jacobs previously wrote The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (about reading the encyclopedia) and The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible so this latest effort was very much in line with his style of books.

If the goal of Drop Dead Healthy to provide both entertainment and information, the first achieved through Jacobs being both a funny writer and including content about his family (wife, kids, grandfather Theodore Kheel, Aunt Marti). From an learnings/wisdom perspective, below are the things which stood out to me from the Jacobs book (derived over the course of two years consulting with health experts and using his body as a guinea pig)...

Overarching premise - True, stuff can still kill you regardless of your actions, but that shouldn't be used as a cop-out for not trying to be (at least moderately) healthy.

Body / Exercise:
- High intensity interval training for exercise - slow cadence weight training the same idea
- Don't worry about stretching - doesn't accomplish much
- An in-home treadmill an excellent thing to have - can build a computer station into it using stacks and a plank of some sort
- Walking as much as possible (wear a pedometer) - literally running errands
- Barefoot running can be good, but for all people nor at all times - Jacobs does 25% of running without shoes

Body / Other:
- Book recommendation - The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss
- Breath through the stomach (particularly while exercising) - exhale and flatten stomach, push stomach out on the inhale
- Take care of your hands - Greg Irwin YouTube Finger Fitness videos
- Walk right - Helping your back by walking with upright posture, leaning forward and breathing from stomach
- Wear headphones to reduce noise - Bose Quiet Comfort and SureFire Ear Pro Defender both good
- Develop the habit of massaging your own shoulders, arms, hands
- Wear sunscreen and brush/floss teeth well

Eating:
- Small portion sizes for food
- No fish high in mercury (Marlin, Swordfish or others high on food chain), less sugar, less salt
- Chewing food thoroughly
- Lots of fruits and produce - organic better
- Drink enough water - doesn't have to be the famous 8 glasses a day, but you shouldn't get thirsty
- Protein for breakfast - egg whites, quinoa and walnuts all are good

Lifestyle / Activities:
- Don't drink to excess and don't smoke
- Be safe - smoke detectors, helmets, put knives away from kid areas, no-slip decals for tab, drive carefully
- Hand washing - not anti-bacterial soap
- Avoid using products with BPA - and don't microwave in plastic
- Get enough sleep - A good way to go to sleep is simple math problems like counting backwards by 3s

Lifestyle / Approach:
- Live a fulfilling and social life
- Meditation as a partial cure for pain, and acupuncture
- Think of things in a positive light - note sensations like pain or unhappiness and then move on
- Stay active mentally - do things that challenge your brain like crossword puzzles
- Holding hands as therapeutic

So... there's a bunch of content listed out and this could of course been done by someone without it being a several hundred page book, but Jacobs really does craft an entertaining yarn around being healthy. Good book and definitely recommended.

June/July 2010 Esquire - Parenting from A.J. Jacobs & Other Stuff

Some interesting topics covered and excellent writing from the latest issue of Esquire Magazine.


The piece that stood out to me the most was "How to Raise Men" by A.J. Jacobs. He's a frequent contributor to Esquire and while I've enjoyed some of his writing, some I haven't cared for as much (such as his book "The Know it All" about reading the encyclopedia).
However, this story about some specific values in relation to his young boys (a 6 and twin 3 year-olds) is really solid. While it's true that it strikes a cord as a result of my having two boys, the writing from Jacobs is entertaining and poignant at the same time (always a good combo).
Some of the values he discusses are tribalism (in relation to cheering for a given team), brotherhood (just what you'd think) and delusional optimism (that all kids seem to have more of than adults). What really hit me, though, were the vignettes about two nightly rituals Jacobs has with his boys (probably more the oldest at this point)... (1) saying what you're thankful for and (2) talking about what you did right and wrong during the day gone by.
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Other stuff I found particularly interesting from this issue...
From writer Cal Fussman was the cover story, "Tom Cruise: The Fixer". While I can understand why Cruise has developed a reputation as a bit of a wacko (see: his postpartum depression jag about vitamins and exercise), this piece provides a different view.
Beyond portraying Cruise as a normal(ish) guy, it attributes to him a pretty profound view of work and getting good at things. The basic concept is when you try to do something you haven't done, you first keep your mouth shut and listen and then you put in the work to figure it out. Boil that all down and... you put in the work.
Maybe Cruise is simply repeating a basic concept, but I respect him putting credit for his success there.
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Also, financial writer Ken Kurson provided his one page essay "Why Saving Money Won't Save You". In it he covers two things that struck me. The first was the idea of income and expenses... and how income is something you often get by doing what you'd rather not do, that being work. If you like the work, that's great... but, if you don't always, you can still do it as a means to an end.
The second thing from Kurson that I really liked was mention of his financial guy turned doctor turned inventor (of the Zigo bike) friend. Thing to note here from Kurson was how the friend created the bike (and company to sell it, I imagine) in "his spare time."
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Finally, this issue had something interesting from Jon Favreau in his "What I've Learned" piece. The quote was "I had a writing teacher who said, 'if you want to learn to write a screenplay, read "The African Queen" twice'."