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Is Everyone Reading Without Me? (And Other Reviews)

Book Review - Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling


Even though I revered Mindy Kaling before the release of this book for her work on The Office (actor, writer and producer, what?!), I didn’t pay much attention to the novel at first. Obviously I knew about it, but since I didn’t stop hearing about it I figured all the good things were just hype. 

Well, I was wrong. This books deserves all the hype because it’s excellent. 

Okay, I’m a girl and a comedian. I get it - this book totally caters to my demographic. I didn’t choose this life, you know! Anyway, I still believe that this book can also be enjoyed by women who are not comedians and men who are. Also, people who enjoy laughing in general will like it because her narratives are hysterical. Seriously. Rarely does a book make me laugh out loud, but this one did. Which,  I might add, is a little embarrassing when in public. Mindy provides her readers with various antidotes about her childhood, working for The Office, and life as someone who is famous. So, not only is it funny, but it’s insightful as well. 

I enjoyed her book so much that I barely put it down once I began. I consumed it in its entirety in less than three days. I even read it on the bus which is something I never do since I get motion sickness very easily. It’s a good thing this book is so portable. Which brings me to…

Product Review - Amazon Kindle

This sexy thing is what I used to read Mindy’s book (she and I are on a first name basis now since I know her so well). I love it. My boyfriend bought it for me as a sort-of-late Christmas present. Thank goodness he did, because he has no idea how close I was to breaking up with him before he gifted me this. That was a joke, guys. I’m not that shallow. Anyway, this is the most basic Kindle and it’s still amazing. Did you know you can store about 1,000 books on this tiny thing? Or that you can download hundreds of classic works for free?! I now posses the entirety of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories and poems as well as every Sherlock Holmes story ever written. It’s nice to be able to carry something that combines my love of books and technology on me at all times. 

You don’t need the new iPhone

Many of you have seen the video and reviews of the new iPhone 4S, and yes, it looks great.

Don’t rush out to order it. Here’s why: you don’t need it.

True, it is sleek and sexy and full of great features like a great camera and personal assistant and a better screen, etc. But you don’t need it today any more than you needed it yesterday, or 5 years ago.

Yesterday, without the new iPhone, your life was good. Some of you were happy and content and were actually able to do your work and get on with your life without the new iPhone.

Today, Apple announces its newest device, and the press and tech bloggers swoon. We all have to get the latest device, or we’ll no longer be hip, we’ll no longer be part of the “in” crowd.

And yet, is it really that essential? I’ve wanted an iPhone for almost 5 years now, but haven’t bought one because I know I don’t need it. Will it make my life a bit more fun? Sure, possibly — but so will a walk in the park with my kids, or a hike with a friend, or a free book at the library. I don’t need to spend $199 plus thousands of dollars on a 2-year contract to make my life a bit more fun.

Five years ago, the iPhone didn’t exist. It wasn’t a need in your life. You were able to live perfectly without it. And now that it does exist, all of that is true.

It’s Apple’s marketing that has worked on us, and we’re fools for it.

The same, of course, is true of all other technology and sleek consumerist products. It’s just that Apple is better at it than most.

Don’t give in. Fight the marketing, by noticing and letting go of the urges that marketing creates in us. Find contentment without products. You’re better than that.

Good advice, hard to follow!

Ice Age virus found in cave mud»

Further analysis proved to be even more remarkable. Lurking in the dank sample of cave mud she collected was a virus previously unknown to science — a bacteriophage that attacks bacteria from the same family as those that cause tuberculosis.

In other words, despite the usual connotation associated with the discovery of a virus, this virus is not harmful to humans. Rather, just the opposite: it is a virus that attacks bacterial strains that could be harmful to humans. The discovery has prompted the adventurous young Czyszczon to look ahead in her career; she has already received grant money to probe into the DNA of the virus to help find alternative cures for debilitating diseases like tuberculosis.

“We’re looking at an alternative medicine, basically,” she said. “Some strains of tuberculosis are getting resistant to antibiotics. So maybe this leads, in some way, to other treatments.”