Redefining reading

Sitting in nursery,you were in awe of how the slow hare could beat such a boisterous rabbit, or the amazing colours of Elmer. The memories come flooding back of your teacher’s enthusiastic expressions, as she aimed to get you interested and engaged in reading. As an apprentice in the Books department for one of the nation’s biggest news and media companies, I was amazed at how eBooks are truly redefining reading. Many regard reading as a way to escape the feeling of buzzing city life with all it’s technological and social advances, but what if that has even been taken over?! What if the ‘techno overload’ is truly inescapable?! 

My new manager Sara Montgomery, Head of Guardian Books, conceived of and launched the digital-only ebook series, Guardian Shorts, with excellent commercial results! The fact is there are countless benefits of digital books that just make them a better option for the average consumer including:

• Journey: Working professionals tend to carry a lot to work including important files, notepads, hefty laptops, and large briefcases. Image lugging around a heavy backpack and then picking up two 600 page books on top, when instead you could have a multitude of titles compressed in an ultra-slim backpack. Then, when you jet off for some much deserved fun in the sun, you won’t have to worry about the glue in between your papers melting away – but make sure you don’t melt your iPad either.
• Speed: You see a description of a book online, and you can’t wait to dig your teeth into it. The subject really entices you and you already start envisioning the drama or great information you will see! When you buy an eBook online, you can instantaneously see it right before your eyes, and begin your journey of discovery right away. Whereas if you order a standard paperback, expect to wait at least 3 days.
• Night reading: Reading a book at night is a chance to wind down and there is nothing better than dozing off in the middle of a good reading session. Yet, there is nothing worse that not being able to put a book down, and just wanting to squeeze in those last few pages before bed, but then having to get up to turn the light off. Well, eBooks usually come with a built-in light so you can read even with the light off, and can stay in your cozy bed all night long. 
• Price: In the ever-worsening economic climate, money is tight for most. But, that doesn’t mean that everyone shouldn’t be able to enjoy a good book! After the initial investment of a tablet, starting at just £60 for a brand new kindle, eBook editions are usually much cheaper than the paperback, and will save you having to sort out an overwhelming pile of books that you no longer want!

These are just some of the countless benefits The Guardian took advantage of, and in turn increased the profitability of the Books department by 100%! In an age where technology is obviously king, it’s exciting to work for a company who isn’t afraid to stray from their humble beginnings as a weekly newspaper, and take advantage of fast-paced, digital savvy consumer needs!

Dog Eat Dog World; The depiction of adolescent fear in ‘The Go Between’

L P Hartley’s The Go-Between projects the memories of a man in his
sixties, recollecting the memories of the summer of 1900 , when he turned thirteen at
Brandham Hall in Norfolk. It’s here that he comes “acutely aware of social inferiority”, as the prescence of ladies and viscounts come to mould his apprehension for where he will stand in social hierachy in adulthood.

L.P Hartley frequently refers to the physical composition of man in The Go Between through Leo’s admiration for the developed male form, as he reflectively wonders what it must feel like to be “master” of matured “limbs” and metaphorically compares his older acquaintance, Ted Burgess, to a “tiger.” L.P Hartley’s use of the “tiger” motif contrasts the earlier symbol of Leo’s “green suit”, symbolically reflecting the need for camouflage against fully-fledged masculine men surpass his position is society.  Thus, L.P Hartley creates animalistic, wilderness imagery to highlight masculinity as a physical characteristic that enables men to hold a “tiger” like control over young boys who feel the need to hide their trepidations, in the fear of ridicule for their lack of masculinity. Leo reflects how the stockings he wore could not protect his leg from “scratches”, relating to sharp claws of the “tiger.” Thus, showing how Ted’s physicality has entrenched Leo with an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability and victimisation, as a pubescent boy who has no way of knowing what the future entails.

Fast-forward fifty one years since L P Hartley published the novel in 1952, and youth umployment is at an all time high. The added stress of rises in housing prices, university fees and lack of experience, means that Leo can perhaps serve as an on-going figure for immature apprehension. Although L P Hartley’s iconic opening line “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there” rings true in many way such as vast technological advances, perhaps the feelings we harbor in response to societal structure have remained, and is only intensifying.

Low-Carb Clouds

Clouds cause  sun-seeking holiday makers distress  and annoyance, going against the aim of converting their colourless colouration to a glowing olive hue. Just as clouds block out the sanctified sun, the adoption of  a low carbohydrate diet inevitably recommence the eternal desire of permanent weight loss for thousands of adults who simply want less jiggle! Not only will your love handles linger, but you’re insides don’t have much fun!

But wait! If it’s so bad, why do so many people buy into Atkins and the Zone Diet and see such promising results? That’s just it. It promise you results, delivers them through a comforting decline in weight, but ultimately only ensures that the persistent podge returns.

You’ve probably heard endless benefits of the diet, like studies making glittering claims such as: 

“Weight loss was greater in the low-carbohydrate group…”

“The LC diet appears to be an effective method for short-term weight loss in overweight adolescents…”

“a very low carbohydrate diet is more effective than a low fat diet for short-term weight loss…”

“The HPLC (high protein low carbohydrate) diet is a safe and effective option for medically supervised weight loss in severely obese  adolescents.”

The key words being “short term” and “severely.” Indeed, low carb diets do suffice in aiding immediate weight loss and reducing blood pressure and triglycerides for people whose life literally depends on it!  But with these diets being readily available to thousands of consumers doing it for cosmetic reasons, this high-risk solution is no solution at all!

A lack of carbohydrates forces your body into ketosis, meaning your body burns fat for energy when it’s preferred source of energy isn’t present. That being carbohydrates. I know what you’re thinking “but this sounds perfect, I don’t want this fat all over my body!”

Well you’re not getting off that easy, I’m afraid. Due to the debilitating lack of the simple sugars your body craves, weakness and fatigue inevitably follow which Dr John McDougall (a physician who advocates a high carbohydrate diet for long term health) refers to as “dietary insanity.” Thus, your glucose exhausted brain constantly craves any sugar it can possibly get, making that bar of Aero that you hid in the drawer completely impossible to resist. Cue the end to your diet through a binge on high fat foods, meaning you gain back those 10 pounds and then some! Alongside this, limiting carbohydrates means limiting fiber in your diet, which is only prevalent in carbohydrate crammed fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Thus, the almost unavoidable constipation (an extremely common complaint during this diet) leaves the victim feeling swollen, flagging and downright miserable. On the other hand, a diet abundant in fruit and vegetables ensures vastly improved digestion, so that your body can function at an optimal level. Not only this, but the low-calorific content makes it very easy to create a calorie deficit to the amount you need to remain overweight without spending hours and hours  on the ‘dreadmill’; What a great alternative way to drop weight and feel great simultaneously, as opposed to feeling like a distended dumpster.

Unsurprisingly, Aberdeen’s Rowett Research Institute found low-carbohydrate regimes cause a four-fold reduction in the cancer-fighting chemical in the gut called butyrate. Thus, highly increasing the risk of colon cancer.  If this doesn’t make you think twice about getting that steak out of the fridge, T. Colin Campbell PhD (an American biochemist who has studied the effect of nutrition on long-term health for over the past 50 years) has conducted numerous studies showing unequivocal evidence between the link of high protein diets and a multitude of health upsets from acne to heart disease.

This theory is backed up by the research of numerous scientists and physicians such as Dr.Esselstyn – a former heart surgeon who previously treated heart disease through the operating table and medication – who has been curing heart disease with a whole foods diet for over 20 years. Seventeen patients  came to him with advanced coronary artery disease,  five of whom had been told by their cardiologists that they had less than a year to live. Within months of being on Dr.Esselstyn’s programme, their weight, cholesterol levels, angina symptoms and blood flow  improved dramatically. Twelve years later, seventeen compliant patients had no further cardiac events. Adherent patients survived more than twenty years, free of symptoms. Permanent weight loss and dramatically improved health is as simple as picking up some bananas.

Tragically, you won’t receive the same results from returning to the feared “carbohydrate” foods of cakes and pastries. The average slice of chocolate cake is broken down into: 39% fat, 57% carbs, 4% protein, whereas a banana is just Calorie breakdown: 3% fat, 92% carbs, 5% protein. Processed “high carbohydrate foods” are also loaded with fat.

The fat you eat is the fat you wear.

Still not convinced? Look at ‘Freelee, The Banana Girl’ (a YouTube health guru) who lost 40 pounds through a high carbohydrate diet and openly documents eating up to 350 (ten times the amount that Robert Atkins reccomended) grams of whole food carbohydrates per day.

 Now look at Atkins, who was obese while alive, had a history of congestive heart failure, and weighed 258 pounds at the time of his death.

Judge by results, not by theory.