Book Reviewed: The Gut-Brain Paradox: Improve Your Mood, Clear Brain Fog, and Reverse Disease by Healing Your Microbiome by Steven R. Gundry

This Is Your Brain on gut microbes Gut microbes shape nervous system signaling, immune balance, and behavior by communicating through nerves, immune system, and microbial neurotransmitters making the gut a key regulator of brain and mental health. When the gut microbiome imbalance increases, that will cause the immune system to be overactive and misdirected in its biological mission. This is when the immune system wrongly attacks the host body’s own tissues causing chronic inflammation and tissue damage. Probiotics, often referred to as psychobiotics, are live bacteria that can positively influence mental health by affecting the gut-brain axis. They enhance the gut-to-brain signaling leading to subtle but meaningful emotional steadiness over time. These beneficial bacteria help improve mood, reduce stress, and support cognitive function. Psychobiotics are typically derived from probiotic-rich foods, such as fermented dairy products and certain vegetables. They work by modulating neurotransmitter production, which plays a significant role in mood regulation and mental well-being. Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut are rich in probiotics and can support gut health. Psychobiotics are specific probiotic bacterial strains that, when taken in adequate amounts reduce stress responses, improve mood or anxiety, and support emotional resilience. They are not antidepressants and don’t “change personality.” Their effects are subtle but measurable in some people. Microbial strains with the best evidence are Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Bifidobacterium longum, and Bifidobacterium infantis. These effects are strain-specific, and not generic. The experimental results vary because the psychobiotics work best when the stress-related symptoms are mild to moderate, the gut health is generally good, and the diet includes fiber and fermented foods. They do not help when the depression is severe, high chronic inflammation, sleep disorder, and poor nutrition. The author combines biological and microbiological exposition for “healing gut microbiome” to improve mental and physical well-being. As a medical professional specializing in gut health nutrition he counsels and guides patients and readers with diets, recipes, and protocols. Some of author’s claims are outlandish, especially about diets. They are questionable and his methodology lean more toward speculation than sound scientific and clinical data published in peer reviewed journals.

Book Reviewed: Heretic: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God by Catherine Nixey

Plurality of early Christianities Heretic explores the plurality of early Christianities: different versions of Jesus early life, his family life, Gnosticism, and paganism played a role in the beginnings of Christian faith. In later years, these diverse narratives condensed into one dogmatic orthodox belief system. The author uses “heresy” (meaning choice), to describe very unorthodox tales that was known to exist in early religious communities in the Roman Empire. But later, the non-gospel versions were suppressed and destroyed by the influential church bishops to promote one unified form of Christianity. The Bible had only three synoptic gospels in the beginning, but church bishops added the fourth gospel of John that fitted the narratives of Mark, Mathew, and Luke. The significance of Jesus as the son of God who came to redeem the world was the center of the new faith. The author uses early historical writings, the apocryphal literature including gnostic scriptures that sheds light on Jesus and his teachings in a different manner. Strange narratives include rival Christs with twins or associations with dragons, and broader syncretism with paganism. Jesus says to Mary Magdalene in her gospel that no such thing as “sin” exists in this world. Readers who enjoy exploring non-canonical gospels, gnostic sects, and ancient religious diversity in the Middle East may enjoy this book. It is written in lively manner for a broader readership. The author tells the stories as how the early church shaped orthodox belief. Her narratives are sarcastic, humorous, sometimes rowdyish, but also illustrate the humble beginnings of the Christian religion.

Book Reviewed: The World's Worst Bet: How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong by David J Lynch

Building the American Empire This is a review of the globalization invented by the U.S. policymakers and business leaders for an unfettered global trade: exchange of goods, services, and capital across international borders. It encompasses the movement of products and the financial transactions that accompany them, facilitating economic growth and development on a global scale. In this book, the author focuses on the emergence of China as a superpower since they joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Globalism was thought to bring widespread prosperity, spread democracy, and benefit all Americans. However, manufacturing job losses across the country produced deep inequality; manufacturing industries, textile, farming, coal, and steel production suffered in the United States. The outsourcing trends, and shifting supply chains and availability of cheap labor across the globe added misery to the middle class. The promised government support programs were under-delivered. This book looks tame in light rising possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking over the role of humans. It has already begun with mass layoffs of white-collar workers, and this trend will broaden in a decade. According to Elon Musk, in a few years, most work will be done by AI, and people don’t have to work. Will the government or the major corporations take the role of government, or does the government become a socialist network? Will the government take a leading role in regulating AI's impact and ensuring equitable wealth distribution? The author briefly discusses about tariff’s imposed on China and other trading partners by President Trump, but he runs short of explanations. Many of the grievances expressed by the author about the limitations of globalization were known to the American politicians and corporate CEOs. In fact, most negatives of global trade were known before the game started, the availability of cheap labor would result in low wages and weak labor protections in the United States. Availability of affordable consumer products and pharmaceuticals positively impacted the lives of Americans. Dependence on global markets would impact the whole world. For example, the economic shocks like the 2008 financial crisis spread quickly across the globe. The Americanization of other cultures occurred fast, the American brands and media dominated many markets. For instance, McDonald's, Netflix, the products of Hollywood, and American entertainment operate in most countries influencing the local culture. The author fails to add anything new than was already known. He is largely US-centric, and laments about China’s influence but never addresses how Chaina became a superpower, a strong competitor, and an enemy of the United States with its military prowess. I am disappointed to read this book.

Book Reviewed: Faith in Markets: Christian Capitalism in the Early American Republic by Joseph P. Slaughter

Private enterprise that shaped teachings of the church (Two stars) The author discusses the emerging American capitalism and the shaping American spirituality during 1800s. He highlights diverse paths Christians took amid rapid economic transformation, which focuses on three major groups that actively participated in this transformation; the Harmony Society, a socialist movement, founded by John George Rapp, a German pietist religious leader who promoted religious communal capitalism. They wanted to purify the marketplace by abolishing private property and emphasizing innovation in textile manufacturing, and in so doing articulated a brand of Christian communal capitalism. Their properties were not privately owned but held in common. The economic activity (agriculture, manufacturing, trade) was organized collectively., and the profit was reinvested for the good of the entire religious community. The second group consisted of Presbyterians who strove to reform the market, not through legislation or volunteerism, but through business enterprises. Their strain of Christian reform capitalism offered an alternative marketplace to the consumer who disavowed the seven-day workweek, the consumption of alcohol, or goods produced by enslaved population. Third, the urban Protestants who created and produced "virtuous" consumer goods. They were upwardly mobile Methodist publishers, the Harper publishers known for publishing moral and instructive works that aligned with Methodists values. They published Bibles and biblical literature at low cost so that middle class Americans could buy, read and get familiar with the Word of God, and apply its teachings in their lives. The author’s analysis has some serious shortcomings since it overlooks other groups like quakers, and the direct teachings of the New Testament about business. Quakers were among the earliest advocates for the emancipation of enslaved people. They believed in the spiritual equality of all people which led them to oppose slavery long before it became a widespread political movement. Quakers were known for honesty, fair dealing, and sobriety which helped them to find success in banking, and chocolate manufacturing in England, and Quaker Oats in the United States. They encouraged: plain living, integrity in contracts, avoidance of gambling and speculation, reinvestment of profits, and education and literacy that led to strong early capitalist economies. Jesus speaks of money, debt, wages, stewards, and merchants in the Gospels. The parable of Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16), which illuminates a voluntary labor contract, allows clear consent, and the employers freedom over payment beyond the contract, and there is a moral obligation in the ownership that encourages generosity. “The love of money is the root of all evils” (1 Timothy 6:10) teaches, profit is acceptable, but greed leads to sin. This is not a light read but a serious academic monograph good for those interested in religious and economic history of America.

Book Reviewed: Quantum in Pictures: A New Way to Understand the Quantum World by Bob Coecke and Stefano Gogioso

Quantum in confusing pictures This is an ambitious attempt to introduce quantum mechanics through pictorial explanations without mathematical formalism. The author uses the ZX-calculus, a diagrammatic language for quantum processes. I did not find this book motivating or enriching. It's introductory in spirit but aims high to comprehend the basics of quantum realities. The quantum phenomena like superposition, entanglement, teleportation, measurement, and quantum computing are described numerous popular books without math. There are numerous videos on YouTube that explain the math in a stress-free manner that most readers would appreciate. The diagrams in this nook are abstract, confusing and do not add much to learning.

Book Reviewed: Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs by Robert Spencer

Islamification of America Author Robert Spencer describes a long-term stealth strategy of jihad aimed at subverting American society from within. He proposes that while most counter-terrorism efforts focus on violent attacks, stealth jihad is a campaign to gradually introduce and ultimately establish Islamic law (Sharia) in the U.S. The author shows terror sponsors like Muslim Brotherhood and the Council of Islamic American Relations (CAIR) as the driving force behind this movement. They have reinvented themselves as mainstream civil rights activists to conceal an agenda of enforcement of Islamic values and Muslim culture. The strategies used by them are: Influencing U.S. government policy and guidelines on the War on Terror; the teaching of Islam in schools as a religion of peace; accommodations for Islamic religious practices at workplaces, public places like airports, and schools as part of a larger strategy; influencing government; and news media and entertainment landscapes. The goal is the same as that of violent jihad. This is a very illuminating work where the author clearly exposes Islam as inherently a violent political ideology, where religion, society and government are strongly integrated to impose Islamic laws much more efficiently.

Book Reviewed: Infinite Life: The Revolutionary Story of Eggs, Evolution, and Life on Earth by Jules Howard

The song of the egg This book is a biography narrating the history of the biological egg. The author calls this the most unifying and resilient life structure that this planet has ever produced. He narrates the Cambrian explosion (539 – 485 million years ago) when animal life surged into the species. In the earliest period, when eggs were first nursed and cradled, the eggs started forming from water to land through the ancestors of spiders and scorpions, insects, and fish that first walked the shores. This historical journey takes in Triassic ponds (252 - 201 million years ago), and later birds, and early mammals. The history has evolved to the mating amphibians; the rise of maggots and other insect larvae; the marsupials thriving in newly evolved pouches and the rise of the most diminutive egg of a mammal. In spite of all this, the eggs - devoid of the brain are incapable of an instructive thought. Eggs are incapable of knowing their journey, but a full species, even a single-celled organism has the basic instinct to survive, find food (prey), avoid predators, and reproduce. The author explores how evolutionary changes in the egg produced animals and their eco-systems through time. Before the Cambrian Period, before animals as we know them today existed, through the Silurian Period (444 – 419 million years ago) and Devonian Period (419 – 359 million years ago), when coastlines shifted and climates see-sawed; into the Carboniferous (359 – 259 million years ago) era, when bony land animals made advancements across continents. The author hopes that this is re-framing the story of animal evolution through the lens of the egg. Part of the book is the imagination of the author of the ancient palaeobiological times, here the author reminisces how the eggs and possibly earl life forms were evolving in the early Cambrian rivers and lakes. The writing style of the author is engaging; I recommend this book to readers who are interested in evolutionary biology, and the life in the deep past.