Sarah Lewis
This isn't the kind of cookbook you'd think I'd like—it's full of healthy stuff! But after getting it from the library and trying a bunch of recipes, I'm sold... literally. I'm buying this book to have on hand at all times.
This was a book where I started out optimistic-but-skeptical: there were a surprising number of recipes that sounded good in spite of having ingredients I'd usually shun. Could they all be good?
I started with the Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Garlic-Avocado Aioli, not really expecting much because I'm not a fan of sweet potatoes but my husband is. I ate one fry and thought, “Eh, it's okay. Not awful, considering it's a sweet potato...” I ate another fry and thought, “Actually, it's probably the best sweet potato thing I've had, not that that's saying much.” I ate another fry, and that's when I believe the addiction firmly took hold. (I tried sweet potato fries at a restaurant the other day, just to see if I'd been fully converted to the orange-food lifestyle, and they were just so-so. Apparently it's these sweet potato fries.)
Each time I made a new recipe from this cookbook, I grew more confident that the author really does know what she's doing. Some of the recipes feature strange-sounding combinations; every one of them has been good.
Beyond the beautiful photography and recipes that turn out well, I love how the author has made good nutrition accessible. The cookbook contains superfood ingredient profiles interspersed with the recipes, so there's an educational piece, and the recipes themselves are healthful without being over-the-top or terrifying the veggie-phobic like me.
For the record, so far I've tried:
The aforementioned Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Garlic-Avocado Aioli
Slow-Roasted Tomato Soup
Farro-Stuffed Mini Peppers
Savory Oats
Salsa Verde with Kiwi
Strawberry-Chicken Spinach Wraps
Cheesy Baked Farro & Cauliflower
I'd make all of them again except for the Farro-Stuffed Mini Peppers, and that's just because I find peppers too bitter (other people enjoyed them). I've made the sweet potato fries and the tomato soup several times already.
Now, like several of the other reviewers, I'm gladly racking up library fines—I want to keep it until my copy arrives and I can transfer my bajillion “make this!” markers, as well as keep cooking with it!
For a long time, I've known my critical thinking skills aren't what they could be. I'm easily swayed by mediocre arguments and often jump into commitments without thinking through the alternatives... or the consequences.
I'm aware of these weaknesses but have struggled to mitigate them. At one point, I bought a critical thinking textbook, but (not shockingly) it was academic and not especially engaging, and I got bogged down and missed any practical value it might have offered.
And then I got the opportunity to read a review copy of “Engage the Fox.” The premise (a business fable! with woodland creatures!) seemed a little goofy but simultaneously unintimidating, and after reading it, I'd say that initial impression was upheld but also backed with solid ideas and real-world usefulness.
My favorite thing about this book is that the authors showed the power of their critical thinking process by tackling a genuinely difficult problem. With a lot of business fables (and heck, fiction in general), situations seem contrived, and you think to yourself, “Well, sure, it would be easy to solve problems if all your ducks were in a row like that.”
But throughout the first few chapters, I was right there with Hedgehog in thinking the situation was a no-win scenario. Despite the sometimes-silly animal references, the book methodically (and entertainingly) guides the reader through real-life application of the critical thinking process—starting with a seemingly intractable problem, getting clear on the actual problem, generating and evaluating potential solutions based on the desired outcome, making good decisions, and implementing them as workable solutions.
Even though the process is fairly involved, it's arranged in a logical framework, so it's easy to understand and work through. There are a lot of diagrams, many of which are shown repetitively—this might bother some readers, but I found it much more convenient than constantly flipping back to reference the information presented earlier, and the narrative isn't repetitive, just the diagrams.
This clear presentation, combined with a mnemonic, the solid underlying framework, and ample examples of how it works in the real world—all work together to create a process I'm confident I can follow.
One more recommendation: for more on the decision-making process specifically, you may want to also pick up “Decisive” by Dan Heath and Chip Heath. The two books have a little bit of overlap, but the focus is different enough to give a well-rounded approach, and I appreciated seeing some of the same ideas covered from complementary angles.
Note: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I picked up this book because of its beautiful design, and also because I own a small business and value strategy, but am not familiar with “design thinking” and hoped this would be a good primer. The subtitle, “what they can't teach you at business or design school,” gave me hope that it would be a high-level introduction to a new topic.
Well, it is high-level, perhaps to a fault. My impression is that it's written for executives or managers rather than practitioners, and deals primarily with the “why” (the benefits of “design thinking”) with some emphasis on the “what” (a sometimes-clear exploration of what design thinking actually is, though I was still a bit fuzzy at the end of the book), and very little about the “how.”
My disappointment with the book is probably a case of audience mismatch. I'm a mix of in-the-trenches practitioner and small biz owner, so I'm looking first and foremost for practical applications of interesting ideas. This book celebrates the ideas themselves, and as a result (and due to the formal writing style), I had a hard time staying focused on the content. I would have appreciated more concrete examples (there were some, but they were few and far between).
But speaking of the content: it is beautiful. The design of the book is fantastic, and left me feeling happier about the effort of reading the text. Lovely as the design is, though, I wish I found the writing as delightful.
