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I was initially skeptical about The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. While a number of friends had recommended the book, I generally try to avoid preachy lifestyle books—especially the ones about food. I’m not interested in the politics of food and subscribe to the “if it tastes good, eat it” school of food theory. Then I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma…

The basic message of The Omnivore’s Dilemma is that we need to begin thinking more about the foods we eat—we have become far too removed from our meals as a society. Relatively new advances in technology have created a bounty of cheap and readily accessible food sources. The growth of food supply chains, agribusiness, and transportation has created this boon, but it has come at a huge cost to our natural resources and health. To demonstrate this, the author takes us through four meals – a fast food meal on side of the scale and a completed hunted and gathered meal on the other.

The most compelling (and disturbing) part of the book is the in-depth investigation of the industrial food chain. Pollan traces the creation of a McDonald’s dinner all the way back to the corn fields of Middle-America, where farmers grow massive crops of genetically-engineered corn, most of which is consumed by cattle or chickens inside industrial feed lots. In addition to corn, these animals are fed a number of antibiotics, hormones, and steroids that fatten them up faster and quicken their journey to the slaughterhouse. After being process and treated with more chemicals and preservatives, the meat is shipped across the country to fast food joints and readily consumed by millions of people every day.

Get the picture? By deconstructing the industrial food chain, Pollan gives us alarming insights into the true cost of our meals and the stress it puts on natural resources and the health or our nation.

Pollan also analyzes meals originating from “industrial organic” and sustainable farms. He also creates a meal that is made from food he hunted and gathered in his community.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma is not a preachy or political book. The author is a true food lover and he takes care not to criticize the choices of others. The book informs and avoids sermonizing. Pollan’s simple process of meal deconstruction is incredibly compelling.

Related links:

• Michael Pollan’s website
• Omnivore’s Dilemma Wikipedia Entry

I was channel-surfing this weekend and ended up catching a good chunk of the film Startup.com. I remember seeing it in the theaters back in 2001. Its release seemed perfectly timed with the bursting of 90’s Internet bubble.

The documentary follows the rise and fall of Govworks.com, a quintessential VC-funded start-up. The film follows the company’s growth from idea (there’s an amazing sequence when the founders ponder for hours about what to name the company…) to getting funded to an eventual flat-lining.

Parts of the movie are cringe-worthy—specifically the scenes of the CEO forecasting how rich he’s going to get, and a number of very dot-com era events like awkward company retreats and team cheers. Ouch…it brings you back.

Startup.com is definitely worth watching if you haven’t seen it. Seven years wasn’t really that long ago, and many of the stumbles and mistakes made by the Govworks.com team can still be learned from.

NewScientistTech magazine is reporting that a group of UCLA researchers have developed a WiFi music polling system that could one day replace live DJs.

The device scrubs the music files from wireless music devices and uses smart technology to create ordered playlists that match the preferences of party-goers. Partygoers are triangulated by their wireless system and when they leave the room (or party) their music is removed from the list.

There’s been an interesting thread going on at the IxDA discussion boards that gets down to a critical issue in the interaction design field: is investing in design really worth the investment by product manufactures?

The post, entitled “Why Do Crappy Interfaces Sell?“, raises some important issues. Do end users really care about great design? Is amazing user experience really worth the investment required by product developers and manufacturers?

I think the answer is a resounding “no”. Outside of our small community of designers there are very few people who would consider paying a premium for an above-average user interface.

Take for example probably the most purchased consumer product: the mobile phone. The vast majority of phones have hideous UIs—many are close to unusable. Still, the vast majority of users barely take the user interface into consideration when buying a phone. I wonder if the normal buyer would pay a premium for a better UI…

I was recently profiled at Communication Arts as part of their “Insights” feature. Check out the article. I basically ramble about why I love social bookmarking, Edward Tufte, 80s music and rotisserie ovens (set it and forget it). It’s great to get a little bit of press…although I hope I don’t seem like too much of a dork!

Communication Arts recently went through a redesign and rolled Design Interact into the main site. The new site looks great and is improved by the integration of their interactive stuff.