New posts soon!

Apologies for going so long between posts.  I started a few, which I intend to publish soon, but I've been busy.  Last month, November, was National Novel Writing Month, and I'm glad to say I finished 50,000 words, though I didn't overshoot by as much as I did last year.  More on that in the offing...

Meanwhile, on the non-fiction front I've been busy putting together a book I intend to self-publish by the end of the month.  Why the deadline?  Well, it's a collection of heuristics and informed intuitions about how the body works from a biologist's perspective.  The theme is how to use a few simple ideas from biology to understand nutrition better.  Here's what Google Trends has to say about health-related searches over the past five years:
It looks like New Year's Eve is when the searches really start to pick up.  I've been sitting on some of these ideas - and some of the data I want to include in the book - for almost a year now and I really want to get it out at a time when it will be relevant.

Clearly the worst time to publish it would be any time between Thanksgiving and Christmas (at least in the US).  But if I can get it in by the end of the year I might be able to get in before the next health fad takes over and help a few people avoid some of the most egregious errors.

I'm thinking the next post will return to the topic of philosophy of science, since I have it mostly drafted, but I want to get the ideas right before I push it out.  I won't have time to work on it until after my book is finished, which at the latest will be the end of the year.  To hold you over until then, here's a sneak peek at some of the data from my upcoming book.  This is a partial graph comparing the macromolecular balance on a variety of popular candies.  The full list will be in the book.  If there's one you want to make sure gets into the comparison, leave a comment here before the end of the month.




Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 9, 2019 at 12:38 PM

    You definitely need to include Reese's Peanut Butter cups, also I'm surprised by the omission of Snickers and Butterfingers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MarkDecember 9, 2019 at 1:19 PM

      Those are all in the expanded graph, which will be in the book. I guess I should have provided a list of what I have so far instead of just giving you the partial graph:
      100 Grand
      3 Musketeers
      Airheads
      Almond Joy
      Almond Roca
      Andes Mint
      Baby Ruth
      Butterfinger
      Charms Blow Pop
      Chicklets
      Dots
      Ferrero Roche
      Fun Dip
      Good & Plenty
      Gummy Bears
      Heath
      Hershey Chocolate Bar
      Hershey's Kiss
      Hot Tamales
      Jelly Beans
      Jolly Rancher
      Junior Mints
      Kit-Kat
      Laffy Taffy
      Lifesavers
      M&M's
      Mike and Ike
      Milk Duds
      Milky Way
      Mr. Goodbar
      Nerds
      Nestle Crunch
      Payday
      Peeps
      Pez
      Pixie Stix
      Pop Rocks
      Raisinets
      Red Vines
      Reese's PB Cups
      Reese's Pieces
      Rolo
      Runts
      Skittles
      Skor
      Smarties
      Snickers
      Starburst
      Swedish Fish
      Tootsie Roll
      Tootsie Roll Pops
      Twix
      Twizzlers
      Whoppers
      York Peppermint Patty

      Delete

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