What can I say? I tried. I really, really tried to read this book. At first, I thought maybe it was the time of year and being busy with school. I even decided to try a 30-day free Audiobooks trial to see if listening to it would help. Long story… this book just wasn’t happening for me. So, there are three things you can read and learn about in this blog post.
French omelettes… who would have thought that a French omelette would be made differently than the “Americanized” version. I read several articles on how to make a French omelette. I decided to use a blog post that used Julia Child’s method (click here). One interesting aspect of her recipe is adding a spoonful of water (not milk) to the egg mixture. Here is Julia Child demonstrating how to make a French omelette.
So…I tried twice making this. The first time did not turn out so well. I could not figure out how to get it to roll so “easily” like Julia Child.
I actually wanted “stuffings” for my omelette (spinach and provolone). The article discussed at what stage to add. After adding my “stuffings,” I shook and shook the pan but the blasted thing would not roll.
So…I tried again. Although I had to give it a little help to roll, it turned out better than the first try.
If you are not interested in French omelettes, maybe you will be interested in an economics term called SUNK COST. Sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. In other words, I may have bought the book (ok, so only paid 50 cents at Goodwill) and may have already read 30 chapters but the most rational decision to make is stop reading the book if it is not good (don’t spend precious time reading a book you dislike when you can be using your time reading something that you do like). So, after trying and trying to read (but stopping when I still had 40 chapters left), I decided to put the book down and be done with it. I have always been one to feel the need to finish reading what I started. However, I decided to practice what I preach to my students. If this concept interests you, below are some videos you may enjoy watching.
(at 1:44, she discusses the relationship between sunk cost and reading a bad book)
If making French omelettes and learning about sunk costs are of no interest to you, maybe you are interested in why I did not like this book. Well, first, it is a BIG book so timing was an issue. This is not the time of year for me to be reading a book that is over 500 pages and around 70 chapters (small words on pages as that). It just seemed I was not seeing any progress. There was nothing drawing me into the book. I will say, however, I think the story is very interesting. It is a mix between Indiana Jones and Da Vinci Code (I never read the book but have watched the movie). I LOVE storylines like the book (seriously, Indiana Jones is the reason I love history and became a social studies teacher). Another aspect I did like was getting to know Carcassonne France. I thought the historical aspect of the setting (and the Crusades connection) was fascinating. Look at the picture below and imagine a historical mystery tied to this location and a present-day archeological dig in France. So… it has been interesting to look up more on the Cathars (religious sect persecuted during Crusades) and Carcassonne.
So, should you read this book? Maybe not. I think the concept is great but you have to be able to push through to get to the end. If you like audio books (which I have never liked), you may enjoy it. Or…you can do what I am doing right now – watch the miniseries on Amazon Prime! And by the way, when I decided to stop reading the book, I did read the last few chapters to see how it ended and googled the ending. Worked for me…
