I've been thinking about the books I've read on Paleo, and realized that the best books for me weren't specifically about Paleo. Rather they got me to think in surprising new ways about food in general, then later I refined my diet in a more Paleo direction.
What books (or sites or people) who really made a profound difference to you, whether or not they were actually about Paleo?
The two books that really stand out for me (possibly because of when I read them as their content) were:
Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. I'm sure most here know the importance of this book, which was literally life-changing for me. I could almost feel my mindset making a sudden u-turn (complete with squealing brakes) in my understanding of diet and health, and even of life. I didn't even start with a 'Diet' like Atkins or Paleo or whatever the names are. Instead I simply stopped eating carbs and began to educate myself about variations later.
Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food by Catherine and Luke Shanahan. Not exactly Paleo and perhaps not so well known as some, but to me this was a very important book. It really illuminated how our bodies and our genes are in a dynamic relationship with our environment and our food, and that living foods are very different from 'dead' foods (and explains why - lots of strong science, something I also appreciated about GCBC above). Their critique is that (theory aside) it's hard to get comprehensive information about the actual neolithic diet, but there are many diets in traditional cultures that are very healthy, that they have very consistent commonalities even if the cultures and locations are very different (say, Eskimo and Swahili). It's because of this book that I've fully embraced cultured milk products like kefir (and I'm making my own sauerkraut too), and it feels completely right even if not exactly "paleo" to some.
There are other excellent books about diet in general and Paleo in particular that have been informative and useful, but the two above were for me major and exciting milestones.
What about yours?
