2 out of 4 stars
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Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks: A Physician's Advice / Health information to liberate us from “Snake Oil”
Morton E. Tavel, MD
Snake oil is a concept that has slithered its way through societies probably since the dawn of civilization and the birth of the con. Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks: A Physician's Advice exists as a bastion in the struggle to avoid the slippery dealings of snake-oil salespeople. The author, Doctor Morton E. Tavel, embarks on a mission to slay the myths and defend the truths surrounding people's health. The work is divided into three sections: Tips, Myths, and Tricks. The information is episodic rather than serialized. One could read the book cover to cover but could also use the table of contents to skip to certain chapters of interest. Tips contains general knowledge and advice about a variety of health topics. Myths tackles common misconceptions about the body. Tricks targets specific health scams that have plagued the market in recent decades. It is well-cited and frankly states when science does not yet know the answer to some of our common health questions. Even in those cases Dr. Tavel tries to give informed opinions which can serve as a jumping-off point for those who want the answers right now.
The first thing I did after reading the introduction was skip to the chapter entitled Allergies: Myths Exposed, because I have a particular interest in allergies. Would this shed light on why so many more children are developing nut allergies in recent years? Well... no, no it did not. What it did was give an overview of allergies. How about the cranberry chapter? Is there some new information regarding this tart delight? Actually... I was already aware of the information contained in the chapter. Oh, it's a chapter on chocolate. That will be insightful... Or it would have been if I had not already learned all the information from my mother years ago. If you want more than the basics you'll need to do further research elsewhere.
In fairness, I likely know more about nutrition than the average person. Further the book does not claim to be an in-depth look at anything. Indeed it claims the opposite; a sort of reference book of many different areas of health. And I did learn at least some new things. Interestingly I found chapters I was not as interested in (for example, dieting) to be more enlightening (probably because I have not done much reading in that area). Conversely chapters about things I was interested in (say, bottle water vs tap) proved to be a summary of knowledge I largely already possessed or at least suspected. The author certainly does precisely what he sets out to do. He crusades against pseudo health practices. Our society is overflowing with new health crazes and fad diets and has been for some time. So sources like this book feel like a welcome counterbalance. This book shone the brightest for me when it was setting the facts straight and myth-busting common misconceptions and outright health lies.
While the noble cause takes center stage, there were missteps along the way. I found myself thinking, “That's not the case for everyone,” or “You should emphasize the complexity of this issue,” or even, “Could I get a source for that?” Did I think these types of things often? Often enough to leave an impression. Sometimes the cursory look left me confused or unconvinced. I recognize that the food and health conversation is multifaceted so it would be impossible to address everything. I surmise that the author painstakingly selected the parts that seemed most crucial. Unfortunately some chapters became too condensed making them feel underrepresented.
Over-simplifying is not the only concern. There is also an instance of an unrelated argument in the text. Chapter 50 discusses polygraph tests. It is an interesting field and the chapter was well researched and detailed. Still the entire time I was asking myself, what do polygraph tests have to do with health? They have to do with the body certainly, specifically measuring the autonomic responses of a person's body while they are being questioned. However nowhere in the chapter does the author suggest that polygraph tests impact one's health nor does he attest that this has been believed to be the case. This long chapter (10 pages where many other chapters are one to two pages) is out of place in a narrative where every other chapter is about physical well-being. The introduction explains that Myths contains subjects about anything to do with the body and how it interacts with the world around it. Chapter 50 is the only reason this description had to be so broad. Ultimately this research distracted me because it drifted away from the overall theme.
Despite these problems, it is obvious that the author endeavors to protect people by dispelling misinformation and warning the consumer not to waste their hard-earned money. So what to rate this book? I kept listing between a 2 star and a 3 star rating while reading. On the one hand, combating snake-oil scams is a heroic campaign to take on. The book strives to be advocate and educator. Alas whenever I read something that was too cursory a look at a complex matter, I went down to 2 stars. Whenever I read something I had never heard before prompting me to do more research, I drifted back up to a 3 star rating. I read an entire chapter that seemed to only cover common sense; I floated back to 2 stars. I read something that I felt a lot more people should know more about and I jumped back to 3 stars. If I could give half ratings this book would be the perfect example of a mixed bag and a 2.5 star rating. However I have to decide for my official rating whether to solidly recommend this book or to give a more middling score. I grappled with this for quite some time. At last I decided that...
It's praiseworthy in part but the problems exist and enough so that I give it 2 out of 4 stars. Although I do this with a caveat. With all books, especially non-fiction ones, I like to ask myself who is the intended audience of the book? Who is it for and who would enjoy it? This may be a case where only those mildly intrigued by health may enjoy the book more than someone who is passionately invested. Someone already engrossed may not get enough new information to justify the read and may find the surface-level exploration frustrating. Of course if you are one to routinely spend vast sums on health items, you also may find this book worthwhile. Maybe those products are not as healthy as they seem.
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Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks
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