2 out of 4 stars
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This is a very well-meaning book, by a (no doubt) well-meaning and experienced physician, but its quality and value are both patchy. Some chapters are clear and easy to follow, whereas others are packed with rather poorly digested information derived from research. The style tends towards the ponderous; though often well-balanced, it is rarely snappy, and occasionally wordiness interferes with clarity.
Almost every major personal health controversy is covered here: weight loss regimes, food allergies, gluten-free eating, inhaling second-hand tobacco smoke, whether skipping breakfast is bad for you, the benefits and risks of consuming fish, red meat, shellfish, tea, coffee, chocolate, red wine, raw milk, cranberry juice, olive oil, salt and arsenic. [That last might seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but I found it useful to be reminded about worries over arsenic levels in rice.] Disappointingly, however, there is almost no mention of Omega 3, which is quite a hot topic on this (eastern) side of the pond.
Occasionally, the author strays from his area of expertise, offering comments about the safety of commercial air travel, or the importance (or otherwise) of organic food or GMO for the survival of the human race. There's some irony here in that the overall message of the book could probably be summarised as “don't listen to non-experts” – but, apparently, it's OK for people with MD after their name to pontificate in print about a range of non-medical issues. The chapter on polygraph ('lie-detector”) testing is an honourable exception here, as it seems to be a pretty thorough summary of expert evidence; in fact the referencing for this chapter is exemplary, which is more than can be said for the rest of the book, where many assertions are either unsupported or poorly referenced (a grand total of 99 references for a book with 62 chapters).
The author could also, perhaps, have done with more advice from people with publishing expertise before launching a book that is really quite amateurish in its layout, and lacks not only an automated table of contents but also an index. An index would have been a great help, since the arrangement of the book is fairly random. As the author himself admits, the division into 'Tips, Myths and Tricks' doesn't really work all that well and the chapter divisions aren't always entirely helpful, either. Probiotics, for example, are discussed in both Chapters 36 and 44 – and the comments in one might even be seen as contradicting things said in the other. Salt has a chapter to itself (14), but is also discussed in the chapter on sodium (13) and the one on hypertension(16); contrariwise, sugar gets a lot of coverage in one chapter but then barely rates a mention in the chapter discussing so-called 'Energy' drinks. There are also a significant number of proof-reading errors in the first few chapters.
Basically, what this book offers – at some considerable length - is the same common sense lifestyle choice advice that has been around for years. I wouldn't give it to a young person living away from home for the first time, because it's not really suitable as an emergency reference in a crisis, and that's at least partly because of the lack of an index. I wouldn't give it to friends who are inclined to kooky diet fads, because they would find the way the author brackets some of their enthusiasms with other issues (such as creationism and climate change denial) both annoying and insulting. I wouldn't give it to a Brit, as the plethora of American brand names is some chapters is unhelpful, some of the drug names are different, and also because it seems our TV doctor programmes are both more reliable and more interesting than the horrendous examples related here.
Taken all in all, I rate this book as 2 out of 4 stars. I would give in 2.5 out of 4 if I could, as I feel it is honourable and honest in its intentions, but its excessive wordiness means it fails to deliver on the promise of its title.
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Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks
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