4 out of 4 stars
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Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks is a reference non-fiction book about health, written by the retired Morton E Tavel, MD, who is described as a physician specialising in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. In a nutshell, the book explores some common beliefs or claims about health and safety, and then discusses the scientific evidence for them. It goes through a series of dietary health tips, such as ‘drink green tea’ and ‘eat more red and blue fruits’. If the evidence for the health practice is not strong, or not enough is known, the book usually says so. It also discusses a series of rather random issues around health and safety, from whether to use an electronic hand-dryer or paper towels, to genetically modified foods, to lie-detector tests. It also discusses and describes science-based medicine and scientific methodology, and compares them to ‘alternative’ medicine and its practices. The author is strongly in favour of the former and against the latter.
The topics are very wide-ranging, including caffeine, back pain, sleep, vitamin supplements, arsenic in food, air travel, chiropractic medicine, fortified foods, and many more. Although I’m quite health-conscious, I hadn’t been aware of many of the issues in the book, so it must be comprehensive.
This book has an easy-to-use reference quality, which is what I liked best about it. It was possible to find what you were looking for by looking at the contents, and it was well-edited. However, to read it cover to cover is a little boring and repetitive. The author focuses on the facts more than on how entertaining it is to read. It is perhaps something of a ‘coffee table’ book; to be picked up occasionally or when researching a topic.
The book usually, but not always, cites the evidence for the author’s view. However, for some issues, such as organic food, the discussion of scientific opinion was a little limited, and I’m not sure that the author’s very certain and definite conclusions reflect the complexity of the issues involved. This is what I liked least about the book; I think the author had too much confidence in the available scientific information, at times.
I think this book would be suitable for anyone who is interested in health, and wants to get a short introduction to the scientific evidence for a variety of health issues. For this purpose it is useful and therefore I give it four out of four stars.
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Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks
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