Review by prettysmart -- Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks

prettysmart · Post by **prettysmart** » 18 Apr 2018, 12:15

[Following is a volunteer review of "Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks" by Morton E Tavel, MD.]

3 out of 4 stars

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The book HEALTH TIPS, MYTHS, AND TRICKS: A Physician’s Advice: Health information to liberate us from “Snake Oil” by Morton E. Tavel, MD, was published via Brighton Publishing LLC. It is a non-fictional material that delves into analyzing impractical recommendations announced to the society by incompetent as well as qualified people, in order to reveal the “snake oil” which is a substance with no real medicinal value sold as a remedy for all diseases. Dr. Tavel is a retired physician training in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease exclusively and is also a retired professor at Indiana University School of Medicine. Earlier, He composed a book entitled Snake Oil is Alive and Well. The Clash between Myths and Reality: Reflections of a Physician that also investigated rampant disingenuous information that was served openly as medical truths.

At the beginning of the book, there are brief reviews from Environmental, Health and Science related professionals and the table of contents consist of five headings, namely;

"Introduction"

"Tips" (32 chapters)

"Myths" (20 chapters)

"Tricks" (10 chapters)

and a biographical, summarized text about the author. The primary focus of the book is a concurrence of three subdivisions all of which intertwines with each other throughout the whole book. The first segment, “Tips”, deals with generating well-being in terms of finance and physique to avoid incurring unnecessary expenses. The aforesaid is achieved through daily application of the advice given by the author. The second segment “Myths”, looks at trivial fallacies and misapprehensions surrounding the human phenotype and how we interact with Mother Nature. “Tricks”, is the ultimatum of the three subdivisions that is dedicated to revealing numerous schemes that are executed by con artists so as to trade their worthless suggestions for the consumers’ monetary funds.

What I liked about this book is that it started off with short reviews that are rather humorous and gives the reader a quick glance of what is in store without any significant spoilers. In addition to the author placing useful links for in depth information for whatever topic that might be unclear to the reader or is somewhat too lengthy to discuss in details and a lot of reference is made to statistics and scientific experiments to support the author’s claims. What I disliked about the book was that the author should’ve included a glossary to define all of the scientific terminologies as well as slangs and phrases used even though some out the lot were given brief explanations during the discussions.

What I like most about the book is how the author compares healthy and unhealthy foods in light of cost & proportion plus the ready availability of each according to societal trends. Also how water affects calorie intake and body metabolism. What I disliked most about the book is that the author and I had conflicting views on certain topics and at one point it seemed as if he couldn’t make up his mind as to which claim he should deem valuable.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars as the author engages the reader with rhetorical questions that allows them to ponder for a bit on a suspense-filled platform then he slowly introduces arguments for & against each topics before giving the reader a final conclusion of what the myth is and what the truth is backed by scientific researches. I did not give a full 4 stars as I felt like he rambled a bit too much on some of the chapters making it even harder to digest however the book was generally concise. I found a few errors and this book would appeal mostly to health-conscious people and the medical/scientific personnel.

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Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks
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Nelsy Mtsweni · Post by **Nelsy Mtsweni** » 23 Apr 2018, 14:24

That sounds like an interesting book, and very much detailed in tips about healthy living as well. I would like to read the book sometimes. Thanks for the amazing review.

prettysmart · Post by **prettysmart** » 23 Apr 2018, 18:51

mtsnel006 wrote: ↑23 Apr 2018, 14:24 That sounds like an interesting book, and very much detailed in tips about healthy living as well. I would like to read the book sometimes. Thanks for the amazing review.

yea I thought it was wayyy too detailed in some sections but its a good read and your welcome

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gen_g · Post by **gen_g** » 20 May 2018, 21:25

This sounds like a great book, and I do like reads which give you tips about healthy living. It actually reminds me of the book I just reviewed, titled A Patchwork of Pink, which actually tells you about how someone with breast cancer is trying to find her way out from depression (since she had always been eating healthily). It would be great if I could hear your thoughts on it! Thank you for the insightful review.

prettysmart · Post by **prettysmart** » 23 May 2018, 19:16

gen_g wrote: ↑20 May 2018, 21:25 This sounds like a great book, and I do like reads which give you tips about healthy living. It actually reminds me of the book I just reviewed, titled A Patchwork of Pink, which actually tells you about how someone with breast cancer is trying to find her way out from depression (since she had always been eating healthily). It would be great if I could hear your thoughts on it! Thank you for the insightful review.

would love to check out A Patchwork of Pink ....sounds pretty good according to your comment and your welcome!

Post by **Anthony__** » 18 Jan 2019, 08:16

I have read this book. I love the way you reviewed it. Great review!

madzac · Post by **madzac** » 18 Jan 2019, 08:19

this review's really well written. great job! i don't normally read this kinda stuff but it made me wanna check it out. i liked the way you constructed it