I listened to the first half of this book by the author of The Year of Living Biblically on tape as I commuted to work in late December, and then Susan joined me in listening to the second half on our drive from Michigan to Florida. I nearly gave up after the first CD because both the author's voice (he reads his own book) and his persona are rather grating -- a nasal and flat voice, a personality that leans toward narcissism. But I kept going, got used to the sound of his voice, and was won over by the huge range of information he presents in a helpful and informative way.
The book is the story of (this is the subtitle) "one man's humble quest for bodily perfection." Well, forget the humble part, and of course perfection proves elusive. But he does try all sorts of things we all think about for a minute or two: the raw diet, calorie restriction, chewing everything long after it's been reduced to mush in the mouth, incredibly burdensome exercise routines, biowave feedback, and so forth. And on the whole he strikes just the right balance between popular exposition and scientific argument: he reviews relevant findings in a general way (albeit with too much deference to his favorite health guru, Mehmet Oz, who also blurbs the book) and tells us "it looks like this is how it works, but I could be wrong."
Definitely a good one to pop into the car CD player while commuting. Books with no plot and no characters to forget from day to day have advantages for this purpose. But this book does have several interesting characters besides the author, most notably his longsuffering wife.
The book is the story of (this is the subtitle) "one man's humble quest for bodily perfection." Well, forget the humble part, and of course perfection proves elusive. But he does try all sorts of things we all think about for a minute or two: the raw diet, calorie restriction, chewing everything long after it's been reduced to mush in the mouth, incredibly burdensome exercise routines, biowave feedback, and so forth. And on the whole he strikes just the right balance between popular exposition and scientific argument: he reviews relevant findings in a general way (albeit with too much deference to his favorite health guru, Mehmet Oz, who also blurbs the book) and tells us "it looks like this is how it works, but I could be wrong."
Definitely a good one to pop into the car CD player while commuting. Books with no plot and no characters to forget from day to day have advantages for this purpose. But this book does have several interesting characters besides the author, most notably his longsuffering wife.
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