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Summary: A Refreshing Voice in the Wilderness
Review: Dean Edell is one of the few media health authorities I consider worth listening to. He actually reads studies, instead of press releases, and he is neither mindlessly pro-doctor nor mindlessly eager to trip down the path of the latest alternative fad. This book summarizes current information about alternative medicine, diet, exercise, obesity, and sex -- and comes out with the message that if you do what you enjoy and use common sense, you'll be taking the best possible care of your health. How refreshing!My one caveat is that, although Dr. Dean is a charming and funny writer, he is not a particularly succinct or clear one. Sometimes he will make contradictory statements within the same paragraph, or introduce a factoid without explaining what conclusion he intends to support with it. I found the book frustratingly woolly-headed at times. The science, however, is clear and elegant, and the message is one that needs to be heard by a society increasingly neurotic and obsessed with everything it puts in its mouth.
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Summary: The TV doc helps you stop worrying and enjoy life !
Review: Dr. Edell hits a home run with this 304 page book that can really impact on your health and your quality of life. I liked the way he stresses your need to avoid taking every health-news story as gospel and trying to continually change your life style based on the latest "facts" you get from the media. We must use common sense in evaluating all the "fluff" that we read and hear about health on a daily basis. Dr. Edell helps us sort out the facts from the fallacies. His style of writing, often humorous, makes the volume a pleasure to read. You'll learn how to avoid jumping in on every new diet, herbal remedy, or exercise program. Let him sort out the real facts of the studies, medical journal articles, and media hype, to help you lead a more healthful, less stessful life with the least effort. A great book.
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Summary: What's Not To Like?
Review: Let's face it: radio airtime these days is just brimming with cranks, cretins, and political wackos. For those of us who have had our fill of Dr. Laura and Rush And The Dittoheads, a man like Dean Edell represents a veritable breath of fresh air. Ex-hippie Edell is an erudite, intelligent, and compassionate radio M.D. who cuts through the multilayered nonsense surrounding contemporary health issues and to provide information and wisdom over the airwaves daily. Consequently, to now have available a full-length book by Dr. Edell is a wonderful thing, indeed. Edell makes his living answering on-the-air listener questions about health issues. He does not prescribe, he shies away from on-the-air diagnoses, and he never bullies his listeners the way certain other talk show hosts habitually do. Instead, he listens, he supports, and he offers sensible advice based upon the latest medical information available. Edell and his staff review health and medical journals by the score, trying to sort out the good studies from the bad, the useful conclusions from the quackery. As a result, he is always worth listening to, and in this case, definitely worth reading. Edell does not simply proffer "information"; to be sure, his own viewpoint and values are integrally a part of the presentation. But in doing so, he combines knowledge and critical thinking with compassion and a humanistic concern for others. The resulting formulations are in my opinion wise, mature, good-humored, and learned. Overall, his philosophy is represented by the title of the book, "Eat, Drink & Be Merry." This does not mean we should live our lives with desperate and reckless abandon (since "tomorrow we may die"), but instead that we should accept basically who we are, live in the moment and enjoy life, rather than fretting uselessly over how *long* our lives will be and whether or not our physical appearance is as perfect as that of various movie stars or models. In supporting this philosophical conclusion, Edell demonstrates that drastic dieting and strenuous exercise are of limited benefit to most people, that most people who live to be one hundred years old spend those last decades in ill health, and that to a great extent, "happiness" itself is an elusive product of inborn disposition, rather than the result of following any particular formula, strategy, or philosophy. Edell shows courage (and to my way of thinking, common sense) when he questions the ferocity of our various wars on drugs, arguing that neither long-term heroin use nor casual recreational marijuana use are nearly as destructive to society overall as are the legal use of alcohol and tobacco. No, he does not come out and advocate any particular policies, but his message that we should rethink our current drug laws and policies is quite clear. Overall, Edell eschews health fanaticism of all types and urges us to "lighten up" in our approach to health issues. A diet high in fruits and vegetables and reasonably low in fat, a regular but not punitive exercise regimen, an avoidance of smoking and heavy drinking, and a general avoidance of excessive stress and worry seem to be what he's calling for in this book. Edell certainly doesn't address all of the possible questions readers might have about health, diet, and lifestyle, but people who read this book will definitely finish it wiser and better-informed than they were when they first picked it up.
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Summary: "Eat, Drink, and Be Misled" would be a more accurate title
Review: The primary flaw of this book is that it is dry, dull, and inexcusably boring. It drones on in the classically condescending "I know, you don't" style that Edell uses in writing and during his radio shows. Furthermore, Dr. Edell dogmatically delivers opinions that are superficial, misleading, and sometimes patently false. I am a physician who is, within my field of expertise, considerably more knowledgeable than Dr. Edell. Some of his statements in that field are so off the mark that I feel like screaming "you idiot!" and wishing that he would retire so that a better doctor could take his place. Edell fancies himself as a supremely logical person. He is, at times. At other times, he can be very illogical and boldly proclaim things using logic that would earn him an "F" in a college logic course. However, his arrogance apparently prevents him from considering that he may be wrong. Years ago, I was a fan of Dr. Edell. I don't know if my perception of him changed because he is getting worse, or if it just seems that way when I learn more about medicine and realize that his advice is too frequently pathetic.
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Summary: Don't let facts get in the way of our beliefs? Hmmm!
Review: This is a terrible book for close-minded, prejudiced,"don't confuse me with the facts -- my mind's made up!" typeof people, but an eye-opener for everyone else. Dr. Edell brings a degree of level-headedness and logic to our everyday lives that is refreshing, entertaining, and enlightening. Always willing to adapt to new circumstances and adopt new ideas, his overriding message can probabaly be summmed up in one simple phtase: "Show me the proof!" While the author is a doctor and the book is about health, it is actually more about enjoying life thasn just living it. The subjects are interesting: drugs, diseases and, yes, sex (none of us would be here without it no matter how dirty you may feel it is, Dr. Edell points out); but the treatment of those subjects is what makes this book a delight to read. Cell phones causing brain tumors? Electric transmission lines causing cancer? Here we find not hype and hypervole, not ratings-boosting sensationalism, but simply a true and unbiased discussion of the scientific facts as we have them today. All this -- and it's a fun read too!
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