The Blue Zones Solution

I was pretty excited and then pretty disappointed with this book.

If you have read one of the the other blue zone books that describes each of the blue zones then you can skip the first third of this book.

The second third I was most interested in, because it purports to turn several US cities into more-blue-like places. While it highlights some wins I was disappointed that while claiming to focus on environmental issues (lack of walkability, stress, diets, social connection) there was so much missing (food deserts, poverty, housing, lack of health insurance, race) so the people who got the money to make changes were those who had the buyin already. I know this are all complicated and difficult problems but there is a reason the social determinants of health is so important. If the book had focused on this middle section it would be much more useful. I firmly believe environment is much more important for healthy communities than bitching about our current poor diets.

The last third was recipes, which - there is a blue zone cookbook if I cared I'd buy that AND seem to completely undermine Buettner's statement that US people are shorter-lived/more unhealthy because of a lack of willpower and discipline in terms of food and exercise. Instead of a book that gives a playbook for how to engage change in communities (have a ton of ambassadors already willing to invest in helping make change?) Buettner gives individual solutions. My cynical take is that he prefers to sell those community-wide solutions as a consultant.