The Obesity Myth

YES. Just YES.

I've been really grateful for the experience to work in eating disorder (of all sorts) treatment, and it's raised my awareness about the absolute necessity of fat activism a significant amount. Here's the thing: feeling bad about your body, for whatever reason, has never helped anyone be healthier. Research is great–I am, after all, a social scientist–but it is less great when politics and hysteria play integral roles in how research is conducted, interpreted, and disseminated to the general public. Campos is a lawyer, not an obesity researcher himself, which I think really allows him to bring a critical eye and an appropriate sense of moral outrage to this issue. Even if obesity isn't of personal or professional relevance to you, this is a fascinating read. Tore through it on two plane rides, and would recommend it to anyone.

Meh, decent but perhaps not the most objective one could hope for. I appreciate the many points he makes about the diet industry, but he does get repetitive. And he is a bit aggressive in his comparisons and examples at times. He also doesn't realize that vegans and vegetarians can have at least as much fun as meat-eaters, but that's standard thinking.

On the whole though, generally a worthwhile book for an introduction to the actual research on weight being done in the last 20-30 or so years. Yes, there are dry parts, but mostly his writing is decent. I also appreciate anyone who sticks in a reading list at the end. Because I need more books to read.