- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Atlantic Books; 1st edition edition (30 Jan 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1843541416
- ISBN-13: 978-1843541417
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.4 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,173,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Reviews
"Obesity is quickly eclipsing tobacco as the number one threat to public health", according to the American Surgeon General. As Ellen Ruppel Shell reminds us in The Hungry Gene, her timely and well researched exposé, this is not just an American disease: in Britain, youth obesity rates soared by 70 per cent in a single decade. The trend also holds true for Russia and China, Brazil and Australia. As Shell expertly unravels the causes and possible cures for obesity, they turn out, like many addictions, to be much more complex than previously thought. Indeed, a fat-related gene and its product leptin were identified in mice after a prolonged search that's well described by Shell. But even this is by no means the end of a complicated story that involves interactions between genes, foetal development and environment.
On the one hand there are plenty of alarming observations and supporting data about getting fat. For example, using a remote control to change channels on the TV rather than getting up to do so "can add up to as much as an extra pound a year". The book airs other claims and observations: There is "a clear association between the number of hours of television a child watches and the risk of that child becoming obese or overweight". "Childhood obesity in the United States jumped from five per cent in 1964 to 14 percent in 1999." "In Australia, childhood obesity rates tripled between 1985 and 1995, and today one out of every five children there is overweight."
On the other hand recent studies have claimed that people who were exposed to famine during their early development in the womb were 80% more likely to be obese as adults. People from many different ethnic groups where obesity has previously been rare can become susceptible within a generation with changing dietary and life styles. And what happens to us whilst we are in our mother's womb can make a big difference even before we are exposed to the new culture of fast food and slothfulness.
Ellen Ruppel Shell is a highly experienced American science journalist who writes for quality journals such as the Atlantic Monthly and Discover. This experience serves her well in putting across such a intricate tale. Proper notes with references and an index make this an invaluable resource as well as a good if worrying read. Right, I'm off for a run. Douglas Palmer
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation
'In The Hungry Gene, one of our finest science writers takles our most urgent health issue.'
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendous Piece of Work, and Fascinating,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Hungry Gene (Hardcover)
This book is a truly superb work of science journalism, scrupulous reporting, excellent analysis, written in crisp,evocative prose. It tells a complex story of diverse research threads with sometimes contradictory conclusions, and it tells it incredibly well. By the time you finish this book, you will have a much better idea how to realistically interpret for yourself the claims for the latest diet or latest exercise machine or weight loss pill or program. You will have a much better idea what is "in your genes" and what is not, what you can attribute to "slow metabolism" and what you can't. In bringing together all of this diverse research and telling its story so well, this book is a landmark in explaining what sorts of things we can control, and where we are spinning our wheels.Not only is the story of obesity research interesting and relevant to all of us, but it is extremely difficult to get the whole picture. Each article and each news story tends to cover what is novel or most fascinating about research, and the solution the author is promoting, and usually ignores the background and the consensus already formed. The Hungry Gene covers all of the central lines of research: the modification of behavior, the influence of genes, the way the body regulates its own weight, the role of food industries and marketing, and makes each set of findings clear. Equally important, the author makes it clear what we still don't know about human weight control. There simply isn't any non-technical source to find out what is known about obesity, and the technical sources don't tell the story nearly so well, and they tend to be speciallized to a particular field. The Hungry Gene brings it all together coherently. An important and highly relevant education-in-a-book on a deeply interesting topic. Hard to beat a bargain like that. It's rare to find a book that meets such a pressing need for scientific information in such a skillful way.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really illuminating,
By
This review is from: The Hungry Gene (Hardcover)
This is really quite a rare book. I was looking for a popular science-cum-current affairs book about obesity and dieting and, although this is nearly ten years' old and from the wrong side of the Atlantic, it was just about the only book that ticks those boxes! Is this because science knows - not suspects; knows - so little about our metabolism and its role in weight gain? This book is really excellent. There are certain nuggets of information that are priceless... and unique, actually. Such as eating X calories of sugar is better than X calories of fat because it takes more energy for the body to convert that sugar to stored fat in the body. I have never heard that before yet it is USEFUL. Shell does fall down a bit, though, because she comes across as being star-struck by the scientists in this book. It is a bit like a cult of personality rather than worshipping the science that these personalities do. It goes without saying that this book is very American too, though the science still applies. If anyone can suggest a similar book I would be much obliged.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
