The Fattening of America: 02/20/08

The Fattening of America looks at the economics behind obesity. It looks at the possible economic causes of obesity, the costs to health care, the costs to businesses and the rise of "wellness programs" as a reaction and what people can do to lose the extra weight they've gained.

The book is full of charts and data and when the focus is on economics, it is a fascinating read. Unfortunately the book tends towards the same chit-chatty approach that is so popular with self-help books. This informal voice strives to make the data more approachable but it just gets in the way of the over-all message of how changing economic conditions may be contributing to rising rates of obesity.

One large focus of the book is also the rising rates of children who are overweight (government speak for obese). While I agree that childhood obesity is something that parents should strive to avoid, I found parenting advice too heavy handed.

I enjoyed reading The Fattening of America but it could have been better. The bits about Uncle Al and all the parenting examples get in the way of an otherwise fascinating economic study.

Comments (4)

Comment #1: Thursday, February, 21, 2008 at 01:22:44

Gattina

It's sad to say but the fattest people I have ever seen in my life were in Wisconsin ! Sometimes they needed two chairs to sit ! I had never seen such fat people in Europe."

Comment #2: Thursday, February, 21, 2008 at 10:43:02

Tara

sounds very interesting! "

Comment #3: Thursday, February, 21, 2008 at 16:58:32

Brenda

I like these kind of books, the ones that make you think. "