Timothy Ferriss’ Book, “The Four-Hour Body” is an interesting, but inconsistent, read that could be subtitled, “Building an Army of Narcissists.” Ferriss covers a lot of well-documented ground, in a sprawling book that covers just about everything you need to know about the body, and engages in a healthy amount of outside-the-box thinking; a rarity for health and fitness books these days.

The book isn’t perfect, and I don’t agree with much of Ferriss’ exercise program, but “The Four-Hour Body” is a much better read than the vast majority of crap of the “Biggest Loser” and celebrity trainer variety. I do not provide a lot of details when I review a book that I recommend; Ferriss put a lot of work into producing this book and deserves to make as much money as he can from book sales; I don’t want to give away any info.

Hook: Tim Ferriss is going to show us how to “hack the body” and do amazing things to remake the body in the least amount of time.

Gimmick: Ferriss’ high-energy style and “I’ve tried it all” approach. It’s hard not to get enthusiastic about the subject matter thanks to Ferriss’ upbeat and positive tone. He backs up his claims with a fair amount of data, but better yet, he has tried all of the things that he talks about. Even the things that didn’t work.

Inconsistency: Ferriss relies way too much on body builders as a source of information regarding supplementation and exercise, and puts way too much emphasis on appearance, rather than performance. Also, despite taking the position that you don’t need to spend a lot of time working on your body, with “The Ferriss Method” you wind up spending almost all of your time thinking about working on your body.

Glaring Omission: None. Ferriss covers all the bases, and while I disagree with him on some points, he hasn’t left out anything major.

Annoying Feature: An unhealthy and counter-productive emphasis on appearance, rather than improved performance, is a recurring theme in the book. While I like what Ferriss has to say, this appearance-based approach detracts from his message and is incredibly annoying. To me.

Most Outrageous Claim: There are many. Polyphasic sleep – 6, 20-minute naps. Slow-carb/high-protein diet with a one-day-per-week binge day where you go hog wild and eat anything and everything you can, and lose weight and get lean. Better orgasms. And there are more than these. (FYI, I will be posting a more in-depth discussion of Ferriss’ diet recommendation very soon.)

Say Something Nice: One of the most interesting health and fitness books that I have ever read.

Bottom Line: Tim Ferriss has written a book that everyone interested in fitness and health should read. It is not perfect, but it is incredibly provocative and very readable. Buy it.

The organic food industry has become a multi-billion dollar industry and organic foods are the fastest growing segment of the food industry.  The organic food movement is based – in part – on the concept that in the past when America was a more agrarian society the people were healthy and the food was more nutritious because our soils were better and filled with the nutrients necessary to produce great foods. As the story goes, this situated existed because food was produced without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

The Truth About Organic Foods (Volume 1, Series 1)

Alex Avery states quite clearly that this myth is demonstrably false and he does so with reams of data and peer-reviewed studies, but doesn’t rely on technical jargon to make his case. Avery is the director of research and education at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues (CGFI), and describes the CGFI as not being “anti-organic” but “pro-human,” and states that his group is “the world’s best informed non-believers in the organic religion.”

Avery isn’t trying to make the case that organic food is bad or that it should be banned.  “The Truth About Organic Foods” points out the myths and misconceptions that exist regarding organic foods – many of which have been propagated by the organic industry.  As Dr. Ruth Kava, the Director of Nutrition at the American Council on Science and Health write in the Foreword, Avery, “just may make you think twice before spending more to buy foods that are really no better than conventional ones.

Hook: Very simply, organic food is no better than conventional food and that organic equals healthier is a myth.

Gimmick: If disseminating peer-reviewed research and digging deep into details of these studies is a gimmick, than Avery is a Gimmick Maven.

Inconsistency: None that I can find.  Avery promises to make a compelling, fact-based case for his position that organic a marketing tool and organic foods are no better than food that’s conventionally produced. He delivers on this his opinions do not infringe upon the data.

Glaring Omission: Can’t find one. After reading 231 pages you’ll get a complete picture of the organic versus conventional foods argument.

Annoying Feature: If you’re a pro-organic foodie (or is it, “fooder?”) this book is 231 pages of annoyingness.

Most Outrageous Claim: I hate to keep invoking the length of the book, but the case can be made that there’s an outrageous claim on almost every page in this book. And depending on your feelings on this issue, “outrageous” can be a good thing or a bad thing.  I don’t like to give away a lot of information, but I will leave you a couple of Avery’s Most Outrageous Claims.

• Only 40% of today’s population could be fed via organic farming. Do the math…
• “Biodynamic” or “Demeter” farming and products are based on the premise that invisible cosmic forces make them superior to traditional products.
• Lady Eve Balfour, a British pioneer in the organic movement, stated at a meeting of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM, the main international organic lobby), that after 30 years of research she found no nutritional differences between organic and non-organic foods.
• Organic proponents that claim nutritional content of food has declined due to the advent of synthetic fertilizers are engaged in, “revisionist history that is simply amazing in its audacity.”
• “The notion that organic food is more nutritious or healthful than ‘conventional’ foods is the oldest organic myth.
• Organic farming is not pesticide-free and organic farmers use organic pesticides that are just as toxic, if not more toxic, than synthetics.
• Conventional milk in the United States is 100% free of artificial hormones and 99.999% free of antibiotics and people are paying twice as much for organic milk that is identical to the conventional variety.

Say Something Nice: Buy this book. Read this book.  Now!

Bottom Line: Anyone who is even remotely curious about whether or not organic food lives up to the hype and is worth the extra money must read this book.  True-believers will never be swayed, and Avery is not trying to convert the choir.  Don’t listen to me; I’ll leave you with the words of Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Distinguished Professor of International Agriculture at Texas A&M University. Professor Borlaug says, “The book offers scientifically sound evidence that the more affordable conventional foods are healthy for families and also good stewardship of nature.”
The Truth About Organic Foods (Volume 1, Series 1)