Freakonomists on Fat

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, authors of Freakonomics, the book / blog sensation of the year, paid Fat Politics by J. Eric Oliver their “very highest compliment” over the weekend, saying:

“This reads like something that we could have written!”

They also include some substance of the Oliver’s argument via a Publisher’s Weekly review:

Arguing that fatness is perfectly compatible with fitness, he contends that scapegoating obesity drives Americans to experiment with dangerous crash diets, appetite suppressants and weight-loss surgeries, while distracting us from underlying harmful changes in the American lifestyle-mainly our incessant snacking on junk food and shunning of exercise and physical activity, of which weight gain is perhaps merely a “benign symptom.” Oliver provides a lucid, engaging critique of obesity research and a shrewd analysis of the socioeconomic and cultural forces behind it. The result is a compelling challenge to the conventional wisdom about our bulging waistlines.

LINK to post on Freakonomics blog.