If it weren't for the two small children that dictate my life, I'd have never put this book down. It's an entertaining, as well as informative, read written in language that is easy to understand but still thought-provoking. It is such a fascinating subject-matter that we are still only on the cusp of fully understanding. Dr Mosley navigates the facts, fiction and educated supposition of the field quite well. At times the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming, but in a field yet so devoid of exploration, it's largely all we have and I find this book informed and reasoned as opposed to the quackery a lot of books in this genre can be. It is for this reason that I put a lot of prior research into which book on the subject to purchase and read, as my time and money need to be used well these days. There are general guidelines provided for those who just want to tweak their lifestyle and/or do it in their own way, and there is total handholding with a meal plan and recipes for those who like that approach. I'm not going to lie, as someone who needs a major dietary and lifestyle overhaul, some of the recipes are a little alien-sounding, but not all, I'm glad to say. This book personally speaks volumes to me as my family battles complicated autoimmune conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, and reading the book is like finding the final piece of the puzzle of self-management. But I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I think it speaks to a lot of the modern problems that plague us and seems a real answer as opposed to a lot of the theories out there with regards to society's health decline. This book is far from a conspiracy-reinforcer that often puts me off a lot of books and blogs out there on nutrition and health.
The reason I haven't afforded it 5 stars is largely due to editing issues which are something I detest of published books at the best of times but particularly in non-fiction. There is also some strange formatting with regards to the pictures of the recipes in the Australian Kindle version I read, but that's nothing major. I also sometimes find the examples used a bit thin/superficial even for an "entertaining" non-fiction book, such as references to Rebel Wilson's diet. I also wasn't a fan of the politicised comment regarding ISIS. It just didn't need to be used in a diet book.
Finally, a word of caution to mothers; this book talks about the benefits of vaginal birth and breastfeeding and the evils of c-sections and antibiotic use in labour and infancy. It's not worded in a heavy way, but it is pretty emphatic that vaginal and breast are best. It's backed-up with studies and isn't incorrect, but I would have preferred a stronger caveat that sometimes intervention is best. I know first-hand that there's already a lot of judgement and guilt placed on mother's, most of all by ourselves, and that many desperate women out there are all too quick to blame themselves for anything that causes our children to be less than perfect. If you are looking for answers for illness in your children, read this book but be aware that many of the interventions experienced in birth/child-raising, are beyond our control and usually used because they minimise risk of negative outcomes. For instance, better our child is safe from life-threatening infection than not, even if that means they have eczema/asthma/ASD. This book may just help us in better managing our family's health, but don't use it to beat yourself up (and certainly the book isn't written in that tone, I just wish to forewarn).
All-in-all, this is a fantastic book that I would recommend everyone read. I'm genuinely excited about this new field and can't wait to see what unfolds from the research. I hope Dr Mosley updates this book as new discoveries are made.