Subtitled Confessions of a Food Addict. This is Leith's vision of himself as a compulsive eater, his relationship with food, and how he sees himself and other overweight people. He takes a look at the food industry, diets - he meets Atkins to interview him a few weeks before his death, and looks at his own emotional eating through therapy. A quick and easy read and at times really quite funny whether you identify with it or not. ( )

This book started off well and then progressively deteriorated. It would seem that Leith forgot what the point of the book was about halfway through. His ramblings about the Atkins diet and the media were unbelievably annoying (mainly because of their length). I started to feel like he ran out of things to write about, so he decided to go off on various tangents ... crack addiction, cell phones, smoking, alcoholism ... "Gotta make it to 300 pages ... hmmm ... let me throw in a useless description of plastic surgery ... that will do the trick!" Ugh. Give me a break. It seems to me that, instead of using his own creativity, Leith attempted to follow the footsteps of Frey. Sadly, it was not an effective strategy. He has the potential to write an amazing book ... he just needs some guidance. ( )

A collection of essays from the author, which deal with his obsession and difficulty with food and his weight.

I liked the autobiographical essays the best, and found them warm, funny and sympathetic. However, some of the essays simply felt like the reader was being lectured to, and I found these less enjoyable. I also found the origins of MacDonalds Restaurant to be rather drearily told, and almost put the book down for good at this point.

Nonetheless, it is still worth reading, although I felt a sense of anger and self-pity running through it. ( )

I have to say that the author is one sick fellow. Compulsive, addicted to food, drink, drugs, women, he is the soft underbelly we all possess but don't dare show. I was alternately repelled and drawn to this story, and found it an uncomfortable one to read, in part because it struck so close to home. Worth reading, but be warned - this book will make you look twice at your own coping behaviours. ( )

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