Body of Truth: How Science, History, and Culture Drive Our Obsession with Weight--and What We Can Do about It

While Brown includes much of the science I'm already familiar with from other book and adds more recent studies, this book thankfully does not implicitly or complicity endorse dieting or other disordered views of food and the body. Yes, I've read books where the author is "being fat is okay" and then comes out with food rules and moralizes food so they still covertly hate fat people. She's rather frank about her own struggles along with having a daughter that struggled with anorexia. Brown is also willing to call out those that focus on dieting and shaming and how they are really part of the problem rather than any solution. She also points how it's a person's appearance and their morality that we judge when we say "fat is bad" when we show more really mean the person is inherently bad. People say they hate fat because it makes them feel morally superior to fat people.

Guess what? They're wrong. They aren't morally superior, just jerks. And it's wonderful that people come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. It allows us to be unique rather than cookie cutter copies. show less

I read this book as an electronic advance reading copy provided by Edelweiss, and I have submitted my comments to the publisher via that web site.

This book is a fine introduction to the sociological implications of weight, dieting, and beauty standards. The author has an interesting perspective in that, in addition to the (unfortunately) ubiquitous problems of dieting and self image that she has experienced herself, she also has a daughter who had anorexia. That story is the subject of her earlier book.

The best part of this book is the bibliography, where the author cites numerous books and journal articles for further reading. In fact, that extensive bibliography made me wonder if there is anything new to learn in the current title. show more Recommended for large libraries. show less