Good Calories, Bad Calories

Good calories, bad calories by Gary Taubes - a very good book about what you eat and what you should eat

Two great books that really impacted me, both about the horrors of bad research: "Good Calories, Bad Calories", by Gary Taubes, on nutrition and health. "The Blank Slate", by Steven Pinker, on human nature.

A few that I've read recently and liked: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely Mostly about cognitive biases. Helps you think better by knowing your shortcomings. Whole Earth Discipline by Stewart Brand About protecting the environment, but with interesting takes on nuclear power, GMOs, cities and slums, etc. Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes Made me re-think a lot of things about food. Despite the "pop-science" title, this is a well researched book that looks at countless studies from the past 150 years. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheier by Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird A biography of Robert Oppenheimer. Fascinating man. The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker A must read. Evolutionary psychology.

I read that 2 years ago, and I agree it is excellent. He goes well beyond the evidence against carbohydrates, but his claims for the politicization of diet recommendations is the best I have encountered. As a side note, I tried an extremely low carb diet for a while after reading it, but noticed no real differences either pro or con. I similarly noticed no real differences many years ago, when I was vegetarian for a couple of years.

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. He starts with a takedown of the dietary fat-heart disease hypothesis, moves on to the dietary fat-obesity link. Finally he makes a convincing argument that neither eating less nor exercising more are good ways to lose weight.