Great balance of science and humor--yes, humor. It was actually FUN to read and I learned a lot. Loved the stack of references at the back of the book. ( )

Good introduction into the paleo diet. It motivated me to excercise more often, especially regularly go running again. It also motivated me to reduce sugar, eat more fruit, eat more vegetables, eat more protein (tofu, nuts etc. since I don' eat meat), further reduce dairy products. It also convinced me about the benefits of going to sleep early (optimally when the sun sets), at least in theory ;) ( )

I came close to creating a new shelf just for this book, titled "couldn't finish." There's a lot of interesting, potentially useful information in it, but the author's tone is obnoxious. If his goal was to persuade me, he failed, and not because of his data. Rather, it was that I felt that he didn't understand his audience. He thought he did, but his sense of it was clearly based on people who'd come to him looking for help, and people who'd opposed him from the start, and there was no room for the curious but somewhat sceptical reader.

Two things I found particularly naive were his belief that living a Paleo diet was easy and straightforward for everyone (he tends to take his own experiences and generalize wildly from them - he got very sick on a vegetarian diet, so he assumes that anyone eating such food _must_ also be sick, even if they feel healthy, for example), and that it's just a matter of prejudice or lack of will that prevents their success. (He even mocks one woman who failed his program for her attitude - nice.)

In fact, he never mentions the expense of going Paleo - those tasty free-range meats and wild-caught fish and organic veggies aren't available everywhere*, and when they are available, they tend to cost more. So strike one. Second, he doesn't factor in the time involved in this diet - not just the time to prepare the food but also the time needed to shop for it. As "evil" as grain-based and legume-based foods may be, one thing they do have going for them is a stable shelf life. If you don't want to spend your time shopping every other day for your fresh veg and meat, you're going to have to include something else in your diet. So strike two. If you live in a food desert, or work a double-shift, or live on food stamps, sorry, folks. If you're fat and unhealthy, it's your fault for not going Paleo.

I was hoping to be persuaded that the Paleo diet was feasible - and instead I came away feeling scolded and irritated and condescended to by someone I couldn't respect. Perhaps this is what works for some people; it didn't work for me.

*This is the Alice Waters problem. It's reasonable to advise people to eat only local in-season vegetables when you're in a place like California where a variety grows year round. In many parts of the country, however, you're looking at several months of turnips, potatoes, onions and squash - and that's if your grocery store even carries local produce.

It's an okay book. It champions one particular view of the paleo diet and that can be a bit misleading. Thinking has evolved to allow for different interpretations that are not mentioned in this book. This is not a bad book to read, but don't make it your only source of information about the paleo diet. ( )

I am going to change my eating habits again. This makes a lot of sense to me. ( )