merricatct's review against another edition
4.0
I admit, this was of particular interest to me as someone who's lived in the general NYC area for my entire life, and in NYC itself during many of the years discussed in this book. I remember well when smoking disappeared from bars and restaurants, when calorie counts appeared on menus, and the never-ending media uproar over Mayor Bloomberg's ban on large sodas. I also admit that I lean towards liberal, and I agreed with most of the Bloomberg administration's policies on public health - what I understood of them at the time, anyway. Thanks to this book, I now better understand exactly what was going on behind these policies, what made some succeed and others fail, and what public health means in general.
I wouldn't rank this quite as earth-shatteringly revelatory as The Omnivore's Dilemma, but it's certainly opened my eyes about non-communicable diseases and how much of a role society plays in them. And even more so, about how that social role is shaped by special interests and corporations. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up filling my "a book that made you angry" reading challenge prompt, because reading about some of the back-room politics and manipulations that big companies (tobacco companies, food and beverage companies, restaurants) resorted to, just to be able to continue marketing and selling toxic goods to us, was infuriating.
Annual Popsugar Reading Challenge: a book that made you angry
I wouldn't rank this quite as earth-shatteringly revelatory as The Omnivore's Dilemma, but it's certainly opened my eyes about non-communicable diseases and how much of a role society plays in them. And even more so, about how that social role is shaped by special interests and corporations. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up filling my "a book that made you angry" reading challenge prompt, because reading about some of the back-room politics and manipulations that big companies (tobacco companies, food and beverage companies, restaurants) resorted to, just to be able to continue marketing and selling toxic goods to us, was infuriating.
Annual Popsugar Reading Challenge: a book that made you angry
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