Disease Proof

By Dr. David Katz.

The book has a very blunt point-- if you eat a proper diet, exercise regularly, sleep properly, keep a healthy weight and stop smoking, then you will improve your health and life expectancy far more than any drug, supplement or treatment ever could. Low carb diets, or omega-3's or whatever else you can imagine, do not have nearly the benefits of a proper diet, with regular exercise, keeping a healthy weight, proper sleep, and not smoking.

The Essays of Michel de Montaigne

I want to read these essays. I'm trying to read these essays, but they are so hard to focus on. The English is old, and that English is a translation of older French.

Who out there still reads Montaigne? How did you manage it?

Do You Believe in Magic

The sense and nonsense of alternative medicine. By Paul A. Offit.

There is Medicine that has been adequately tested, and there is medicine that has not.

Too often well-tested medicine leaves us without hope. If I have cancer with a low chance of survival, If have a terminal disease, why wouldn't I switch to an alternative healthy provider that offered hope? Am I supposed to just give up?

If you go to a faith healing center, there are lots of cancers and braces and pains, but few wooden legs, toupees and casts.

The book is also very skeptical about vitamin supplementation. Once you have a balanced diet, extra vitamins don't help or can even hurt you.

So, what alternative medicines and supplements work? Omega 3, but not too much (causes bleeding) Calcium and Vitamin D if you are older woman, or live in a dark location. Folic acid if you are pregnant.

I wish there was a guide to well tested medicines and treatments. I would not be able to tell if a smart enough doctor who actually believed in his treatments was a quack or not.

The twelve week year

By Brian P. Moran & Michael Pennington.

Do everything in 12 week sprints. Always make progress. Have great metrics to keep you honest. The way you think about a plan changes the way you execute on it, so create plans that you think you can execute on.