Quick Review "Girth Control"

[gobbla]

Alan Aragon's "Girth Control, The Science of Fat loss and Muscle Gain"

Think of it as a textbook written by people that don't have to justify the price by filling it with a bunch of stuff you'll never use and you'll be on track to understanding this one.

It's spiral bound which is nice to read and is sturdy. NO ONE should use those stupid assed three ring binders. ALL books by print should be hard or spiral bound. Spiral is probably my favorite....like this one...moving on. Paper quality is sound.

There are three main areas to the book. The first is "random crap you should know" about studies, Alan, history. Kind of dry and I forgot most of it. Section 2 is the real "meat and taters" part. It covers the fat\carb\protein stuff and suppliments. What they are and are not, pretty much anything you need to know for a solid enough foundation. Part three is the "putting it to use" chapter which...tells you how to use it in everyday life.

The writing is a little on the tedious\dry side. In this case I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I'm a fan of Lyle McDonald's work, if you have one of his manuals he tells you what to do in a fun way. Alan gives information. "This is what the research says and this is what I believe" and certain sections (supplements) are almost exactly like that. Supplement->research->thoughts. The other sections tell you what you need to know, it's up to you to decide what to do with it. Presenting it in the way that it is, is going to force you to use your head a little bit.

Probably the biggest thing that this manual has re-enforced to me is a "don't freak out\over think" mentality. While not normally a issue, it's nice not to be beaten over the head with magic answers. Some of the best work that I've read has had a focus on the basics that give 90% of the results. This is one of those pieces.

If you're looking for a slightly more technical manual with a focus on the basic knowledge that you "need" to know, this is a good buy.

[LunchboxMan]

good quick review, gobbla.

Originally Posted by gobbla

Probably the biggest thing that this manual has re-enforced to me is a "don't freak out\over think" mentality.

i agree with this completely (also having bought and still reading the book). after reading study after study for a long time, you tend to start losing sight of the big picture and this book definitely helps you step back and realize just where we're in the nutritional science and where we're going or what we need to test to know things for sure.

also, definitely two thumbs up for the book from me though like Alan says in it, the audience that'll probably appreciate it more are more nerds like us than a true beginner starting to learn about nutrition.

[Alan Aragon]

Thanks very much guys, this was totally unexpected. I'm glad you're both finding the book useful.

I really liked your critique, Gobbla. It's extremely interesting to hear readers' feedback. Being the author, I'm so entrenched with my own pre-conceptions of how my book night be perceived, so it's great to hear objective commentary.