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Book Summary and Reviews of Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata

Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata

Rethinking Thin

The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting

by Gina Kolata

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  • Published:
  • May 2007, 272 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In this eye-opening book, New York Times science writer Gina Kolata shows that our society’s obsession with dieting and weight loss is less about keeping trim and staying healthy than about money, power, trends, and impossible ideals.

Rethinking Thin is at once an account of the place of diets in American society and a provocative critique of the weight-loss industry. Kolata’s account of four determined dieters’ progress through a study comparing the Atkins diet to a conventional low calorie one becomes a broad tale of science and society, of social mores and social sanctions, and of politics and power.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. This book will change your thinking about weight, whether you struggle with it or not. " - PW.

This information about Rethinking Thin was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Gina Kolata Author Biography

Photo: Andrew Brucker

Gina Kolata (M.A.) is a writer and medical reporter for The New York Times. She has previously written five books and edited three collections of popular science writing. Ms. Kolata lives with her husband in Princeton, New Jersey.

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