XXL

'Messrs. Seeman and Luciani's suggestions will annoy both the left and the right. Market forces are anathema to the top-down thinking of many on the left, and handing money to the undeserving is anathema to many on the right. But the very fact that their idea defies conventional wisdom suggests that it is a good one.' -- Matt Ridley, international bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome The Wall Street Journal This book takes a fresh, bold, and deep look at an important human error stemming from the illusions of control and the overestimation of knowledge of the human body and behavior. It shows the mistakes committed when governments, in a top-down and na?ve manner, try to control our biology. -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Distinguished Professor, New York University Polytechnic Institute and author of New York Times best-sellers The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness 'This book provides the one thing that's sorely lacking amidst the cacophony of claims about what will fix the obesity crisis: A recognition that this is a massively multi-factorial problem utterly resistant to universal, simple solutions, and that individuals require customized strategies for losing and keeping off weight. The idea that public policy can and must support individualized weight-loss plans is as close to a winner as we're likely to see.' -- David H. Freedman, best-selling author of Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us - And How to Know When Not to Trust Themm, and contributing editor of Inc. Magazine