About.com Rating



For any man who wants to find the path to ideal personal health, A.J. Jacob's Drop Dead Healthy: One Man s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection is an entertaining and enlightening journey through the myths and truths of a pursuit of optimal health. While I am far from in perfect health, I aspire to be more healthy and I could relate to Jacob's search for the best methods and theories out there and how he has sorted through all the bluster to find a better path to health.


Author A.J. Jacobs

I will readily acknowledge that A.J. Jacobs is one of my favorite non-fiction authors. His books, while admittedly quirky in some respects, offer a careful and thoughtful look at intellect, spirituality and health, mixed with a liberal dose of humor along the way. Jacobs is on a quest to find enlightenment and truth and writes about that effort in a way that entertains and brings perspective.

The two other books I have read have similar premises. The first, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, tracks Jacobs through his reading of the entire Encyclopedia Britannica - all 33,000 pages. His other book in this series, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, chronicles his efforts to follow the precepts of the Bible as closely as possible, including regular prayer, tending sheep in the Israeli desert and growing a beard according to biblical instruction. In both books, I enjoyed every twist and turn as he worked to become well-educated and spirtually-attuned.

The Quest for Perfect Health

For the next in the series, Jacobs tackles the issue of personal health. Working systematically through his body from stomach and heart to eyes and ears, he visits the experts, experiments with various theories and methodologies and travels the journey to improved health. From his introduction to a perfection-seeking personal trainer to running with the cavemen involved in the Paleo movement to learning from the world's leading "germaphobes," Jacobs does it all. Throughout the process, he expounds on each experience and what it taught him about health and wellness, and does it with his trademark wry sense of humor.

The Family Connection

As Jacobs embraces (or at least experiments) with each theory or practice in turn, he shares the impact on his family as well as on himself. He talks about trying to enlist his family's support on restrictive diets, exercise regimens and diet supplements, one gets the sense of their consistent patience, interrupted by occasional exasperation with his obsessions. What father can't relate to that kind of experience, whatever the context?

Summary

Granted, I really enjoy Jacob's writing style and his sometimes over-the-top obsessions. But Drop Dead Healthy was my favorite in the series. Perhaps I can identify with someone with marginal health and fitness trying to find his way through the myriad of theories, methods and pharmaceuticals. But as much as I can empathize with his experience, there is an ease and breeze to his writing that make reading Drop Dead Healthy a great experience. I find myself better informed about and even a bit more committed to making a bigger effort to bring my personal health back in line. Maybe that is the best compliment I can pay to Jacobs' effort in living and writing Drop Dead Healthy. I can recommend it without reservation to any father wanting to be a bit healthier (or a lot healthier) for himself and for his family.