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Don't Eat This Book: Summary and book reviews of Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock, plus links to an excerpt from Don't Eat This Book and a biography of Morgan Spurlock.

Don't Eat This Book

Don't Eat This Book
Fast Food and the Supersizing of America
by Morgan Spurlock
Hardcover: May 2005,
304 pages.
Paperback: May 2006,
320 pages.

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BOOK SUMMARY

The literary debut of the funniest and most incisive new voice to come along since Michael Moore-and the acclaimed director of the film phenomenon of the year.

Can man live on fast food alone? Morgan Spurlock tried to do just that. For thirty days, he ate nothing but three "squares" a day from McDonald's as part of an investigation into the effects of fast food on American health. The resulting documentary won him resounding applause and a worldwide release that broke box-office records. Audiences were captivated by Spurlock's experiment, during which he gained twenty-five pounds, his blood pressure skyrocketed, and his libido all but disappeared.

But this story goes far beyond Spurlock's good-humored "Mc-Sickness." He traveled across the country-into schools, hospitals, and people's homes -to investigate school lunch programs, the marketing of fast food, and the declining emphasis on health and physical education. He looks at why fast food is so tasty, cheap, and ultimately seductive, and what Americans can do to turn the rising tide of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes that have accompanied its ever-growing popularity. He interviewed experts in twenty cities-from surgeon generals and kids to lawmakers and marketing gurus-who share their research, opinions, and "gut feelings" on our ever-expanding girth and what we can all do to offset a health crisis of supersized proportions.

In this groundbreaking, hilarious book, "benevolent muckraker" Morgan Spurlock debuts a wry investigative voice that will appeal to anyone interested in the health of our country, our children, and ourselves.
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If you've read Fast Food Nation or Fat Land this offers very little new information but for the many who are still oblivious to the dangers of of eating what passes for food in places such as McDonalds, Spurlock's book or documentary will offer much food for thought.  (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).

Full Review Members Only (724 words).

Media Reviews

  Booklist - Mark Knoblauch
Spurlock's ingenuous persona and his bumptious spiritedness added immeasurably to the film's charm.... in print, this gee-whiz approach makes him come across as a lightweight, overshadowing and undermining whatever serious purpose he intended and whatever valid charges he might have brought against today's fast-food behemoths.

  Publishers Weekly
Fact-packed and funny, this offshoot of Spurlock's Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me serves both as a substitute for and addition to the movie.

  Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. A powerful work of reporting and punditry.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by OSU Comp Student 2009
This book will change your outlook on fast food!
This book gives a supersized portion of information on how the fast food industry is making the nation obese. Throughout the book, Spurlock uses a humorous voice, shocking facts, and pieces of his documentary to make us aware of the lack of...   Read More

From the book:
  • 37% of American children and adolescents are carrying too much fat.
  • 60% of all Americans are either overweight or obese.
  • One in every three children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime. Diabetes will cut 17-27 years off your life.
  • Each day, 1 in 4 Americans visits a fast food restaurant.
  • In 1972, we spent 3 billion a year on fast food - today we spend more than 110 billion.
  • You would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off a Super Sized Coke, fry and Big Mac.
  • In the U.S., we eat more than 1,000,000 animals an hour.
  • Left unabated, obesity will surpass smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in America.
  • McDonald's distributes more toys per year than Toys-R-Us.
  • McDonald's operates more than 30,000 restaurants in more then 100 countries on 6 continents and represents 43% of...

Continued...  Beyond the Book (members only)

Readalikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Don't Eat This Book, try these:


Eating Animals
by Jonathan Safran Foer

Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, memoir and his own detective work, Eating Animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits - from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth - and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting.

Fast Food Nation
by Eric Schlosser

A groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that may change the way America thinks about the way it eats.


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