Customer Reviews

Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions with PowerWeb: Health and Human Performance

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ordered the book with express shipping and it came within days. The book is good for ppl needing or researching consumer type "caveat emptor" techniques. It'll open your eyes to some interesting things...

Wow, I haven't read anything this biased that wasn't on the political shelves. I researched the author and found interesting information here: [...]

Barrett's version of "intelligent" decisions (and he LOVES to use quotation marks) is to reject every and all alternative methods of healing. His rant against the evils of chiropractic is astounding. The Mayo Clinic accepts alternative healing, but apparently this ex-shrink knows better? Sadly, I have to read this for a class and answer the multiple choice test questions as prescribed to pass my class. Baaaa!

I have been using this textbook for four semesters with undergraduates obtaining a minor in health education and am frustrated with the information that is outdated and full of errors. I will no longer be using the text in my courses. The food pyramid is wrong, exercise theories are incorrect, etc. My exercise science majors this past semester were disgusted with the mistakes. The author's website is decent and consideration should be given to write a shorter textbook with concise updated information. I am now teaching this course without a textbook.

Pat
Associate Professor Health Education
Massachusetts Private College

When I taught health science for the State University of New York, I "inherited" the use of this textbook from the previous instructor's syllabus. It is a strikingly poor textbook. My students (mostly college sophomores and juniors, without a heavy-duty scientific background) rapidly detected what they saw as the book's paternal attitude, its anti-vitamin bias, and its factual errors as easily as I could. Fortunately, there are many other good consumer health and nutrition texts out there. In my opinion, just about any one of them is several steps up from "Consumer Health: A Guide To Intelligent Decisions." Instructors, before you order this on for your class, preview a copy carefully and see for yourself. As for me, yes, I still have my copy on hand . . . to use to demonstrate just how unscientific and politicized a textbook can actually be. Most students are considerably smarter than this book's authors seem to think they are. And thank heaven for that.

This book is a libel against the alternative medicine and similar. It worth each penny. Strongly research based. Believes who wants to believe. It could be a little more concise.

The above review is silly--it's like saying I bought a computer book from 5 years ago and it's out-of-date. Duh.

Anything by Barrett is a must-read, because he exposes core truths about health quackery and frauds.

The book that I received was in great condition and it was delievered to my house in an orderly amount of time.