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Food Rules: An Eater's Manual [Paperback]

Michael Pollan
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (467 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 29, 2009
#1 New York Times Bestseller

A definitive compendium of food wisdom


Eating doesn’t have to be so complicated. In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice, Food Rules brings welcome simplicity to our daily decisions about food. Written with clarity, concision, and wit that has become bestselling author Michael Pollan’s trademark, this indispensable handbook lays out a set of straightforward, memorable rules for eating wisely, one per page, accompanied by a concise explanation. It’s an easy-to-use guide that draws from a variety of traditions, suggesting how different cultures through the ages have arrived at the same enduring wisdom about food. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat buffet, this is the perfect guide for anyone who ever wondered, “What should I eat?”

Coming from The Penguin Press in 2013, Michael Pollan’s newest book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation--the story of our most trusted food expert’s culinary education 

"In the more than four decades that I have been reading and writing about the findings of nutritional science, I have come across nothing more intelligent, sensible and simple to follow than the 64 principles outlined in a slender, easy-to-digest new book called Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, by Michael Pollan." --Jane Brody, The New York Times

"The most sensible diet plan ever? We think it's the one that Michael Pollan outlined a few years ago: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” So we're happy that in his little new book, Food Rules, Pollan offers more common-sense rules for eating: 64 of them, in fact, all thought-provoking and some laugh-out-loud funny." --The Houston Chronicle

" It doesn't get much easier than this. Each page has a simple rule, sometimes with a short explanation, sometimes without, that promotes Pollan's back-to-the-basics-of-food (and-food-enjoyment) philosophy." --The Los Angeles Times
 
"A useful and funny purse-sized manual that could easily replace all the diet books on your bookshelf."  --Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times


 

Frequently Bought Together

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual + Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation + In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Price for all three: $40.13

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review


A Look Inside Food Rules: An Eater's Manual

Michael Pollan's definitive compendium, Food Rules, is here brought to colorful life with the addition of Maira Kalman's beloved illustrations.

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--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"In the more than four decades that I have been reading and writing about the findings of nutritional science, I have come across nothing more intelligent, sensible and simple to follow than the 64 principles outlined in a slender, easy-to-digest new book called Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, by Michael Pollan." --Jane Brody, The New York Times 

"The most sensible diet plan ever? We think it's the one that Michael Pollan outlined a few years ago: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” So we're happy that in his little new book, Food Rules, Pollan offers more common-sense rules for eating: 64 of them, in fact, all thought-provoking and some laugh-out-loud funny." --The Houston Chronicle

" It doesn't get much easier than this. Each page has a simple rule, sometimes with a short explanation, sometimes without, that promotes Pollan's back-to-the-basics-of-food (and-food-enjoyment) philosophy." --The Los Angeles Times
 
"A useful and funny purse-sized manual that could easily replace all the diet books on your bookshelf."  --Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times




Product Details

  • Paperback: 112 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; 1 edition (December 29, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 014311638X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0143116387
  • Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.4 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (467 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Pollan is the author of five books: Second Nature, A Place of My Own, The Botany of Desire, which received the Borders Original Voices Award for the best nonfiction work of 2001 and was recognized as a best book of the year by the American Booksellers Association and Amazon, and the national bestsellers, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and In Defense of Food. A longtime contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan is also the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley. His writing on food and agriculture has won numerous awards, including the Reuters/World Conservation Union Global Award in Environmental Journalism, the James Beard Award, and the Genesis Award from the American Humane Association.

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Customer Reviews

The book is a very fast, easy read. L. Roddy  |  143 reviewers made a similar statement
A good book for your teen or friend who doesn't read. Samantha M. Culbertson  |  70 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1,157 of 1,179 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is necessary... December 29, 2009
Format:Paperback
It is amazing how complicated we have allowed our diets, and our understanding of our diets, to become. Even Pollan's most recent book In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto - which seemed to be a pretty simple premise - ended up being a (wonderfully) complicated journey through our food system. So when I read that this book was coming out, I wondered if it was necessary given the wealth of information already covered. The answer is: yes, this book is necessary.

While there are a million other guides to a healthy diet running around out there, few manage to boil down the essentials in such a usable way. Pollan takes the essential and fascinating information that he wrote about in his previous book and simmers it down into a succinct (the book is basically 70 half pages long) "manual" of rules for eating. While this book retains some of the bones of its predecessor, it is by no means a Cliff's Notes version. This manual is essential reading all on its own.

Food Rules is broken down into 3 sections (and this will sound familiar to those that read In Defense of Food): 1- What should I eat? (Eat food) 2 - What kind of food should I eat? (Mostly plants) and 3 - How should I eat? (Not too much). Each section includes 20 or so rules that you can pick and choose from in order to eat a healthy diet. Some of the rules overlap (Avoid food products that contain ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce and Avoid ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry, for instance) and some seem like such common sense that it is almost laughable to include them, but that is why this manual is so important. It distills all of this complex information that we see and hear every day and turns it into something relatable.
... Read more ›
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335 of 345 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Food Rules Rules! December 31, 2009
Format:Paperback
I picked up Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, because I have been searching for just this type of book for many of my clients as a New Year's gift. I read the slim book quickly in a bookstore and it is the perfect present for my clients who are not eating healthy diets (but who have confessed they wish to.)

I am an interior designer/organizer and see how my clients eat all the time when I redesign and organize their kitchens. Pollan's In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma are both excellent, but can be intimidating. Not Food Rules--it is short and easy to understand.

The book is divided into three parts and has 64 chapters or rules. The following will give you an good idea of what the book is about: Part I, What should I eat? Includes such chapters as "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food", "avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients", and "avoid foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup".

Part II, What kind of food should I eat? Includes "Eat mostly plants, especially leaves", "eat your colors", and "the whiter the bread, the sooner you will be dead."

Part III, How should I eat? Includes "pay more, eat less," "eat less," and "limit your snacks to unprocessed plant food."

For those of you who desire a healthier diet, Food Rules is a terrific guide that makes understanding what to put into your body simple to understand and implement.

Finally, if healthy eating is a new concept for you, you will find the clever chapter titles easy to memorize, thus making the concept of healthy eating a simple one to learn.

Highly recommend.

By the author of the award winning book, HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT and SELL YOUR HOME FAST IN A BUYER'S MARKET
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526 of 547 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you got in on the ground floor, you chewed every page of The Omnivore's Dilemma, (464 pages, $8.00 at Amazon).

If you were a second responder, the first Michael Pollan book you read was In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, (256 pages, $7.50 at Amazon), which boils theory and anecdote down to a tasty, healthy feeding strategy.

If you're new to the topic or haven't paid attention --- or love Pollan's work and want to spread the gospel --- here's Food Rules: An Eater's Manual (137 pages, $11 retail, $5.50 at Amazon), a skinny paperback that says pretty much everything you'd find in his longer books.

Or you can consider Pollan's reduction of his message to seven words --- "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" --- and read nothing more because you know how to crack that koan and adopt a way of eating that just might save your life.

Why, you may wonder, does a clearly written 256-page book need to be boiled down to 64 general principles?

Two reasons.

Those of us who read about food have, in the last few years, been swamped by the language of nutrition. Antioxidants. Polyphenols. Probiotics. Omega-3 fatty acids. But you can know all about this stuff and still not be able to answer the basic question: Yeah, but what should I eat?

Then there are those who have never heard Pollan's message. They're the folks on the coach, eating pre-packaged snack food, sucking down sodas, serving vegetables as an afterthought. In short, people who are devotees of the Western diet --- which is, says Pollan, "the one diet that reliably makes its people sick!"

Pollan wants to help both groups --- and break the cycle of self-created disease.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Casual Read
This book was really cute. It was easy reading and not too serious, but the advice given made you think enough to be helpful.
Published 16 hours ago by Piewilliams
5.0 out of 5 stars love it
If you can follow some of these rules you will be on your way to eating better! . Easy to read and full of tips!!
Published 4 days ago by Emily
5.0 out of 5 stars Pow
Quick read packed with simplicity and all its green hulk smash punch. Elaborated literal list of rules divided under pollan's three basic rules. Applicable
Published 5 days ago by Britt
4.0 out of 5 stars Common sense
Get it cheap, but it's a good read and a good reminder of what you SHOULD be eating, Be ready to make a major shift in your diet, though! Read more
Published 7 days ago by LB
3.0 out of 5 stars Yawn...Nothing New Here
It's a good thing I only paid five bucks for this book because I felt a bit gypped after reading it. This is basically In Defense of Food: Lite or, worse, In Defense of Food: Dr. Read more
Published 9 days ago by SKB
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
A simple book, easy to read but it made me reflect and change how I was eating - for the better. What more can you ask? After reading it. Recommended it to a friend.
Published 10 days ago by MS FACS teacher
5.0 out of 5 stars Life Changing
Best summarized like this:
There is no such thing as "junk food." There is junk and there is food. Eat food! Read more
Published 12 days ago by Monica
5.0 out of 5 stars eat your colors--what could be simpler?
This little book contains more info than its 137 pages suggests. and the info is given in a friendly, conversational style, as if the author were helping you shell peas on the... Read more
Published 16 days ago by loismarie m ball
5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly Different
I am a fan of the style of this food book. He simple stated the valuable information in a straight forward manner. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Susan Hagio
5.0 out of 5 stars Tried and True
Simple wisdom, simply served. This is the only book you need to learn the basics of healthy eating; like the Cliff Notes version of a food bible!
Published 21 days ago by Christine Eberle
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Food Rules - Michael Pollen Kindle formatting
I bought this on 1/09/2010 and have no formatting problem.
Jan 14, 2010 by Alan Wagner |  See all 5 posts
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