YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Michael F. Roizen (Author), Mehmet Oz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2005

Micheal Roizen and Mehmet Oz, two powerhouse doctors in both the medical profession and in the media, have teamed up to write YOU: THE OWNER'S MANUAL - the book you should read BEFORE any other health book. It takes the mystery out of medicine and health by giving you the power to not just know what to do to keep fit, but to understand why and how. Simply put, it's an owner's manual for your body. The book opens with a quiz 'How Well Do You Know Your Body?', which will set the stage for the following chapters, each devoted to an integral part of the body including the heart, brain, lungs, immune system, bones, and sensory organs. Each chapter will contain common myths, which the authors will debunk. They will then give both the hard facts and easy ways to make the body run like a well-oiled machine. The writing style is engaging, and smart; the accompanying black and white illustrations conjure up the details and accuracy of Gray's Anatomy, but with a whimsical twist. This is a health book like no other.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If there ever was a pair of docs who can make the small intestine seem truly intriguing, here they are. Dr. Mehmet Oz is an alternative-medicine maverick and a cardiologist known to implement acupuncture during open-heart surgery. Dr. Michael Roizen developed the RealAge concept of calculating one's biological, as opposed to chronological, age. Here they've whipped up a witty guide to the workings of the entire body, appropriate not just for those who can't tell their pancreas from their pituitary. Even Cheers’ Cliff Claven types who think they know it all will likely be humbled by the 50-question "body-quotient" quiz that starts off the book.

With much sassy humor (they describe the adrenals as similar in shape to Mr. Potato Head's hat), they give a guided tour of the body's anatomy and major systems (hormonal, nervous, digestive, sensory, etc.) including plenty of fascinating trivia along the way. How often should you get your thyroid level checked? How much gas does the average person produce in a day? And, most important, how many times a year do most people have sex?? Drs. Oz and Roizen know. They also reveal plenty of bizarre (and potentially life-saving) facts such as this: If your earlobe has a prominent vertical wrinkle, it's likely that your arteries are aging faster than they ought to be. If only 8th-grade health class had been this fun.

The docs' main goal in presenting all this info is twofold: first, it's your body, so shouldn't you finally learn how it works? And, second, they want to help teach ways of preserving the body's health and youthfulness. To that end, they've included an "Owner's Manual Diet," a 10-day menu plan designed not for weight loss, but to make you feel "years younger." Its simple recipes are each meant to benefit a certain body system, such as Tomato Bruschetta, packed with the antioxidant lycopene, which has been proven to boost immunity. --Erica Jorgensen --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Anti-aging guru Roizen and celebrated heart surgeon Oz combine their popular approaches to patient-centered care in this assessment of how much, or more to the point, how little, readers know about their bodies. After taking the quizzes in the book, readers may feel shocked by their ignorance of basic anatomy and the processes required to maintain physical and mental functioning. Each chapter focuses on a body part or system (heart, brain, digestive, reproductive, etc.) and discusses diseases associated with it; genetic and lifestyle influences on its aging process; and foods, supplements and habits that can prevent or reverse related illnesses. The book has an entertaining feel: friendly elves guide readers through illustrations of the body and cartoons feature alien creatures that enter the body and cause illness. The humor is irreverent (e.g., muscle cells surrounding dead heart tissue "start fighting with each other, like Jerry Springer's guests, instead of supporting each other, like Oprah's" [incidentally, the authors will appear on Oprah in May to promote the book]). Despite a 10-day, 30-recipe food plan and a less-is-more exercise regime, however, readers may have trouble using the information to create a lifestyle that will fulfill the authors' promise of weight loss, disease prevention and longevity. Even the recipes target one specific area of the body and weaken the overall conceptual framework. This lighthearted book will be most useful to those who like their health lessons served with a side of humor. (May 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper Resource; 5th Printing edition (May 1, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 0060765313
• ISBN-13: 978-0060765316
• ASIN: B000HWYG24
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (418 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

254 of 257 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Anatomy and physiology for dummies January 10, 2008

By MaryL.

Format:Hardcover

In short, just a very fun and informative book with several worthy goals. For one, it educates your average person in the inner workings of the human body. It does this quite entertainingly through frequent quizzes, trivia, facts, and interesting pictures- for instance the authors use a lot of elf cartoon. Corny, but fun.

Additionally, the book also gives one many helpful tips on how to keep their body running smoother. Since there is a lot of medical information, I really would like to have seen a reference section though at the end of the book. That being said, however, it is a pretty informative and amusing read and should enhance the well-being of many- especially middle-agers like me who want to learn more about how their bodies work so they can keep it running smoothly in the years to come.

281 of 290 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good, basic manual addressing total body health needs May 4, 2005

By Beth Cholette #1 HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

As the subtitle to this book suggests, the main purpose of this manual is to help you live a long, healthy life through educating you about your body and its needs. The first author, Michael Roizen, is the pioneer of the RealAge concept--i.e., the idea that age is better measured by lifestyle factors rather than chronology--and he incorporates much of this concept into the current work. In order to get a baseline sense of how much you already know about your body, the first chapter includes a self-assessment, The Body-Quotient Quiz. This multiple-choice questionnaire offers some surprising answers to questions as diverse as "What is the genetic reason that men typically want more sex than women?" and "What is the main purpose of skin?"

The book proceeds to devote a separate chapter to each of the following areas/systems of the body: the heart; the brain and nervous system; bones, joints, and muscles; the lungs; the digestive system; the sexual and sensory organs; the immune system; hormones; and cancer. Each chapter provides basic educational information, much of which is conveyed in easy-to-read "myth busters" and "factoid" formats. Then, once you have learned all the essential information about that area, the authors present a "Live Younger Action Plan," which is a step-by-step guide to making the lifestyle adjustments that can help you to live a longer, healthier life. Some of these actions involve simply making yourself more aware of your own body--eg, finding out your cholesterol levels--while others involve an actual behavioral change such as modifying what you eat. The final 50 pages of the book provide a simple diet plan based on very general guidelines; for instance, the authors offer recommendations under the categories of "foods to eat daily," "foods to eat weekly," and "foods to avoid." Also in this section is a suggested ten-day menu schedule which includes approximately 40 recipes.

This book contains a wealth of important information about general health and well-being. However, readers who already have a fundamental understanding of the factors which contribute to a healthy lifestyle may find this manual to be too basic. Adding to the book's sometimes primitive presentation are the illustrations, which, while clear and helpful, also border on juvenille in that they include depictions of strange, elf-like figures. Overall, however, this book imparts a great deal of vital knowledge in a simple, straight-forward manner, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to learn basic facts about their body's needs.

175 of 188 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Your heart, lungs, and liver want you to buy this book August 19, 2005

By M. D. Copeland

Format:Hardcover

This is a truly great and informative book. I've been a practicing physician for almost 25 years, and I can't tell you how many patients suffer from the most basic ignorance of their own body!

I couldn't put it any easier than this. Roizen does a terrific job of squeezing years of medical training into a human body user's manual that's fun and easy to read. I now recommend it to all my patients!

Don't skip this book. Do your body a favor and learn a little about it.