YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger (Hardcover)

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

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

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Collins; 1 edition (May 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060765313
• ISBN-13: 978-0060765316
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (406 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,732 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #61 in

  Books > Science > Biological Sciences > Anatomy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

336 of 338 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	MaryL. - See all my reviews

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.

276 of 309 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 "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU: Should be Mandatory Reading, April 18, 2006

By	Jeanie Robinson-Pownall (The Rolling Hills of Chester County, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased YOU: The Owner's Manual with a amazon.com gift certificate I received for my birthday in May 2005. It is now April 2006 and I am 28 pounds lighter due to some simple changes recommended in this book. I restructured my eating habits one thing at a time and I truly am surprised at how fast the weight came off. One of the biggest concepts I had to get around was not wasting food. (My parents grew up during the Great Depression and food was never wasted in our home; everything had to be "finished.") Now I eat small portions of vegetarian food and don't eat something if it isn't absolutely delicious. (I never waste precious calories on candy bars, but do indulge in Godiva chocolates from time time to time.) I simply refuse to eat something just to be polite.

Interestingly enough, I did not purchase the book with the concept it would guide me through weight loss, although I have been trying to lose weight for the past four years. I now see that everything I did in past efforts was too drastic: too all or nothing.

All systems of the body are covered and there are silly little illustrations of elves throughout. The authors tell you WHAT and describe WHY in witty, easy to understand terms. My favorite line refers to the necessity of flossing your teeth: you only need to floss the teeth you want to keep.