There are so many faddish diet books giving advice about what to eat, not to eat, what to drink, what not to drink, fats are bad (or good), some fats are ok, fats are necessary, etc etc. What most of them lack is real, solid, evidence based reasoning behind the claims. This book on the other hand is well written, layman accessible, and easy to digest. It also provides an interesting overview of the way scientific research is evaluated and how to learn to winnow through the mountains of information available and make logical factual choices.
The introductory chapters (~10% of the content) cover what nuts and seeds are, what makes them nutritionally distinct, what impact they can have on the diet as well as some research on disease and lifestyle connections. The rest of the book covers individual nuts and seeds in alphabetical order from almonds to walnuts. The individual nut/seed chapters each give an overview and specifics about each nut and seed as well as tips on how to use them.
The photography is very well done, full color and illustrative. The text is clear and easy to understand. The last section of the book includes a glossary with layman accessible language explaining some of the biochemistry and physiology discussed in the previous chapters. The author also does a great job explaining the hierarchy of evidence; how to be a critical reader and why some research is considered better than other research.
The references section is full of sources for further research and reading. There's also a good cross referenced index. The book doesn't go into detail about allergies or potentially severe reactions to nuts and seed products. Obviously in the case of food allergies, readers should avoid triggers.
This is a well researched, very well written and presented book. Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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