This remarkable book is long overdue. It provides the insights essential for the lay reader to take personal control of their long-term health, and physical and emotional well-being. It empowers and educates the non-doctor like no book before it. The complexities and limitations of both modern medicine and alternative therapies, are explained in a way that is entertaining and easy to understand. More importantly however, the book provides access to state-of-the-art advice, not only for effective diet and weight control, but also for side-stepping Syndrome X and the other common serious illnesses, that confront all of us in the new millennium. Using a patient-centred and evidence-based approach, it reflects the dramatic changes in the way medical care will be delivered in the future i.e. as an equal and mutually respectful partnership between well-informed patient and hopefully, well-informed doctor. Although written to provide the perfect medical advice manual for the lay public, the book is an excellent source of current medical knowledge, relating to the common diseases, and provokes and challenges in such a way, that it is likely to be widely read by the profession at large.