Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health by Gary Taubes; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Mike Chamberlain

For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet despite this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates, like white flour, easily digested starches, and sugars, and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number. In this groundbreaking book, award-winning science writer Gary Taubes shows us that almost everything we believe about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong.

“Easily the most important book on diet and health to be published in the past one hundred years. It is clear, fast-paced, and exciting to read, rigorous, authoritative, and a beacon of hope for all those who struggle with problems of weight regulation and general health.”—Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

“[Taubes] tackles the subject with the seriousness and scientific insight it deserves, building a devastating case against the low-fat, high-carb way of life endorsed by so many nutrition experts in recent years.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times bestselling author

“A vitally important book, destined to change the way we think about food.”—Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food

“A very important book.”—Dr. Andrew Weil

“Gary Taubes is a brave and bold science journalist who does not accept conventional wisdom.”—New York Times

"Taubes is a relentless researcher…Brilliant and enlightening." Washington Post

“A watershed…It could also literally change the way you eat, the way you look, and how long you live…Lucid and lively.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Provocative…Taubes’ arguments are lucid and well supported…His call for dietary ‘advice that is based on rigorous science, not century-old preconceptions about the penalties of gluttony and sloth,’ is bound to be echoed loudly by many readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Given America’s current obsession with these issues, Taubes’ challenge to current nutritional conventional wisdom will generate heated controversy and create popular demand for this deeply researched and equally deeply engaging treatise.”—Booklist

Gary Taubes is a contributing correspondent for Science magazine and a contributing editor at Technology Review. He has written about science, medicine, and health for Science, Discover, the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Fortune, Forbes, and GQ. His articles have appeared in The Best American Science Writing three times. He has won three Science in Society Journalism Awards, given by the National Association of Science Writers—the only print journalist so recognized—as well as awards from the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society. His book Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He was educated at Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia.