America is fixated on health. When we’re not downing a supersize meal, we spend a lot of our time focusing on health issues. To prove my point, just tune into daytime television, scan the bestselling books, or look at a magazine rack. Or google how many gyms are in your hometown. For that matter, just walk into any store — virtually any — and check out how many products are marketed as being good for your body.

So I have a confession. I’m bored by it all. Health issues have never interested me much, and my natural anti-trendiness makes me resist all of the hype. The End of Illness makes me rethink that attitude. What I liked about the book was the way he tried to think about our health as a whole system. It’s not just my cholesterol levels or my weight, it’s about the entire complex mix of things.

I appreciate the counterintuitive ideas that Agus presents. He’s an odd blend of holistic adherent and traditional doctor. His ideas about vitamins and supplements (worthless), statins (great), frozen food (probably better for you than most “fresh” food), and juicing (worthless) are examples of opinions that will outrage a lot of fanatical health freaks.

Not that I believe everything in this book. I’m sure that the rapid expansion of knowledge in this field is going to make us rethink all kinds of things in the years to come. What we consider “conventional wisdom” today is going to be challenged.

But for now, this was an interesting book. For a health book.

Here’s the video interview if you are interested: