You know how some books keep you fumbling for the next page, like a ravenous, impoverished college student with a box of pizza? Well this book is not in that category. Though if you can tolerate it for more than a few pages you may discover why junk food always manages to woo you so. But why don’t I save you time and tell you quickly right now?
In Saad’s eyes (I kid you not, that’s his name is Gad Saad), everything that we humans do is undoubtedly related to our Darwinian roots. This is a point he stresses and strains in a most laborious way throughout the 300+ pages of his book. Several thousand years ago, when food was scarce and there were no corner stores let alone any golden arches to be found anywhere on planet earth, the was a constant caloric scarcity and uncertainty. So we humans have evolved the urge to gorge ourselves on fatty, sugary foods. And allegedly have not been able to evolve past that stage.
The picture is perhaps the most alluring part of this book:
While the book contains a sprinkling of interesting content here and there, there are plenty of other books our there on similar subjects where the author does not come across as such a dogmatic and arrogant prat. To read more about such books, have a peek at Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behaviour.
Saadly, the writer lacks any great talent as a writer and preaches his alleged ‘facts’ in a one-sided, arbitrary way with all the zeal and none of the charisma of Benny Hin. At the end of it I was glad to plop it back into the community library from whence it came; it’s certainly not a book I would bother to pay for or give a home to on my hallowed bookshelves. Consume it at your own risk – but don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Rating: 2.5 stars
Sharp Summary: a rather dull read reminisce of a first-year Consumer Behavior Uni textbook (only more offensive), seductively and deceptively packaged up as a revelation of human nature.
