This book is on weight loss, particularly the new glp-1 agonists like ozempic/wegovy, and the author’s experience with them. I read this book after hearing the author Johann Hari speak on the Modern Wisdom podcast. The podcast covers the content of the book pretty well, so you can get a taste for it by listening to that episode.
The author talks about his personal experience with obesity, his decision to take these drugs, and the implications of doing so. While he does take the drugs, he covers 12 different risk categories for doing so which I think provides a balanced view. Ultimately his conclusion after interviewing several doctors was that if your BMI is over 35 he thinks the benefits of losing weight would outweigh any potential downsides of the drugs, because we know how badly obesity is for almost every other health outcome. I am not a doctor and neither is the author, but I thought that was a pretty balanced take.
Unfortunately, and the author speaks on this too, I think a lot of people are going to take these drugs for vanity rather than health. If they become ubiquitous enough, it will become part of the annual routine for those with a few pounds to lose. Eat all fall/winter, get on the drugs in the spring so that you’re beach ready for summer. I think this is markedly different from someone who is very overweight and has tried to correct that for years or decades using these drugs as another weapon in their arsenal.