I received this book through the Early Reviewers Program, and although the main message is interesting and can do no harm: drink more water, eat more healthy and bio, it's not practical or cheap or easy... What should be eat/drink nowadays? Most nothing... Most of us are not lucky enugh to be able to live in the Nature like the author. But the ecologist message about such a precious and scarce and important resource as drinking water is timely and necessary.

Let'say I'll try to do it as much as I can, nobody lives forever however healthy one eats or however how much "alkaline" water one drinks.

That's another point: Should I buy ph strips and go measuring water, beverages, or buy a very expensive "ionizing" device...? That's not realistic... or very scientific.

It's also genetic background, I'm sure. Some people lead very helthy lifestyles (I try to) and however have poor health, and the contrary is true sometimes too.

Anyway, I give it three stars out of five because it can do no harm, and it can do good... if you stick to what the author says several times during the book: stick to the counsel of your health professional... ( )

Note: I received the book as part of 'LibraryThing Early Reviewers'.

The overall message of the book is to drink more water. Throughout the book, the author uses colorful and exciting descriptions to pass along questionable scientific facts. Before following or propagating any of the descriptive benefits of water, I would strongly recommend consulting a physician. Many of the statements in the book are questionable from a scientific standpoint. As a chemist, I am appalled that the author chose to state unfounded (scientifically) benefits or adverse effects regarding ‘acid’ or ‘basic’ states -- without a reference (footnote) to back up them up. These concepts along with the science in this book are highly questionable – which does not in any way make them correct. Books written with unfounded truths are the exact reason why as a society, ‘trends’ such as ‘alkaline diet’ or ‘alkaline water’ are held on by the public for so long. The human body is very good at managing the internal pH at any given time – without any outside influence. Be careful and consult your physician before trying to influence your body’s internal pH by external means – please. Although, as science progresses forward, these myths (largely contained in this book) will be debunked and new myths will arise. Overall, I would not recommend this book to anyone to read who is looking to improve their lifestyle.

Very very confused.

It's never a good sign when an author's name brandishes their pHd. It is a significant achievement, but those who are good don't need to flaunt it. I immediately wondered what subjects the pHd had been in, and (small bonus point) this was covered in the bio at the back - the author's field of expertise is sociology. This is not a good beginning for a book covering such a complex chemical and biological background as this attempts (poorly) to do.

The author appears to be very confused about basic chemical principles and utterly failed to understand how these underpin biology. The books consists of short choppy and uneven paragraphs that read as if the author has looked up a concept on wikipedia, then looked up all the words they didn't understand (nearly every one), then condensed the resulting confusion into a sentence, and added some personal comments biased by the concept of an "alkaline diet".

This is debunked in vast numbers of places around the web - https://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/coral2.html - is one of many. It doesn't make any sense, is totally contrary to all known understanding of basic physiology, and just wrong.

I have neither the time nor the patience to list all the errors present. They range from a failure to understand what an atom/molecule.ion is, how pH is measured (what pH is) - key concepts in a book covering alkalinity! - through to gross mis-characterisation of swathes of biology. Oh and alkaline lemons.

As a very small plus side, the author's confusion notwithstanding there a couple of true/useful comments. Drinking more water (which can be through water containing foods, as well as tea and other drinks, although "sodas" are not that great in other ways) than you currently do, is probably good for you in a variety of ways. There are many issues with contamination of groundwater. Environmental concerns effect not just our drinking waters but life as we know it. The author did include a disclaimer not to allow anything mentioned herein effect your relationship with your medical practitioner, and to refer to their guidance for diagnosis and treatment of all conditions, and before starting any diets.

Water (ubiquitous and humble thought it may be) is a remarkable molecule in many ways. The precise interplay of forces that control it's liquid structure through hydrogen bonds make it very unusual compared to similar liquids and these differences have profound effects on it's physics, the chemistry it can perform and the uses biology makes of it. As the author notes "Water is:
• a nutrient transport system
• an electrical message system
• an energy combustion system
• a waste disposal system
• a chemical conduit
• a lubricant
• a solvent
• a dilutor
• a dilator
• a coolant
• a latent heat bank
"
All of which are correct, at least in some circumstances. Sadly they fail to explore or explain or investigate any of them correctly, even within the limited remit of human biology. Which is a shame because if they had done so it could have been an interesting book.

Very poor. Do not read. ( )