How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner Book

WHEN THIS DOCTOR TALKS, YOU SHOULD LISTEN.

Thousands of people make an early exit each year and arrive on medical examiner Jan Garavaglia’s table. What is particularly sad about this is that many of these deaths could easily have been prevented. Although Dr. Garavaglia, or Dr. G, as she’s known to many, could not tell these individuals how to avoid their fates, we can benefit from her experience and profound insight into the choices we make each day.

In How Not to Die, Dr. G acts as a medical detective to identify the often-unintentional ways we harm our bodies, then shows us how to use that information to live better and smarter. She provides startling tips on how to make wise choices so that we don’t have to see her, or someone like her, for a good, long time.

• In “Highway to the Morgue,” we learn the one commonsense safety tip that can prevent deadly accidents—and the reason you should never drive with the windows half open
• “Code Blue” teaches us how to increase our chances of leaving the hospital alive—and how to insist that everyone caring for you practice the easiest hygiene method around
• “Everyday Dangers” informs us why neat freaks live longer—and the best ways to stay safe in a car during a lightning storm

Using anecdotes from her cases and a liberal dose of humor, Dr. G gives us her prescription for living a healthier, better, longer life—and unlike many doctors’ orders, this one is surprisingly easy to follow.

Rachel M. Minkin - Library Journal

Mix consumer health information with reality television, and add a pinch of ickiness. The result is this surprisingly entertaining-albeit sometimes extremely graphic-informational work by Garavaglia, the star of the Discovery Health Channel's Dr. G: Medical Examiner. Garavaglia uses cases from her work to illustrate the results of dangerous or unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, drug use, unsafe driving practices, failure to see a doctor regularly, and not checking prescriptions. Invited to look over her shoulder, readers learn how to prevent ending up in her office too soon (e.g., avoid being overweight or too thin and don't drive with your window half down). Her advice is recapped in the appropriately titled epilog, "Lessons in How Not To Die." Because of the more graphic medical imagery, this is recommended for public libraries with consumer health collections as well as high school libraries open to scaring students into healthy behaviors. [See Prepub Alert, LJ6/15/08.]