Book Nook: 'Forks Over Knives'

FORKS OVER KNIVES: The Plant-Based Way to Health, edited by Gene Stone. The Experiment, 214 pp., $13.95.

A companion to the recent documentary film, this book is an indictment not only of what's in our grocery stores -- but of who's watching it. "Who will protect the public?," scientists T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., M.D., write in their forward, referring to our obesity/diabetes epidemic. "Not our government": every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture publishes " . . . nutrition guidelines for the public touting food that will guarantee ill health for millions."

THE SCOOP This book, of course, is about eating plants -- "the more intact, the better." And its 125 recipes can help you do so -- without boredom.

THE BOTTOM LINE The title doesn't refer to mealtime implements. Instead, " . . . for health and healing, it is far better to rely on food (i.e., your fork) than surgery (i.e., the surgeon's knife).