Yeah, that's the second edition. The first edition (1972) was even more poorly written. I think the books are kind of sweet actual. People like Dr. Atkins are my heros. They've tried to get the word out against the tidal wave of voices of low-fat and low calorie. There were a few others in the 1960's, but Atkins is the one who's remembered. (One of the books back then was called The Drinking Man's Diet. ) One of the oldest that I know of was from th 1860's there in London - William Banting's Letter on Corpulence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Banting. He was the dieter, not the doctor.

You don't have to use the AS if you don't want to.

Cordain is a scientist. Atkins is not. I think that more than one clinician has found that what the researchers find in the lab doesn't work in the clinic. And researchers ignore the experience of clinicians at their peril.

Those of us who have struggled to follow traditional weight loss advice, only to find ourselves starving and weak on low calorie diets, then stumble on low carb and feel so much better and lose weight easily too, are just relieved that Dr. Atkins wrote his book and stood up to the bullies. Do you know they dragged him in front of a Congressional hearing to justify himself in the 1970's?

To me low carb diets are the equivalent of the anti-psychiatry approachs to sz. If a person recovers from sz and feels that sz was some kind of spiritual experience, maybe others can learn from his experience? Or should we roll our eyes and says, "But it's not scientific."

Yeah, his products are a separate issue. I never use them. His cookbooks are the same way. Half the recipes call for special Atkins products. Doesn't detract from the central message for me.