Last Updated: 05 Dec 96
"Nature's First Law", by Arlin, Dini, and Wolfe: A Book Review/Opnion
by Anonymous.------- legally important to label as opnion, as the
review is unfavorable.
The authors of this new book claim to have discovered that a raw foods diet is "Nature's First Law", which is also the title of the their book. The authors advocate a primarily fruit diet, although eating leaves and sprouts, in small quantities, is seen as acceptable also. The authors advocate eating one food at a time and object to fruit salad on the (bogus) claim that in nature, you will never find two different types of fruit trees growing next to each other! The claimed objective of the book is to convert people who are eating cooked foods, to a raw foods diet. However, as discused below, it is unlikely that the book will achieve that goal because of the negative, hostile tone of the book.
This new raw food book can be described as a fundamentalist approach to raw foods. The book has a strident, negative tone; the approach is narrow-minded, egotistical, macho, somewhat immature, and hostile to other viewpoints. Those who are established in raw foods will find little new factual information in the book. Those who are not raw fooders will likely be offended by the negative, judgemental tone. Indeed, the book is a gold mine of quotes that an anti-raw-foods critic could use, to support claims that raw fooders are crazy faddists. Brief quotes from the book follow, with comments. "Drug paraphernalis such as stoves, toasters, coffee machines, refrigerators, and ovens are futile relics of a dead age. Anyone who continues to cling to them are like poisoned maggots clinging to a cooked food corpse." (pg. 53) Comment: Comparing cooked food consumers to "poisoned maggots" - will that inspire them to convert to raw foods? Of course not!
"Raw-foodism...is an absolute prerequisite for any type of eugenics program." (pg. 112) Comment: eugenics was a major part of the Nazi program to develop a master race. Eugenics was a major part of the Nazi program to develop a master race. Eugenics, as applied to humans, is a discredited science.
"...cooked-food morons similarly attack the sugar content of fruit." (pg. 30) Comment: Brian Clement criticizes the high sugar content of fruit (hybrid fruit has 30 times the sugar of wild fruit), based on real experience with ill clients at Hippocrates Institute. Clement is certainly not a "cooked food moron", and his credibility is considerably higher than that of the authors of this book! "We give a clear signal to our enemies that we intend to be hostile. We give no quarter and show no mercy." (pg. 114) Comment: hostility is negative and is a very unhealthy emotion. What does this quote suggests about the mental health of the authors?
In this reviewer's opinion, the negativity of the book may provide an example of the phenomenon of raw fooders with clean bodies but toxic minds. Here clean refers to the physical purifying action of raw foods diets, while toxic minds refers to the hostility, negativity and egoism that are prevalent in the book. In conclusion, my evaluation is that this book is not worth your time or money.