The Great Starvation Experiment: Ancel Keys and the Men Who Starved for Science Paperback – 8 Jan. 2008

Yay! I finally found the perfect diet book! Look out world! I'm sure this will bring all the boys to the yard!

A really interesting story. It's a shame more people are not aware of it.

This is very engaging reading, portraying this unusual experiment - the prolonged semi-starvation of a group of men conducted in order to gain information about how best to rehabilitate starving nations - as the product of various sociological and historical factors. The book is not academic - the lack of sources and references, though clearly intentional, does leave you questioning how accurately fact is being interpreted, and how much improvised, especially when dialogue and people's thoughts and feelings are relayed. Instead, the text is an easy read which vividly illustrates the people and places which together make up this little known war story.Given the subject matter, there is little scientific data in the book, and that which is included is usually skimmed over, though the highly scientific nature of Ancel Keys - the showrunner of the experiment - is impressed upon the reader. Instead, this book provides a captivating picture of the experience of starvation as felt by the individual, and from this dissects the maze of moral questions raised by producing such experiences in the name of science.

In the final months of World War II, thirty-six Americans were held in a bunker hidden away from the public. They were systematically starved until they had lost a quarter of their weight. The men suffered a range of symptoms (aside from extreme weight loss) including incapacitating weakness and constant headaches. One man chopped off three of his fingers, desperate to escape the agony. The Americans were starved under the supervision of a doctor who was conducting an experiment.Sounds like a tale of Nazi atrocities, but Todd Tucker's Great Starvation Experiment is about a group of conscientious objectors who volunteered for this experiment, which was designed to learn how best to aid the recovery of starvation victims. The doctor in charge, Ancel Keys, later became famous for discovering the relationship between fatty diets and heart disease.In addition to covering the experiment itself, Tucker gives us a biography of Dr. Keys, a short history of the conscientious objector in America, and brings up a question of ethics in medicine. After the Nuremberg Trials, the Nuremberg Code was written, an international document detailing standards governing medical experimentation on humans. U.S. doctors refused to accept the code, claiming they were already bound by their own extremely high standards. Tucker presents evidence that not all American doctors felt bound by personal and professional ethics and conducted some rather alarming and harmful experiments on people, usually without their knowledge.The Great Starvation Experiment is readable and entertaining. It was so readable, with snippets of conversation and anecdotes, that I began to doubt its reliability. But the extensive bibliography, detailed notes, and many interviews convinced me that this is a complete and factual story of a little-known episode of the World War II homefront.

Wonderfully spun tale full of history, science and humanity. Thoroughly enjoyed it. As all good books, go, spurred my interest to learn more.A few times had me laughing out loud, believe it or not. I rarely do that reading a book.

This book is fantastic. I was expecting a dry, clinical analysis and was pleasantly surprised by how captivating this story was told in the book. It's written from the perspective of the participants (many of whom were actually interviewed) and that made for a very interesting read. Great book, highly recommend.

A very captivating and rich book about what actually happened during the year of Ancel Keys' famous starvation experiement and the context in which it was made.

Excellent book - It was certainly an eye opener to a lot tough times people in our world have gone through, including this experiment. All for the betterment of mankind. Highly recommend to anyone interest in the study that was done, but also to anyone who enjoys reading factual stories about people lives and a history not told to most.

Although not a book I would have personally chosen to read, I am very glad I did. Informative and interesting reading. I found it hard to put down.