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

Jan Garavaglia, M.D.

Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale, Oct 14, 2008 - Health & Fitness - 288 pages

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.


From the Hardcover edition.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - R0BIN - LibraryThing

I enjoy Dr. G's TV show a lot but her book not as much. Her advice is mostly extremely naive. A whole bunch of people in this book died because they (or their doctors) did something stupid and you can't cure stupid.

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - enewt823 - LibraryThing

Dr. G's book on how not to end up as a visitor in her morgue. She uses case studies and actual incidents to stress how to avoid death by accident, abuse, bad decisions or plain stupidity. I found the ...

Contents

• Introduction Confessions of a Reallife Forensic Pathologist: 13
• Deadly Prescriptions: 39
• Code Blue: 59
• Highway to the Morgue: 83
• Dead Weight: 101
• Last Call: 121
• Dying to Get High: 141
• Risking Life and Lung: 161
• Everyday Dangers: 177
• Man 0h Man: 199
• Permanent Vacation: 215
• Longevity Rx: 233

About the author

JAN GARAVAGLIA, M.D., is the chief examiner for the District 9 Medical Examiner’s Office in Florida, presiding over 1,100 autopsies a year. She is also the host of Discovery Health channel’s top-rated series, Dr. G: Medical Examiner.


From the Hardcover edition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner
• Author: Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
• Publisher: Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale, 2008
• ISBN: 0307410293, 9780307410290
• Length: 288 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Medical (incl. Patients); Health & Fitness / Health Care Issues; Health & Fitness / Safety