566 Book Reviews and the US and more recent industrializing ones like Korea, Taiwan, and China have employed a number of trade-distorting policies to nurture their nascent industries until they were internationally competitive. The middle section does not serve as a traditional literature review—George does not site all models/reports directly, but does note that at least some of them are published on the EC's website, ec. eurpopa.eu/trade/issues/global/sia/studies.htm. This section does, however, provide the reader—particularly researchers—with plenty of food for thought. Economic modelers expend considerable effort adding layers of complexity to their models (i.e., more countries, more sectors, vintages for physical capital, perfect foresight deci- sions, etc.). Such modelers also engage in a certain amount of chest thumping, claiming their “realistic” models are of greater policy import than simpler, stylized, more transparent models. Yet, given George's conclusions about the rather small sum of value such trade models have collectively uncovered, one wonders if such large- scale, integrated models are not really tools for policy advocacy rather than decision making. Also, given the importance for devel- opment in countries like the US and Korea of a “managed” approach to trade (a la Paul Krugman's New Trade Theory), further research focused on case studies on the effectiveness of specific policies would appear to be more fruitful than additional cross-country regressions aimed at evaluating the GDP contribution of various trade openness measures. With such a lofty and provocative title as The Truth About Trade, some readers may be disappointed that the book raises many more questions than it provides answers. Indeed, the book probably does not adequately address all the questions/issues introduced in the preface—although, there are some truly meaty questions presented, such as are poor countries poor because they trade too much rather than too little? (George is aware of the book's ultimately rather limited scope.) Furthermore, readers of this journal may not be wholly satisfied with the rather superficial treatment sustainability receives. Although each of the impacts assessment chapters contains a section summarizing the environmental impacts, the sections covering the impact on sustainable development are mostly another, briefer summary. Of course, George's analysis is ultimately constrained by the scope/content of the assessment models/reports he reviews. The so-called resource curse and trade in natural resources does elicit some discussion at the end of the second section. In fact, this is one of the few trade areas in which George is a proponent for the need of greater development in the trade regime. However, I was not convinced by his terse argument in favor of adding resource trade to the negotiating agenda— primarily because I am highly doubtful of the “resource curse.” (Consider any area in the world, with few exceptions, the wealthiest countries have the greatest natural endowments. The real issue is the great difference in wealth between North America, Europe, North/East Asia, and Oceania on one hand, and Africa, Latin America, and the Sub-continent/Central Asia on the other—a difference in which endowment is among the least important of numerous contributing factors.) Yet, that the further liberalization of trade rules, the negotia- tions such adjustments necessitate, and the efforts to further expand on computational economic models used in those negotia- tions are all of only marginal value is the book's powerful and important take-away point. It is a point that both modelers and consumers of models—like grant awarders—should be mindful. (Indeed, one wonders if models forecasting greenhouse gas emissions and climate change have not reached or are very near reaching a similar point of rapidly diminishing returns.) George encapsulates the lesson from his research as the “principle of subsidiarity,” i.e., that, in a world with countries diverse in climates, geographies, histories, and cultures, most things can and should be managed locally; only aspects like the global atmosphere and global biodiversity (and perhaps certain mineral resources) need to be managed globally. Brantley Liddle Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia E-mail address: btliddle@alum.mit.edu. 18 August 2010 doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.09.016 Globesity: A Planet Out of Control? Francis Delpeuch, Bernard Maire, Emmanuel Monnier, Michelle Holdsworth, 2009, Earthscan, London, UK and Sterling, VA, ISBN: 978-184407667-3, 180 pp. The book Globesity: A Planet Out of Control? is a collaborative effort, written by four people. Three of them are scholars of public health nutrition; Francis Delpeuch and Bernard Maire are Research Directors at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Human Nutrition, and Michelle Holdsworth is an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, UK. Those three academics team up with the scientific journalist Emmanuel Monnier. The authors highlight unsustainable consumer- ism in the presence of scarce resources as the bond between a double threat—the altering size and shape of our bodies and the changing quality of the natural environment. The majority of the book is devoted to a thorough description of the state and development of obesity. It covers academic research and anecdotal evidence from multiple disciplines. The authors' perspective is broad and does not leave any large stones unturned, focusing for example on countries at all levels of development and people in all age groups and walks of life. Those are tied together competently to construct a strong overview or synthesis of the state of affairs, somewhat like an impressionist painting of the pointil- listic style, where each point serves a purpose in the general picture. While other researchers could have used the available evidence to construct a different picture, for these authors it seems important to offer their overall vision of what the body of knowledge can really illustrate. This is certainly important for policy purposes. The authors' motive for writing the book is clearly based on a desire to communicate and disseminate health policy to a general readership and in that respect the book is successful. On the back of the cover, the target audience is described as being “general readers, health professionals, policy-makers and students alike”. Thus, it is of great importance that this book is well written: casual and fast-paced. This is, for sure, one of the qualities of the book and makes it a pleasure to read. Harmonizing easy-reading and interesting communication of information with clear expertise and know-how creates a complicated balancing act. This is probably the reason why scientists can be reluctant to offer their subjective insights. The authors of this book do not appear troubled by such concerns. Currently, people within the academic community often try to stay away from such subjective descriptions of obesity, for example avoiding describing the increase in the rate of obesity as an “epidemic”. One frequently notices in modern scholarship when an author notes that others “have even described this as an epidemic”, without revealing it as their own judgment—since they are clearly reluctant to do so. This disinclination is not the case with the narrative of Globesity. There is no shortage of words such as shocking, horror, panic, alarming, catastrophic, disturbing and tragic, words that to an academic audience would be