This book was alright.

I appreciate the central message, that focusing on health would improve every part of our society - but I strongly disagree that the answer is “More government money”.

The government can’t make you healthy, that is up to you. Meili seems to think that all could be fixed if only the government spent our money “properly”. He fails to consider that government can’t possibly use money efficiently, and that cultural trends (including health) change DESPITE the government, not because of it.

Having said that, I still enjoyed a large part of this book. The fact that greater wealth in western countries means greater health is extremely important. For years I’ve said that improving our health and wealth are the primary ways to become freer and less dependent on the system, and this book backs up that idea. But I believe this is OUR responsibility to take our health and wealth seriously, and if the government attempts to do either for us, it will fail.

Many people seem to believe that more spending on health or education will make a difference- all we have to do is look at America to prove this isn’t true. The USA spends more money on both health and education and has far worse outcomes. The more the government is involved in any sector, the worse the outcomes.

I didn’t mean to turn this review into a rant, but this is an important discussion that should be held more widely. If people understood that PERSONAL wealth improves health, maybe we’d be willing to accept that responsibility instead of asking the government to do it for us.

There are probably better books on this subject. This author also believes the gov should fix climate change and invest in other silly things. He’s right about wealth improving health but the rest of the case here is rather disfigured.