Fat City is a vivid novel of allegiance and defeat, of the potent promise of the good life and the desperation and drink that waylay those whom it eludes. Stockton, California is the setting: the Lido Gym, the Hotel Coma, Main Street lunchrooms and dingy bars, days like long twilights in houses obscured by untrimmed shrubs and black walnut trees. When two men meet in the ring -- the retired boxer Billy Tully and the newcomer Ernie Munger - their brief bout sets into motion their hidden fates, initiating young Ernie into the company of men and luring Tully back into training. In a dispassionate and composed voice, Gardner narrates their swings of fortune, and the plodding optimism of their manager Ruben Luna, as he watches the most promising boys one by one succumb to some undefined weakness; still, "There was always someone who wanted to fight."

I ask a young 200 - kilo patient what he snacks on. ''Nothing,'' he says. I look him in the eye. Nothing? He nods. I ask him about his chronic skin infections, his diabetes. He tears up: ''I eat hot chips and fried dim sims and drink three bottles of Coke every afternoon. The truth is I'm addicted to eating. I'm addicted.'' He punches his thigh. In Fat City, Karen Hitchcock unpicks the idea of obesity as a disease. In a riveting blend of story and analysis, she explores chemistry, psychology and the impulse to excess to explain the West's growing obesity epidemic.

A fresh and innovative route to business and personal success - Polar Bear Pirates contains a whole new universe of characters and terminology that everyone will instantly recognize and relate to. Polar Bear Pirates, highly focused, successful, fun-loving people who truly believe in life before death, are on a quest to reach Fat City. But as we follow the fortunes of these highly motivated bears, we see how they must fight off some pretty ruthless and often highly elusive enemies - enemies who are determined to block their paths and shatter their dreams... Here's a brief sketch of just some of these treacherous characters... Sinkers...the bitter losers who, as disciples of the pear shape, despise anyone else's success and derive immense pleasure from torpedoing it... Head treads...those who block anyone coming up the success ladder; they are devoid of talent, having only got where they are through brown nosing, knife throwing and luck! Neg ferrets...the pessimistic warriors of doom with insatiable appetites for other people's problems... Molasses Man.. the sweet but slow, well-meaning people who are burdened by the beliefs of others... Bloaters...boasting, lazy, obnoxious and tediously egotistical reptilian saddos who are absolutely full of it! Written in the tradition of the bestselling, Who Moved My Cheese, Polar Bear Pirates is a uniquely entertaining and often hilarious look at business and personal development. A 'game book' of questions, answers, traps and signposts, this book delivers powerful, inspirational messages as it helps you to unravel a series of complex motivational issues on your journey to personal and professional success.

The diet and weight-loss industry is worth $66 billion – billion!! The estimated annual health care costs of obesity-related illness are 190 billion or nearly 21% of annual medical spending in the United States. But how did we get here? Is this a battle we can’t win? What changes need to be made in order to scale back the incidence of obesity in the US, and, indeed, around the world? Here, Jonathan Engel reviews the sources of the problem and offers the science behind our modern propensity toward obesity. He offers a plan for helping address the problem, but admits that it is, indeed, an uphill battle. Nevertheless, given the magnitude of the costs in years of life and vigor lost, it is a battle worth fighting. Fat Nation is a social history of obesity in the United States since the second World War. In confronting this familiar topic from a historical perspective, Jonathan Engel attempts to show that obesity is a symptom of complex changes that have transpired over the past half century to our food, our living habits, our life patterns, our built environments, and our social interactions. He offers readers solid grounding in the known science underlying obesity (genetic set points, complex endocrine feedback loops, neurochemical messengering) but then makes the novel argument that obesity is a result of the interaction of our genes with our environment. That is, our bodies have always been programmed to become obese, but until recently never had the opportunity to do so. Now, with cheap calories ubiquitous (particularly in the form of sucrose), unwalkable physical spaces, deteriorating rituals and norms surrounding eating, and the withering of cooking skills, nearly every American daily confronts the challenge of not putting on weight. Given the outcomes, though, for those who are obese, Engel encourages us to address the problems and offers suggestions to help remedy the problem.

From the founder of the Fat Girls Hiking community, this inclusive and inspiring guide to the great outdoors will inspire people of all body types, sizes, abilties, and backgrounds.

You know the type: the woman who won't shut up, who's too brazen, too opinionated - too much. She's the unruly woman, and she embodies one of the most provocative and powerful forms of womanhood today. In Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, popular BuzzFeed columnist Anne Helen Petersen examines this phenomenon, using the lens of 'unruliness' to discuss the ascension of pop culture powerhouses like Amy Schumer, Nicki Minaj, and Caitlyn Jenner, and why the public loves to love (and hate) these controversial figures.

From the creator of the hugely popular @thefatjewish Instagram comes an outlandish collection of hilarious personal essays and images, which might be the most ridiculous book in the history of arts and letters. If Steven Seagal and Barbara Streisand had drunken sex and conceived a baby boy, he would have show business chops and be proficient in martial arts. That boy would become Josh Ostrovsky, often known as "The Fat Jew." Born and bred in New York City, Ostrovsky's overbearing mother entered him into "the biz" as an 8-year old with exquisite cheekbones and the singing voice of an angel. He appeared in a plethora of television commercials, and after his child-acting career fizzled, Ostrovsky took 20 years away from the limelight to focus on finding himself, eventually opening a yoga center in Toronto, and receiving his MFA in pottery at Middlebury College. JK, he mostly just did drugs. But in 2009, when social media became a thing, he triumphantly returned to a life in the spotlight. He exfoliates daily, plays the harp, bakes his own croutons for every salad he eats, once saved a baby deer with a broken leg who had fallen into a stream, and speaks fluent Portuguese. With an army of followers on social media that often border on fanatical and creepy, he is a "rising" "star" whose backup plan is to marry Suri Cruise when she's of legal consenting age. Channeling the brilliance of his online presence, MONEY PIZZA RESPECT rolls out one ludicrous story after another-from puking on his grandfather after a debaucherous drunken night to saving his deaf neighbor from a burning building, to hiring prostitutes for the sole purpose of reenacting scenes from Mel Gibson's Braveheart. In this, the next milestone of his glorious life, Ostrovsky will attempt to reinvigorate the dying medium of books. Writer. Plus Size Model. Horseback riding enthusiast. Instagram Legend. Josh Ostrovsky: The Fat Jew.