Eat This Book

infobox Book |
name = Eat This Book


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Ryan Nerz
cover_artist = Philip Pascuzzo
country = United States
language = English
subject = Competitive eating
publisher = St. Martin's Press
pub_date = April 2006
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = ix, 308 pp
isbn = 0-312-33968-2

"Eat This Book" is a book by Ryan Nerz which explores the world of competitive eating. Published by St. Martin's Press in 2006, "Eat This Book" provides a firsthand look into this sometimes controversial sport. Nerz, who spent a year as an emcee for the International Federation of Competitive Eating, has firsthand insight into the competitive eating phenomenon.

Reviews

Because Nerz's book was released in the same month as Jason Fagone's "Horsemen of the Esophagus", and since both books cover the sport of competitive eating, a number of published reviews covered both books together and drew comparisons between them.

The strongest criticism levelled at "Eat This Book" in reviews is that Nerz uses prose that is more sensational than objective. Jay Jennings describes Nerz as "more mythifier than journalist",cite news| author= Jay Jennings | date=2006-05-28 | title=Gluttons for Reward | work=The New York Times | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/books/review/28jennings.html?_r=1&oref=slogin | accessdate=2008-07-04 ] and "Booklist" critiqued his book as "basically a book-length infomercial for the organization and its most famous athletes."

Despite this negative criticism, other reviewers found the direct involvement by Nerz, and first-hand account of his own personal quest to become a competitive participant both absorbing and entertaining.cite web | year=2007 | month=February 20 | title= goodreads | url = http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/131245.Eat_This_Book_A_Year_of_Gorging_and_Glory_on_the_Competitive_Eating_Circuit | accessdate=2008-07-04 ] Jennings commends Nerz for presenting a broader cast of characters who participate in the sport, even though Nerz's book covers a narrower view of the sport than Fagone's "Horsemen of the Esophagus". Nerz was able to provide increased coverage of the competitors as a result of emceeing many contests, and therefore obtaining direct access to many competitors that Fagone did not have. The book's breadth of coverage, both in terms of contests arranged neatly by chapter and in terms of the number of competitors, was also noted positively in other reviews.cite web | year=2006 | month=April 4 | title= Eat This Book (Review) | work=Liz is working | url = http://www.urbanhonking.com/liz/2006/04/eat-this-book.html | accessdate=2008-07-04 ]

References