Stephen Arlin | Fouad Dini | David Wolfe | R.C. Dini | Marc Wolfe | Ken Seaney
1 Yes, Cooked Food Is Poison, We Get The Point
This book was great. And then you reach the end of every chapter to see the line "Cooked food is poison." REALLY ANNOYING! So, I was so annoyed by the repeated ANNOYING "Cooked food is poison" that I didn't even read 1/3 of the book.
2 A little long on rhetoric... but sound thinking.
I found the author's style a bit daunting at first. They are so darned certain!! They are young, male and there are three of them... It is to be expected they would be assertive of their opinions. In addition, I entertained an idea, at the point of almost giving up - that perhaps what was giving this book a hard time in my mind was my cooked mentality, not the authors' attitude. I might be just as confident were I raw as long as they. I finished the rest of the book slowly and with careful thought.
I am embarking on 100% raw now because I read this book. I particularly liked Appendix C.
I have been blinded by science often in the past, they simply say it in every way a person can understand why raw food is superior nourishment for all creaturekind. Especially humankind.
3 Work of Plagiarism
Nature's First Law is a mockery. The original work. Raw Eating by A.T. Hovanessian, was stolen, reworded, and repackaged as Nature's First Law with no acknowledgment to the original author who was imprisoned and probably killled for speaking his mind in Iran. To think in this day and age that we would allow these men to build a successful business on a lie of this magnitude and to allow several follow-up additions to be made without prosecution is beyond me. Here a man rots in prison for writing a great book while three nobody's steal his work, use their names and build a business. Not only is this plagiarism but downright disrepect for a tortured soul. Do not buy this book. Instead, get the original and make sure you send NFL a message afterward and let them know you know about the lie and will not buy Mr. Hovanessian's book with their name on it!
4 don't waist your money
I am into the raw foods diet, have never felt better in my life, but I think this book is pretty useless. Just babbles on and on, with occational bits of helpful info.. I also don't care for the fanatical style of writing.
5 Where's the Science?
This is a book of rabid propaganda to scare people into eating raw, and buying over priced items at the authors' web based business.
If, you are interested in raw foodism, and want a workable set of books that can give you an introduction, and road map into the world of raw foodism, please read Norman Walker's series of books on the subject. They are, while not backed up by "hard science", very good at helping the reader along this path.
This book is opinion based, scientifically lacking. In fact, I believe someday, science will prove the validity of the raw food diet. But it won't happen by the evidence presented in this book.
6 Great cover, bad tone.
This book is not nearly as good as David Wolfe's two other books, "Sunfood Diet Success System" or "Eating for Beauty." The tone of the book is too harsh and was a bore to read. There are much better raw food books out there.
7 Blatantly plagiarized!!!
"Nature's First Law: The Raw Food Diet" was blatantly (mostly, word for word) plagiarized from the classic book "Raw Eating" by Arshavir Ter Hovannessian. In fact, the trio is the foremost authority on plagiarism in the raw food movement and their website is censored. This involves the deletion of any mention of their acts of plagiarism, which occurred more than once. The classic original has been recently reprinted. Get the original, instead.
8 Good, but dogmatic
This book takes no prisoners. The message is clear: "Eat raw or die, cooked food is poison". This message is pounded into you with each chapter. I would have like a bit more variety in the topics and considerably more science to back up the claims for raw foodism. I would also like to have some research on raw animal foods, which can certainly supply deficits in the raw vegan diet (i.e. vitamins B12,D). Having adopted a raw diet myself to lose weight, I have to agree with the authors that one can pretty much eat any raw foods as desired and still loose weight. I eat at will including such "forbidden foods" as avocado & coconut oil and still lose weight every week, which is something I need to continue doing until I reach a good weight. I feel better than I ever have. This book may sound awfully dogmatic in places, but it will help you if your quest is to eat raw. Read it.
9 Message Has Potential, Delivered In More Convincing Format
These guys seem to revel in their cocky, arrogant, overgrown frat-boy style, which could easily turn off people who otherwise might be receptive to some of their ideas. Many of their basic ideas seem intuitively to have some merit, but they go overboard with claims that are unsubstantiated by anything except the relatively short-term personal experiences of the authors, whom for all we know, were genetically predisposed to healthfulness. Even something as little as "before and after" pictures and/or medical data of the authors would be a step towards at least providing SOME objective evidence. At least the cover photo of the three of them hanging naked in an avocado tree is a tip-off that these guys perhaps don't take themselves as seriously as their often didactic tone might otherwise suggest, so I suspect that much of their harangue is delivered tongue in cheek. Needs to be longer on evidence and shorter on arrogance, though, to convince people, otherwise their audience will be limited to very few beyond the desperate and the already-converted.
10 Messed up on this one`
I thought this might be an anti-oxidant diet, but it is not.
Subject matter was not for me, but if you are a health nut, I'm sure this is for you.
11 HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!
Could this book be anymore poorly written?! It is basically a collection of the author's passionate opinions. There are no facts or even decent arguements for their views. Throughout the entire book they tell you what they believe and that they are right, no doubt about it. It is so sad that they wasted so much time and energy writing this horrible book. The saddest part is that it has potentially good information in it, but the authors' writing styles ruin it.
While reading the book I kept asking myself. "Hmm, are these guys really horrible authors or is this what happens to your brain when you start eating a raw diet?"
Please, don't waste your money!!!
12 Good Message....Bad Pathway.
I feel that this book encourages a good thing, the raw vegan diet. I feel though that these men exaggerate truth even lie in some instances. I feel this book is a way for them to profit from their business. I would recommend looking for other authors.
13 Motivational, but in a cult sort of way
The Raw Food Diet. It's a very controversial diet. Why? David Wolfe, Stephen Arlin, and the other Nature's First Law guys.
God's diet shouldn't be controversial. I agree with what the authors are saying, but they say it in a way that makes you dislike them. Drilling the message into your head like a drill sergeant that "Cooked Food is Poison" might do it for some, but not for me. To me, these guys approach raw foodism as if it's a cult following. Kind of like, "Hey, jump on OUR bandwagon and live right. Everyone else is living wrong." They poke fun at every single diet on the planet, even vegans, who don't even eat animal products.
The abrasive way they deliver their message is unique, but it didn't do it for me. Give me scientific data, not catch phrases and slogans. Give me SOME science at all, not what is 'believed' to be the truth. Do raw foods energize? No doubt they do. Is everyone who eats processed, devitalized foods poisoning themselves? Yes, they are. But are the ones who eat wholesome nutritious foods, mostly vegan, poisoning themselves? No. Poison is a harsh word. Raw foodists can "poison" themselves even worse by overeating on sweet fruit, nuts, seeds, and aggravating a vata condition with the dieuretic action of the sweet fruits. This isn't mentioned in this rah-rah book.
All in all, not a very good intro to raw foodism. This diet is not a cult. It's a healthy way of life, but you must know how to do it properly. For this, I recommend "Conscious Eating" by Gabriel Cousens.
14 Great motivational ... for those who want to go RAW!
Yes this book is in-your-face and somewhat biased, but that is what the authors intended. So if you can handle radical life changing ideas or just need a motivational [push] to go more RAW this book is for you. Otherwise, if you are new to Raw and Living foods or are easily offended by strong views then first read the "Sunfood Diet Success System" by David Wolfe which is hands down the best single rawfoods book out there. IMHO :^)
15 Where did they get their information?
When you write a non-fiction book, you are supposed to include references. This book has very, very few. Some of the so-called "references" shouldn't even be included. Here's an example of a reference from Appendix C of the book: "The reason scientists do experiments on animals is because cooked-food addiction has severely clouded everyone's mind. They cannot think for themselves. They cannot see reality, so they need their proof demonstrated to them by torturing defenseless creatures(p.206)." The entire book consists of this type of emotionally charged but scientifically unsound propaganda.
It's a shame, because I really believe that eating a raw food diet is one of the most healing things you can do for your body. But this book doesn't focus on the positive aspects of eating raw fruits and vegetables nearly as much as it does with statements like "dead, cooked corpses are the sources of unnatural diseases (p.19)."
16 INSPIRATIONAL
Nature's First Law:The Raw Food Diet is an extremely insperational book when I first read it, it was so intense for me especially the last few pages with all the facts listed about diseases and animal slaughter that eveytime I read a page I had to put the book down and walk around my house because the information was so powerful I had to let it sink in. For a book like this a person has to be open minded if they are not then they might find it ofensive but what is more ofensive slaughtering millions of animals and killing yourself or reading a book that tells you how it is. People are so used to hearing lies that when they hear the truth they get ofended.
I highly recommend this book for people who want to accomplish something better with their life, if you want to transform yourself into a incredible being. Then this book is for you. Also read Sun-Food diet and Raw Power. Support vegan and raw foodist organization so that there will be more of them in this crazy wicked world. Lets join together to makes this place a better safer and happier place. Yahwa bless you all. And best wishes on your new road.
17 What a rip-off
This book is a blatant rip-off of Aterhov's "Raw Eating". They took Aterhov's work and reworded everything. Sad...
Unfortunately Aterhov's is out of print...
"Nature's First Law" is still a good book, but only cuz it's a rip off of a classic.
18 An in-your-face approach to raw-foodism
The three authors make it a point in getting across their beliefs on raw-foodism. Yet, their way of doing it is very harsh. They tell it like it is. It's all or nothing for these guys. I wouldn't recommend this as your first raw-food book. My first impression of the book was a bit cult-ish. They end every chapter with the sentence, "Cooked food is poison" They want to hammer it into your brain. Start out with "The Raw Life" and "The Sunfood Diet Success System", then you should be able to handle this book.
19 Not the best approach
I have been gradually transitioning to a raw-foods diet (I have been vegetarian for a little over two years), so I have been reading a ton of books on the subject. It's a good thing that this was not the first one I read. It's a shame that the authors, while being highly motivated and passionate about a raw-food diet, have chosen to advocate the subject in such an in-your-face, absolutist manner. It's really a turn-off. They have taken stances that are easily supported by documented facts, but instead of supporting them with facts, they choose to make raw-foodism sound like a religion. It's not a religion, it's just a way of eating. I'm sure their approach is a turn-on for some people, so perhaps it's good that a book like this exists for those people who need to hear the message this way.
That said, I'd avoid this book until you've read some more sane and well documented books like Dr. Norman Walker's "Enzyme Nutrition," which is the most scientific and documented of all the literature on the subject. Other good books are Ann Wigmore's wheatgrass book and some of her other books; any of the books by Steve Myerowitz; and the "How I Conquered Cancer Naturally" book. I have also heard that two books called "The Raw Life" and "Blatant Raw-Foodist Propaganda" are good. The Natural Hygiene literature is generally very good as well. Take advantage of all the raw food related web sites out there.
Sorry to diverge from the review, but after getting off coffee, soda, aspartame, refined sugar, and other obvious evils, I have been increasing the raw food in my diet gradually to the point where my diet is 80-95% raw most days. The results have been incredible. I feel amazing (everyone always says that, but it's true) and the pounds are just falling off. I don't feel deprived at all, and eating takes on a new meaning when you can feel the food nourishing your body in a way that cooked food never did. You owe it to yourself to try this, especially if you are infirm or overweight in any way. Take it one step at a time. No need to switch 100% your first day.
20 Plagarism of "Raw Eating" by Aterhov
This book is to a large extent a plagarism of a book called "Raw Eating", that was written in the 60's by A. T. Hovannessian (Aterhov). Some sections of the book are copied almost word for word. They have added a few ideas of there own but most of their ideas are stolen. However both books are a must read for those with an interest in raw food. The scientific facts in both should be taken with a grain of salt, there is no supportive documentation. Read both books and find out how much of NFL is ripped off from the original.
21 Angry Tone
I bought this book thinking it will further educate me to the positive effects of eating raw. Continuously, angry adoloscent communication is portrayed throughout the book. I feel the book was written to offend, criticize and judge those who do not hold the belief that the body can heal itself by eating raw food. I was looking for a more mature book from authors like Ann Wigmore;Leslie and Susannah Kenton-Raw Energy; Norman Walker; Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. I wanted actual information on the positive effects that transpire in the body not judgements on those that aren't interested in better health through a raw diet. There are positive important facts given in the back of the book that will open your eyes to our food and our health.
22 Turned Off
I found out that raw foods are a godsend for health and well-being. No thanks to NFL.
I found the book to be offensive, fanatical in tone, filled with errors (raw fruit juice as good as mother's milk? Puhleeze.), and, frankly, offensive. Some of the statements made were so erroneous that I found myself yelling at the book while reading! The constant "cooked food is poison" diatribe throughout book was irritating.
There are many other wonderful books out there on raw food and changing your diet. Because this one was essentially useless and filled with incredible errors (too many to list here!), this is one I can't recommend. Try "Blatant Raw Food Propoganda." Or many of the "cook" books. You'll be much better served and your senses won't be offended by out-and-out falsehoods. If this was the only book available on raw food eating, I'd be living at Burger King.
23 Unscientific arguments are not motivational
I was already on a 100% raw food diet, and this book was almost offensive enough to convince me to go back to cooked food. Maybe some people find "cooked food is poison" repeated approximately 50 times to be a satisfactory argument, but I consider it to be wasted space in which they could have cited the actual science behind raw foodism. Instead, the authors' apparent science phobia leads them to such nonsensical reasoning as "no scientists have proven that viruses are alive, therefore they probably don't exist." (In case readers don't understand why this is nonsense, I'll cite an example: I have a computer in front of me. It has not been proven to be alive. Does it exist?) I sincerely hope that these authors consider taking an elementary science course (perhaps biology or chemistry) before writing their next book. They have a wonderful message, but books like this are the reason many people consider raw foodists to be maniacal zealots.
24 Raw Inspiration
This book was truly inspirational. The authors hold nothing back and write with raw enthusiasm as well as from genuine experience. It is exactly what turned some people off about this book which I found refreshing. This book is not meant to be another addition to the sea of existing material on the great philosophical debate about vegetarianism. It is not meant for contemplation. It is motivational and that is it's purpose. I had been a vegetarian for a long time and I had already become aware of and contemplated a raw food way of life, but this book gave me the motivation to take action. It is a button pusher but that is why it works.
25 CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
n.f.l.: the raw food diet is a direct transmission from the Mother funneled through 3 naked guys on the cover of the book. this book will change eveything about your life - if you allow. in the pages of this book the enlightened authors pinpoint the exact cause of all of (wo)mankind's problems(yes, i'm a raw foodist). all ecological, spiritual, personal, health, social, financial, etc. problems all have their root problem in the addictive, mind altering, consciousness blocking stimulation of cooked food. cooked food makes us sick and raw food makes us well. the author's have declared war on the cooked world and they will win. All the dedicated raw-foodists (myself included) know the truth in the words of these authors. try raw foods for 6 months and you will never eat cooked again. RAW IS LAW!
26 feeling so real
I am totally convinced that cooked food is unnatural. And that's understating it. We can max out our 401k and Roth IRA accounts, dump 10% of our paychecks into MSFT, CSCO, LU, KO, etc, attend college, but I think the best investment of all would be to purchase this book, and read with an open mind. You'll begin seeing clearly...
27 I laughed, I cried...
I must say I truly enjoyed reading Nature's First Law (NFL), a very cohesive philosophy book on the power of nature over man. My only problem is why bother? Do these guys think they can actually reverse thousands of years of our so called "addiction to cooked food"? There is no way in hell that cooked food will ever be against the law. The economy would collapse and it would mean the destruction of civilization the way we know it! Uh, oh, no more TV???? However, for anyone who enjoys learning something new that isn't taught in the classroom, NFL is the book to buy. Just don't try to convince anyone that these smart guys who wrote the book know what they are talking about, or you will have a very tough day ahead at school or work.
28 RAWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This book actually deserves a 6th star. Your personal ticket to EXCELLENT health lies within the pages of this book. The authors attempt to wake up a sleepy world with fantastic earth-shattering theories*, so hold on to your hat and enjoy the ride!
*Book contains many pregnant adjectives - not intended for the shallow-minded.
29 Eye-opening!
If one book could save the world, this is the book! Awesome knowledge presented by the authors.
30 if you want to be beaten with a banana, read this . . .
This book was my first foray into exploring raw foodism. By the end of the first chapter I felt somewhat shoved around. By the end of a couple of more chapters, I felt truly assaulted. When I finally gave up, I felt totally beaten up. I have no problem with the MESSAGE, but I have a BIG problem with the presentation. The tone is very militant. I felt like a chemical preservative in a pot of organic ingredients - not just worthless, but actually evil. The authors make unending references to the ignorant, flabby, waddling, public. They contend that ALL the ills of the world are caused by cooked food and that ALL of the ills of the world would be cured by a raw food diet. None of this is supported with any kind of evidence, either scientific or anecdotal. Neither is there any practical advice as to how to undertake this way of life. It's a 230-page diatribe against cooked food and the imbeciles who eat it. If you want a very readable introductory and non-abusive book about raw foodism, please read BLATANT RAW FOODIST PROPAGANDA by Joe Alexander. I ordered them both at the same time, and started reading Nature's First Law first. After feeling pummeled after the first few chapters, I switched to BLATANT RAW FOODIST PROPAGANDA and ended up reading it in its entirety. It is a wonderfully gentle and non-judgmental book that describes what raw food eating is all about. As a neophyte to this entire subject, I wish to thank Joe Alexander for his warm, welcoming, and educational introduction to the subject.
31 Very enthusiastic authors . . .
When I first tried to read this book last year, I was completely turned off by the over enthusiasm and over-the-edge rationale (they tend to use logic and then take the argument one step beyond logic). I have again picked up the book, and this time have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a great motivator, although I wasn't able to benefit from it until I had already decided that raw food was the way to go.
32 Best book I've read on the raw-food diet--period.
The authors are young, committed, and right on track. I've read many health books over the past 15 years, and this one outdistanced them all. I couldn't put it down!
If you've read the Diamonds, T. C. Fry, etc., then this is the book that will push you over the edge toward a new body.
These guys leave no stone unturned, no objection unanswered. If you want to get your heart and mind into a new way of eating and living, this is the book you've been waiting for! You'll be STUNNED with the breadth and depth of information and inspiration.
33 first step of visiting to health superhighway!!
NFL is loud enough to express the raw food diet message. But the weakest point of NFL was they didn't really tell you what & how to eat, just tell you to stay away from cooked foods. What they wrote were really true(even lacks of scientific proofs), but living in modern world is hard for us to do. Remember, don't change your eating habits unless you read more raw food diet books!! But anyway, NFL is highly recommended. You won't loss anything of reading it!!
34 Best book ever
The best book I ever read. Pure revelation. Paradigm shift that will affect the planet, its people and most the problems we experience here. Thank You David, R. C. and Stephen. Brent Hatcher Covina Ca.
35 This book makes no sense
Their arguments do not follow any logical patterns. They begin each argument against cooked foods with completely off-base premises and draw rationalized conclusions. The factual basis for the book is totally subjective and if the authors make any money it will be a crime.
36 Raw is Law!
I was skeptical about the ideas they present, and so I figured the only way to find out was to take thier advice and go raw for six months. Now I don't have headaches, I don't get sick, I don't yawn in class. I always have energy! My point is, they're right! Their approach is a little hardcore and may turn some readers off, but every claim they make about the benefits of a raw food diet is true. Use this book to inspire you to go raw for six months and you'll never go back!
37 best book of all times
this book really changed my life 3 naked guys in an avocado tree, what's so changing about that? well I would say not to judge this book by its cover...cause whats inside is truly lifechanging! Not only a book about nutrition but a whole new understanding of Nature an Humanity. What if the source of all human problems had been found? I encourage everyone to read this book an see if they can answer that question after that
38 "Nature's First Law..." must be read above all other books!
Book Review by John Machin "Nature's First Law: The Raw Food Diet" by Stephen Arlin, Fouad Dini, and David Wolfe. 232 pp. Large USA paperback.
Nature's First Law is the noisiest book you'll ever read: it's impossible to turn a page without hearing at least half a dozen gauntlets being thrown down. Nevertheless, the authors' message can be heard loud and clear. Arlin, Dini, and Wolfe are the militant tendency of the raw-food movement, and their uncompromising goal is the conversion of the world to a 100% raw diet - by law, if necessary, with the severest penalties for infringers.
Governments, MDs, food researchers, and manufactureres - each comes in for the special Nature's First Law brand of vituperation, expressed with virtually palable anger at the tragic waste cooked food has brought to a planet and its people.
"Driven by forces seeded in our blood", the authors challenge the establishment to abandon its alchemic experiments and test the efficacy of its medicines, vitamin pills, and putatively nourishing cooked meals against a simple regimen of suncooked plant food. Enlightened raw-foodists are beseeched to propagate news of the miraculous health and spiritual benefits of raw food, with a zeal which surpasses that of the most fervent evangelist: "We are," proclaim the authors, "super-heroes, and our job is to save lives."
Attacking head-on such provocative concepts as HIV, cancer, the "false body," and cooked-food addiction, Arlin, Dini, and Wolfe mince neither their food nor their words, delivering their arguments with metaphoric eloquence bordering on the poetic: "Today's youth has been weaned on the decadent nipple of television." Science, statistics, and history meld with innovative theories and noble philosophy in a coruscating swirl of fearlessly devastating prose.
Although the authors occasionally misstate inference as fact, and offer scant practical help on starting a raw-food diet, their unashamed enthusiasm, their unalloyed plain-speaking, their heady, soaring, glorious confidence make Nature's First Law an inspiring read for anyone with the guts to glimpse behind the veil of hypocrisy suffocating our so-called civilization.
This is, in short, an awesome work: buy it, read it - and thank God the authors are on our side.
