The shame about David Servan-Schreiber's book "Anticancer" is that if you don't have cancer, you're unlikely to read it.

It's a shame because the book's recommendations for lifestyle changes apply to everyone, whether you're battling cancer or not.

Besides, everyone has cancer cells and everyone is bombarded with carcinogenes, so it behooves us to do all we can to protect our health in the face of these internal and external threats.

Servan-Schreiber covers an enormous amount of ground in 220 pages, dispensing advice in the areas of diet, meditation, spirituality, exercise, and even cell phone use (thank you, Devra Davis).

But only on the topic of diet and nutrition does he really go into depth, and here even people well-read on the topic might learn a thing or two. For instance, did you know that cooked tomatoes offer more lycopene, especially when they're cooked in olive oil?

"Anticancer," though, is mainly a repackaging and compiling of some of the most common-sense ideas out there.

Unfortunately, most people never stop to consider these ideas, which explains why we have epidemics of cancer, diabetes and obesity in our country, not to mention of personal and family dysfunction.