Short review: A fascinating and detailed look at the controversies related to weight loss and nutrition science. This is not a diet book, but a science book.

Long review:
The book expands greatly on this NYTimes Magazine article, What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?, which Taubes wrote in 2002. His basic premise is that epidemiological studies of sufficiently large populations demonstrate that carbohydrates are primarily correlated with obesity, heart disease, and other similar chronic diseases, and that nutrition science (particularly diabetes research) turns that correlation into a causation.

The conclusions of the book (directly quoted):
1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.
2. The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis -- the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our health, weight and well-being.
3. Sugars -- sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup specifically -- are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates.
4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating and not sedentary behavior.
6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.
7. Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance-- a disequilibrium -- in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner with the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance.
8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated -- either chronically or after a meal-- we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.
9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.
10. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.

This is not a diet book (various diets are discussed within, however, although Atkins doesn't appear until near the end of the book), nor is it a popular-science book for the general public. Understanding the scientific method and some rather complicated details of human biology are key to reaching the conclusions presented above. Some of the biology was over my head; I plan to re-read the book while taking notes in order to try and figure it all out. Regardless, I was fairly convinced by Taubes's presentation of the controversies, methods, and experimental evidence. I do intend to read some of the arguments raised against his methods and conclusions, since this is a rather controversial subject.