Ah-Choo: The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold by Jennifer Ackerman (Book Review) + Giveaway

Goodbye summer, hello impending cold and flu season!

What better way to prepare yourself for the cold you will inevitably catch than by reading a whole 208-pages dedicated to none other than the cold itself. But fret not, Jennifer Ackerman's Ah-Choo: The Uncommon Life of your Common Cold makes the cold an engaging subject through the use of humor combined with statistics and scientifically based advice. Ackerman's writing style is understandable, easy to follow and focused on information that readers are likely to find interesting. The book doesn't read at all like those dreaded scientific papers we all remember from college biology, but more like an article from your favorite scientific mag... with some extra humor thrown in for good measure.

Ah-choo effectively explains what the cold is, summarizes the outcomes of various studies on the cold, explains how colds are spread, and pinpoints which treatments for colds are effective (chicken soup, fact or fiction?). While those many not sound like interesting topics to some of you, keep in mind that each American can catch up to 200 colds in a lifetime (statistic from the book jacket)- colds are significant! Personally, I found the book to be both entertaining and engaging. I think this would be a great read for any parent or science buff AND just about anyone who is "cold curious" in general!

From the Hachette website:

"Some colds are like mice, timid and annoying; others like dragons, accompanied by body aches and deep misery. In AH-CHOO!, Jennifer Ackerman explains what, exactly, a cold is, how it works, and whether it's really possible to "fight one off." Scientists call this the Golden Age of the Common Cold because Americans suffer up to a billion colds each year, resulting in 40 million days of missed work and school and 100 million doctor visits. They've also learned over the past decade much more about what cold viruses are, what they do to the human body, and how symptoms can be addressed. In this ode to the odious cold, Ackerman sifts through the chatter about treatments-what works, what doesn't, and what can't hurt. She dispels myths, such as susceptibility to colds reflects a weakened immune system. And she tracks current research, including work at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, a world-renowned center of cold research studies, where the search for a cure continues."

Hachette Book Group is generously offering THREE of my readers their very own hardcover copy of Ah-Choo: The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold (ARV $22.99)!

To enter all you need to do is: * Follow this blog via Google Friend Connect, RSS or via email (post your email address) and let me know which method you use to follow

For 1 extra entry each you can:
* Follow The Wide World Of via Twitter + tweet about the giveaway and leave a link to your tweet (you may tweet once per day)
* Post this giveaway in your blog and leave a link to your post

Please leave a separate comment for each entry! Also make sure to leave your contact info (email address, twitter ID, facebook link) in one of your comments OR have your email address visible in your profile.

This giveaway will end on September 26, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST. Open to US & Canadian readers only. Good luck!

Giveaway winners: Hannah, Cal, jhitomi