In works like "Awakenings" and "The Island of the Color Blind," neurologist Oliver Sacks showed how serious medical subjects could, in the right hands, be turned into a damn good read.
Blending science and medicine with storytelling is something that doctors (and twins) Bradley and Craig Willcox, along with cardiologist and geriatrician Makoto Suzuki, have succeeded in doing with "The Okinawa Diet Plan," a sequel to their best-selling "The Okinawan Program."
As we review what we already know about the Okinawan elders, the facts speak for themselves: While age-related diseases common to the West have not been eliminated, they have been kept to a minimum; older Okinawans have astonishingly clean arteries and low levels of cholesterol; breast, prostrate cancer, and heart disease are rarities.