Search the Site

Posts Tagged ‘Seth roberts’

Seth Roberts R.I.P

Last week, Levitt eulogized Gary Becker, who died at age 83. After bringing an entirely new set of ideas to his discipline, for which he was occasionally ridiculed or marginalized, Becker was ultimately rewarded with nearly universal acclaim (and a Nobel Prize).

A couple weeks earlier, Seth Roberts died. He too brought an entirely new set of ideas to his discipline — he was a psychologist who delighted in self-experimentation — for which he too was occasionally ridiculed or marginalized. He didn’t receive the universal acclaim Becker did, and Seth died far too young, in his early sixties.

But Seth had a huge impact on the people who were lucky enough to know his work or, even better, know him. Levitt and I wrote about him back in 2005, taken by the diligence and creativity with which be tackled topics like diet, personal health, sleep, and even acne.


Score a Point for Seth Roberts and the Shangri-La Diet

Earlier this week, we linked to a news article about a medical study finding that rats gained about the same amount of weight (80 grams, versus 72 grams on average) when they ate saccharine sweetened yogurt as when they ate yogurt sweetened with glucose. In both cases, the rats ate the yogurt in addition to their regular food. If I . . .


Freakonomics in the Times Magazine: The Stomach-Surgery Conundrum

Read the Column » For their Nov. 18, 2007, “Freakonomics” column, Dubner and Levitt revisit a favorite topic: unconventional weight loss. In September 2005, they wrote about Seth Roberts, who shed 40 pounds with a diet he crafted through years of meticulous self-experimentation. This week’s column digs into the risks and benefits of using surgery to combat obesity. This blog . . .


Another Supply-and-Demand Obesity Explanation

It is hard to tune out all the talk about obesity in this country. In the past, such talk has led me to ponder how serious the problem really is, how obesity is measured, etc. It has even led to the suggestion that higher oil prices may help curtail U.S. obesity. Now here is a new working paper called “Why . . .


Al Gore Blames the Media for Global-Warming Inaction

Here’s what he had to say. I would argue that he is, um, wrong. Anyone who can say with a straight face that the mainstream media’s portrayal of global warming has been overly skeptical deserves — well, an Oscar. P.S.: David Remnick wrote a very interesting essay on Gore in this week’s New Yorker (and his long Gore profile from . . .


Does Omega-3 Work Miracles?

About twice a year I go on a health kick that lasts a few weeks. Typically this involves going for one-mile runs two or three times, doing as many push-ups as I can (about eight) every night, increasing the fiber in my diet, ramping up my carrot juice consumption, and taking whatever health pill is currently in vogue. I’m right . . .


Does Obesity Kill?

There is so much noise these days about obesity that it can be hard to figure out what’s important about the issue and what’s not. To try to keep track, I sometimes divide the obesity issue into three questions. 1. Why has the U.S. obesity rate risen so much? Many, many answers to this question have been offered, most of . . .


The Monkey Chow Diet

We wrote about Seth Roberts’ Shangri-La Diet in the New York Times last summer, which he has since turned into a best-selling book. Seth’s research suggested that the key to weight control was consuming flavorless calories. Adam Scott has a new diet idea: Monkey Chow. For the next week, he plans an experiment in which he consumes only Monkey Chow. . . .


Friends in High Places

As of the last few days, the friends of Freakonomics are dominating the best seller list at Amazon. The number one book is by Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz. Michael Roizen used to own the house Levitt now lives in and was a doctor at the University of Chicago; Mehmet Oz is a longtime friend of Dubner. The number three . . .


The Shangri-La Diet, Between Hard Covers

Way back when, we wrote about the Berkeley psychology Seth Roberts and his yen for self-experimentation in the realms of mood, sleep, and especially weight control. Because there was such an intense interest in his work, we asked him to guest-blog on this site, which he did, for several days. (If you want to read a complete record of Seth . . .


Shangri-La Diet, Revisited

Stephen Dubner was on Good Morning America this morning to talk about Seth Roberts, self-experimentation, and the Shangri-La Diet. Those of you seeking more information can read the original Times column here, background info here, and Roberts’s own contributions to the Freakonomics blog here and here and here and here and here and here. If you’re seeking full diet instructions, . . .


Even Levitt Wouldn’t Have Proposed This Crime-Fighting Measure

The official murder rate in New Orleans has dropped to zero. The last recorded murder in the city occurred on Aug. 27, two days before Hurricane Katrina. It seems that Katrina, along with ruining a few hundred thousand lives, also dispatched most of the criminals, particularly the drug dealers and their customers. As N.O. criminologist Peter Scharf told the New . . .


Seth (Diet-and-Acne-Guy) Roberts

The Berkeley psychologist Seth Roberts was good enough to guest-blog here all last week. A lot of people still have questions for him. He can be reached at shangriladiet@gmail.com; you can also click here to read about his research.


Final Guest-Blog From Seth Roberts

Here is the final post from our guest blogger, Seth Roberts. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, acne, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here, here, here, here, and here for his earlier blog . . .


Seth Roberts, Guest Blogger: Finale?

Here is the latest (and maybe final) post from our guest blogger, Seth Roberts. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, acne, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here, here, here, and here for his . . .


Seth Roberts on Acne: Guest Blog, Pt. IV

Here is the latest post from our guest blogger, Seth Roberts. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here, here, and here for his earlier blog postings. GUEST BLOGGER: . . .


Seth Roberts, Guest Blogger (Part III)

Here’s a third post from our guest blogger, Seth Roberts, a psychology professor at Berkeley and, apparently, the next American diet guru. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), here . . .


Seth Roberts, Guest Blogger (Part II)

Here’s another post from Seth Roberts, our guest blogger. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about Seth), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here (for Seth’s first guest-blog, including comments and questions). GUEST BLOGGER: Dietary Non-Advice . . .


Meet Our Guest Blogger

In yesterday’s New York Times Magazine, we wrote about a Berkeley psychology professor, Seth Roberts, whose intriguing history of self-experimentation has led to, among other things, a very interesting new diet. Click here to read the article and here for some extras, including Seth’s academic papers, photos, etc. Because there has been great interest in the article, we asked Seth . . .


Freakonomics in the Times Magazine: Does the Truth Lie Within?

The September 11, 2005, Freakonomics column concerns Seth Roberts, a Berkeley psychologist whose very long and frequently strange history of self-experimentation has led to, among other things, a revolutionary new diet. This blog post supplies additional research material.


Freakonomics in the N.Y. Times: The Shangri-La Diet

Our latest New York Times Magazine column, to be published on Sun., Sept. 11, explores the work of Seth Roberts, a Berkeley psychologist who has used self-experimentation to arrive at, among other things, a diet that may prove revolutionary. Or at least very entertaining. Here is some additional information about Roberts and his work. I first learned of Roberts from . . .