Many publishers of medical, health and fitness books are reissuing them as e-books without requiring them to be updated.  This is a potentially dangerous practice that may sooner or later get a publisher or author in trouble.

Book contract boilerplate commonly has language warranting that the book does not contain any harmful formulas, recipes or instructions. At the time of the book’s original publication all medical claims should have been completely valid.  Yet there are innumerable examples of foods and medicines considered safe and efficacious ten or twenty years ago that turned out to be the very opposite after research upended assumptions or discredited earlier findings. Margarine once recommended as a substitute for butter was discovered to contain harmful trans-fats. Some artificial sweeteners that seemed like a perfectly safe alternative to sugar have come to be suspected of being potentially carcinogenic. A diet heavy in certain kinds of fish may now also be heavy in mercury, and even the popular food pyramid that dominated dietary thinking for decades was heavy in carbohydrates and a serious contributor to today’s obesity crisis and has been reformulated.

Assuming that the publishers of those older titles have the right to put them into e-book format, the easy option is to reprint the content in its original form.  I’m not a lawyer and can’t say whether or not a publisher incurs liability for reissuing a book that contains debunked information.  But that would not prevent an aggrieved plaintiff from making a claim that the publisher should have known better than to promote a food or drug demonstrated to have adverse health effects.

I can personally testify to several instances where a publisher, contemplating an e-book edition of an old health book, asked the author to revise it but offered no compensation. When the author said he or she would not or could not update the book without being paid, the publisher asserted its right to release the original  edition, putting itself and the author in legal jeopardy. This is a disservice to author and reader alike.

If medical information is stale or has been disproved it is the publisher’s obligation to pay for an update. If it can’t afford to do so, it should let the book go out of print and give the rights back to the author.

Richard Curtis

Natural Medicine For Weight Loss by Deborah Mitchell is an invaluable compendium of surprising and even amazing truths and fictions about weight loss.

Did you know for instance that the metabolic rate of two people of the same age, sex, and body type may vary as much as 20 percent? That most of the weight loss from popular high-protein diets is water, not fat? that your addiction to sugar can make it impossible for you to lose weight – unless you know the simple steps (and dietary supplements) for breaking it; That certain “thermogenic” agents can trigger the burning of body fat? That an herbal form of phen-fen is available without the health risks of the prescription drug? That lemon water or apple cider vinegar can reduce cravings? That self-administered acupressure can boost your metabolism – and reduce bloating?

All this and more in Natural Medicine for Weight Loss.

Buy it as an e-book and watch amazon.com for news of the print edition.

You can enjoy sex through midlife and well into your golden years. It’s all in Sensual Rejuvenation: Maintaining Sexual Vigor Through Midlife and Beyond by Judith Sachs. This unique guide provides important information on age-related changes in sexual function and offers a wide range of medical, holistic, and psychological tips and techniques that can relight your fire. Don’t miss… testosterone cream that restores a woman’s libido; zinc, the most important mineral for male potency, and all the must-have nutrients; the best herbal alternatives to Viagra; ways to fulfill sexual needs if there is illness or disability; stimulating exercises to make sex feel great.

Download Sensual Rejuvenation as an e-book, and watch amazon.com for the print edition.

After traveling the country and listening to women’s most common health problems, Dr. Marianne Legato, one of the nation’s leading advocates for women’s health, answers these common questions and more in What Women Need to Know. This revolutionary book teaches women how to ask their doctors the right questions and leave the office satisfied. Dr. Legato is also the author of The Female Heart, a book that dispels myths that heart disease is only a male problem. Her co-author on both books is Carol Colman, one of the country’s leading medical writers.

“[A] well-organized book that is authoritative without being authoritarian. Many women will especially welcome finding straightforward answers to questions they feel would seem too silly or too embarrassing to ask in person.”
-—Publishers Weekly

Are you embarrassed to ask your doctor certain questions? Even in this enlightened era, many patients feel uneasy discussing bodily functions, symptoms and diseases. Such qualms are not merely academic — they can lead to dire consequences in diagnosing and treating medical conditions.

After traveling the country and listening to women’s most common health problems, Dr. Marianne Legato, one of the nation’s leading advocates for women’s health and director of Columbia’s Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine, answers these common questions and more in What Women Need to Know. This revolutionary book teaches women how to ask their doctors the right questions and leave the office satisfied.

And take it from me, you don’t have to be female to benefit from Dr. Legato’s sage and practical advice.

- Richard Curtis