When the weather was good, I would take the cross-town bus to spend the entire day reading every diet book collected in New York Academy of Medicine’s extensive collection of cookbooks. (The first diet book ever written, William Banting’s Letter On Corpulence is included in this book.)

I wrote the book at a Catskill Mountain summer retreat where my then husband, two friends and I rented cabins. During the week, I had the solitude to write because the trio, who had great show-biz jobs in the city, arrived on Friday and left on Sunday.

The four of us took long walks past an abandoned blueberry farm (I even made a blueberry pie), went to the harness horse races and frequented a favorite, local restaurant. We also read a lot and played highly competitive poker games.

THE Diet Book is a history of diet, and in my research through the years, it became evident that – although there are hundreds of diets from which to choose (many diets have become popular) – once one looks at the eating plans, there are really only two diets – a low-calorie diet and a low-carbohydrate diet.

For example, the South Beach way is low-carbo and the Beverly Hills way is low-calorie. (Judy Mazel who created the Beverly Hills Diet in 1981 died in 2007, at 63, of peripheral vascular disease.) Does anyone remember the Scarsdale way? Low in calories and carbos, Dr. Herman Tarnower’s The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet was published in 1979. The plan is Spartan: daily breakfast is ½ grapefruit, one slice of protein bread, no spread and coffee or tea. In March of 1980, Dr. Tarnower’s long-time lover, Jean Harris shot and killed him. The joke was Mrs. Harris killed him because the diet didn’t work. The diet promises a 20 pound-loss in 14 days of 700 calories a day.

From an article in the LA Times: “Here’s the latest diet advice, hot off the presses. Eat less fat. No, eat more protein. And if your ring finger is longer than your index finger, you might also want to avoid tomatoes. Don’t forget to write in your journal every morning. And clean out your refrigerator every week.”

An interesting diet is Dr. Barry Sears Zone Diet. Covering all bases, it’s low in everything - protein, carbos and fat. “Enter the zone and you’ll achieve hormonal balance.” Dr. Sears delivers food to your door and sells “dietary” supplements.