Irving Fisher's interest in public health was the result of a bout with
tuberculosis, after which he wrote "How to Live: Rules for Healthful
Living Based on Modern Science". In his foreword to the book, former
president and then-future Chief Justice William Howard Taft wrote that
there were many "considerations that have influenced me to cooperate
with the life extension movement, and to commend this volume to the
earnest consideration of all who desire authoritative guidance in
improving their own physical condition or in making effective the
knowledge now available for bringing health and happiness to our
people." To do that, the authors present chapters on the air, food,
poisons, activities, and general hygiene, followed by sections dealing
with being overweight or underweight, alcohol, posture, and tobacco --
and even how to avoid colds. Irving Fisher was a top American economist
in the early 20th century who earned the first Ph.D. in economics
awarded by Yale University, where he also taught political economy. He
was an accomplished mathematician and an engaging and talented writer on
even the most technical of subjects whose investigations ranged beyond
economics to encompass astronomy, health and hygiene, mechanics,
philosophy, poetry, science, and myriad public policy issues. Dr. Eugene
Lyman Fisk was the chairman of the Life Extension Institute, under whose
auspices this book was published.