Magic Pill

The bestselling author of Lost Connections and Stolen Focus offers a revelatory look at the new drugs transforming weight loss as we know it - from his personal experience on Ozempic to our ability to heal our society's dysfunctional relationship with food, weight and our bodies.

In January 2023, Johann Hari started to inject himself once a week with Ozempic, one of the new drugs that produces significant weight loss. He wasn't alone - some predictions suggest that in a few years, one in four of the British population will be taking these drugs. While around 80 per cent of diets fail, someone taking one of the new drugs will lose up to a quarter of their body weight in six months. To the drugs' defenders, here is a moment of liberation from a condition that massively increases your chances of diabetes, cancer and an early death.

Still, Hari was wildly conflicted. Can these drugs really be as good as they sound? Are they a magic solution - or a magical illusion? Finding the answer to this high-stakes question led him on a journey from Iceland to Minneapolis to Tokyo, and to interview the leading experts in the world on these issues. He found that along with the drug's massive benefits come twelve significant potential risks. He also learned that these drugs radically challenge what we think we know about shame, willpower and healing.

These drugs are about to change our world, for better and for worse. Everybody needs to understand how they work - scientifically, emotionally and culturally. Magic Pill is an essential guide to the revolution that has already begun - and which one leading expert argues will be as transformative as the invention of the smartphone.