Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight Loss Drugs by Johann Hari is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers.

The bestselling author of Lost Connections and Stolen Focus takes a revelatory look at the new drugs transforming weight loss as we know it – sharing his personal experience on Ozempic and examining our ability to heal 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 is likely to lose up to a quarter of their body weight in six months. To the drugs’ defenders, this 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 drugs’ 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 could be as transformative as the invention of the smartphone.

About the author

Johann Hari is the author of three New York Times bestselling books, and the Executive Producer of an Oscar-nominated movie and an eight-part TV series starring Samuel L Jackson. His books have been translated into 40 languages. He has written for some of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, the Spectator, Le Monde Diplomatique, the Sydney Morning Herald and Politico. He lives half the year in London, and spends the other half of the year traveling to research his books.

Categories International Non-fiction

Tags Johann Hari Jonathan Ball Publishers Magic Pill New books New releases