The 4 Season Solution

A Groundbreaking New Plan for Feeling Better, Living Well, and Powering Down Our Always-On Lives

By: Dallas Hartwig

Narrated by: Dallas Hartwig

“A revolutionary new paradigm for better health, and a brilliant practical remedy for our current epidemics of stress, fatigue, and poor health” (Dr. Ranjan Chatterjee, bestselling author of How to Make Disease Disappear).

From the New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Whole30 and It Starts With Food comes a groundbreaking model for living in sync with the natural world. By making small but meaningful changes to the four keys of wellness—how you sleep, eat, move, and connect—over the course of the year, you will reclaim your health, regain your vitality, and let go of excess weight. But it doesn’t take 365 days to feel results—better sleep, more energy, and a brighter outlook come within just a few days of living seasonally.

It is time to reconnect with the natural rhythms that make our bodies healthy. At once a bold new philosophy and an accessible plan to live well all year long, The 4 Season Solution is “the answer to our stressful, unbalanced lives” (Robb Wolf, New York Times bestselling author) and a new health paradigm for an increasingly unhealthy world.

Changed my perspective completely

Other reviewers were way too critical of this book. I thought it was incredible, eye opening, and easy to listen to. I only wish there were more information on the principles of seasonal living beyond seasonal eating. Thank you, Dallas!

Powerful and Simple Concept

Really enjoyed Dallas’ perspective and I love how he made it simple and accessible. Simple doesn’t mean easy but it is achievable!

Inspiring

Dallas is truly an inspiring and motivational writer. I’ve read and completed It Starts With Food/Whole30 and this book is an excellent continuation of the philosophy. Listening to this book has put into words so many of the feelings and longings I have had recently in life. It’s come at the perfect time. I hope others find it as inspiring as I have!

could use a better more lively narrator

I've followed Dallas' work over the last decade and normally enjoy his approach. the most interesting chapter is chapter 7 and I will search for pdf online. the biggest issue i had was with his monotone sounding narration.

Decent Book

While the author offers an interesting theory on how to live healthier it remains a bit too subjective and high level. There should be a lot more references to research and findings.

Great concepts, poor execution

The notions of seasonality Hartwig presents are insightful and inspiring. Unfortunately, his book is marred by poor presentation. I think it might just be that he needed a better editor, but it reads a bit like a graduate student paper, super keen to please with artificially inflated vocabulary and rushed concepts. If you are an introspective, former body builder going through a divorce, this is the book for you. Otherwise, Hartwig fails to quite extrapolate his model. I have no doubt his research is sound and he clearly has wisdom to impart, but take, for example, his conclusion that he won’t dig too deeply into the winter season because he’s not there in his life yet and lacks appropriate role models. Um, research? This approach leaves me feeling he doesn’t know much about my life circumstances either because my life is so different from his, but that doesn’t mean his concepts don’t apply to me; he doesn’t successfully make this leap.

He also uses the clinical example model as numerous doctors do, but he undermines this story of “Kim” by telling you she’s made up and then revisiting her perfect progress as if it’s an attainable model. Maybe it is but he’s not actually providing anecdotal evidence so the approach is all wrong here. Tell us what her life could look like or tell us about another fake person but don’t draw on a tried and true patient profile and not actually have the patient or years of patients to support the model.

Also, there’s a gaping hole when it comes to a book on cyclical nature and female hormonal cycles get about two sentences (see instead Kate Northrup’s excellent work on this subject). More robust research here would help him shine.

Overall, I think this is a rough draft, rushed by publishers who knew they had a sure thing in a successful social media guru. It’s a pity because Hartwig clearly has more to offer; he just needs a better team to help him present his research and experience in a more accessible and applicable way. I think fans of W30 will buy this but it could benefit a much wider audience if refined into a better quality book.

One final note—there is a part I found offensive and it demonstrates a major problem with having authors read their own work instead of talented voice actors (whose profession it is to craft audio tracks that are easy to follow). He writes about those who complain about eating well being cost prohibitive but yet justify expenses like cable tv and leasing expensive cars. He’s on to a good point about subjective value. Then the next sentence is something like “there’s no judgement here.” And I had to laugh aloud. He reads the part about (those idiots) justifying cable tv and fancy cars oozing with sarcasm in the ultimate patronizing tone. You can practically hear him rolling his eyes. Maybe it’s just a failing as a voice artist, but, for me, it undermined his whole argument.

I think this is a well researched, helpful personal memoir gone wrong.