Slightly embarrassing to get caught with this one in public, yes, but for all us IBS queenies out there, the tracker and information provided in this was actually really useful for me! we also love normalisation of gut health, thanks for the validation and reassurance julia!!! <3

This is a fun, entertaining book which is practical and encouraging. Yup, poop is an unspoken taboo, and we don't discuss this. I'd like to say that the book is damn intimate and covers details about your poop like colour, texture, smell, consistency, frequency, etc.

It took some getting used to, but Blohberger and Neeter write beautifully, making the reader comfortable with this personal topic. There's a lot of good illustrations to help understand what is being referred to.

Why you should get this
-All about poop (TMI even)
-Understand if your pooping frequency is fine
-More on your digestion
-Bonus on farts and pee
-Tracker and notes section

Y'all there is nothing to be embarrassed about, go buy this book.

I honestly thought this was going to be a joke when I read it but it is full of practical advice for maintaining better overall health. Just like with our pets, gut and digestive health is so important. What comes out in the toilet is an indicator of our health and what needs to be improved or not. I actually learned quite a bit from this book about what you eat has a direct effect on the (un)ease of defecation.

I appreciate that the authors made this book fun to read.

Recommended for those wanting to improve health in all areas.

Thanks to NetGalley, Julia Blohberger, Roos Neeter and Quirk Books for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Already Available!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a NetGalley copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My overall rating for this book is 2.5/5 stars.

Overall, I found it quite informative and all the information was written in a simple, easy to interpret way. The authors of this book may it easy for the majority of people to consume this book due to its formatting and the phrasing of information to make it easy to understand. I really enjoyed the colourful format of this book and images included. Also, I liked the inclusion of a tracker that will make it easy for people to view and track their habits, not just with their poo but also their diet, stress level and alcohol intake. This could be really useful to a lot of people who like to track these things to promote their overall health.

However, I would have enjoyed this book more if the authors had included references and sources to back up the information that they are giving to the readers of their book. This would make it a lot more credible.

An easily digestible read. Good Sh!t does exactly what it says on the cover, breaks the taboo and focuses on the importance of digestive health. There was just the right balance of humour and quips, interspersed with practical guidance and evidence based science. I’m recommending to friends (and I might purchase a paper copy to keep in my bathroom!).

Yep. It’s a book about poop. Let’s just get that out of the way.

But hey, as someone in the wellness field who’s had a long history of chronic health issues and is nearing forty, I’ve gotta admit: nothing like a bit of tending to your digestive health to make life a bit more easeful and less frustrating!

This charming and irreverent little book makes the claim that “our gut health is the key to everything,” and aims to cut through the shame around waste in the name of encouraging us to, well, look at our bowel movements before we flush as a key to monitoring our health. And the authors, two Ayurveda instructors, do have a point. We can learn a lot from our stool about how our overall health is doing, but most of us don’t really know how to interpret what we’re seeing without a somewhat trepidatious Google search.

If you were raised in the culture I was, you’re definitely going to have a few fits of the giggles while reading this book. This seems appropriate, as apparently 95% of the serotonin we produce comes from the gut! “The perfect poop experience starts first thing in the morning, while you’re still in bed,” the section on “Poop Philosophy” begins, and I admittedly burst into laughter and shouted “I hope not!”

While that quotation is fortunately not to be taken literally, the authors do suggest that a healthy person should need to visit the toilet first thing in the morning, and that it should be a comfortable, mindful experience. (Sorry: no phones allowed.) Awareness is generally the name of the game here. If you’re not already paying close attention to your stool (I admit nothing) you’re encouraged, like any good experiment, to start by recording your baseline in the provided tracker alongside relevant variables.

You’ll take three weeks to “work through” the book, though you can certainly keep up the tracking longer if you like. It’s less of a comprehensive plan and more of a collection of suggestions both general and specific to what you learn while tracking your digestion. The authors provide various reference points that you can compare with your tracker to ascertain whether you should be digesting faster or slower, drinking more water, adjusting your diet, or concerned about a health issue. Journaling prompts are also included to help you work through your thoughts and feelings on the subject. As silly as it may seem, I like this inclusion given how powerful taboo can be and how equally powerful it can be to simply say or write something that you’ve felt to be shameful.

Given the Ayurvedic background, there’s an unsurprising focus on the concept of agni (typically translated as “digestive fire.”) To maintain a healthy fire, the authors share various habits you’ll already be familiar with if you’ve ever looked into Ayurvedic lifestyle recommendations: tongue scraping, self-massage with oil, practicing yoga asanas, drinking warm water in the morning, avoiding caffeine. Perhaps most helpful for those trying to cut a coffee habit is a list of foods to “get things going,” if you will, without it.

Recommendations are provided for how you should ideally sequence and combine your food, most of which was new to me. No more cashews as a bedtime snack, bummer! There are also remedies included for hangovers, improving mood, preventing constipation, and handling hard stool and gassiness emergencies.

As you may have guessed from the cutting-out-coffee tip, the path to getting your gut health back on track isn’t necessarily going to be easy. While some dietary changes might be fairly simple swaps, you’re also encouraged to eat without distractions and to go to bed before 10pm, which isn’t necessarily accessible for most. (I notice that the authors are European—perhaps they get actual lunch breaks!) But it’s all information.

And it’s not just about how easy it is to use the toilet—some of the recommended dietary guidance can improve your mood as well as your daytime energy. While some of the more generic advice (sleep hygiene! reduce your stress!) may not be particularly new or helpful, it could be illuminating to implement some of the authors’ recommendations and observe whether you notice changes. Many of the remedies are relatively simple and worth the potential benefits to try, even if you’re not interested in sticking to a strict Ayurvedic regimen. If nothing else, you’ll be more aware!

Good Sh*t is a fun book, but should definitely be taken with a grain of salt! This makes a perfect gag gift (no pun intended) and the trackers are fun and useful, but for a nonfiction book there aren't a ton of sources backing up advice and claims. This is a good first step to happier bowel movements, but for a serious foray, further research would definitely be needed.

This was an interesting read. Definitely made me think a bit more about how what I eat impacts not only my poo but my overall health. Good tips for those dealing with bowel issues. Will purchase.

People like talking about their poop, and making inferences from it, so this book seemed worth reading. I read a lot of slightly alternative medical books - I like to know what information is out there, and whether it might benefit or harm people.

Let me tell you, it has been a long time since I’ve been so disappointed.

Talk Sh*t has very little in the way of information. The facts that are somewhat correct, are so basic that they appear on the first page of a Google search. The book is classified as non-fiction, but not a single reference appears within its pages. (“According to Ayurvedic literature” is not a reference.)

While the layout is kind of cute and colourful, I really feel this book is too short and contributes too little to spend money on. At most, the 21-day poop-sheet might be worth selling as an instant download on Etsy, because viewing one’s stools for a series of days reveals much more than a once-off gaze.

OK, I admit it – the title Good Sh*t grabbed me. I have vivid memories of ““bathroom issues” going back MANY decades (missing the school bus to kindergarten because I was stuck in the bathroom, for example). And it seems that after retirement age, people’s lives way too often revolve around pooping – particularly in Western culture. So Good Sh*t, with its subtitle Your Holistic Guide to the Best Poop of Your Life, seemed like a book for me.

The authors, Julia Blohberger and Roos Neeter, are “profesionally trained and certified Ayurveda instructors,” and clearly have a passion for helping people improve their health. Their easy-to-read, humorous (without being flippant), and incredibly informative book, will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in gut health.

An explanation of how and why poop is an extremely important gauge of one’s overall health sets the foundation for the specific guidance that follows. There is a tracker to help analyze one’s current situation, along with insights into how diet, sleep, exercise, and stress all contribute in this area, and how simple lifestyle adjustments can help.

I’m still intrigued (although I have yet to do any serious analysis) and think this could be very helpful for many people. Four stars.

This was such a fun and informative book to fill through. It has a great sense of humor and gave good tips on improving your digestive health.

I love talking about the supposedly "taboo" subjects, so I knew this guide to the best poop of your life would be for me! I enjoyed the tips and tricks, and the explanations.

I'm not sure I'm ready to give up my phone in the bathroom, but I really enjoyed exploring some new ideas surrounding my bathroom visits. While this won't replace a doctor's visit if something is wrong, it's still a fun little guide to make your number twos #1.

Insightful and practical, the book takes a topic that no one talks about and turns it on its head. Not only is the book helpful, but it's also got just the right amount of wit.

This book is great!! As someone who has struggled with IBS for over a decade, I found some transformative and helpful advice in this book. I was able to quickly make changes in my life to improve my gut health.

A very short, interesting read. Lighthearted and easy to digest. Talking about our bowel movements may be a bit of a taboo, but this book explains really well the importance of a healthy routine in all other aspects of our live.

I would consider this as an introduction to the topic rather than an in-depth study or guide. I also missed out being able to see the templates and tables in the e-arc, I do think they sound incredibly useful though.

Overall, I’m glad I spent an afternoon reading this and will probably look more into the topic in future.

A lighthearted break down of our gut and an insight into the true importance.

Really good, I wonder if it's marketed in a way that appeals only to those already interested, however, I personally loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc!

I love this book, and yes, we need to talk more about sh*t! The information is excellently conveyed, and the illustrations are lovely. I don't know how much more I can ask from a book about the importance of a good sh*t. Excellent work!

This was a great short informative read about a topic that we all should probably take a bit more seriously. While the Advance Reader's Copy that I have didn't have a clear version of the tracking tables, I will most likely be picking up a copy of this book for myself to own so that I can take full advantage of the recommendations within the book.

Very interesting and informative!!!

Gave excellent information and didn’t dwell on the science too much

A slim volume, Good Shit, extols the virtues of poop reading. The authors, Ayurvedic practitioners, contend that
• factors such as frequency, consistency and colour of our bowel movements serve as a reliable marker of our state of health
• it’s therefore time to put taboos and shame aside and track our bowel habits
• poop diaries provide the key to dietary and lifestyle tweaks needed to improve gut health
• gut health is the road to the Damascus of health, vitality and wellbeing

Chapters entitled Lets Talk Sh*t, Poop Philosophy and Pooping 101 break down barriers and spread light relief for those who approach the topic with some trepidation.

Nudging us into adopting healthier pooping habits it offers sections on the ideal poop routine; the role diet, rest, stress and exercise play; and, Good Shit 7 and 21 day trackers.

Being a fan of all things holistic, Good Shit’s overall philosophy resonates with me. Somethings things jar however. For example, they advocate drinking with meals. Other holistic practitioners normally argue doing so dilutes digestive juices and therefore slows down the digestion. Also I never got to the bottom of (pun very much intended) why a book on the importance of good poop seems (from the text and illustrations) to just be targeted at women.

For me, witty title, chapter headings and fantastic illustrations aside, Good Shit could have benefited from a little more depth. However, if you are looking for a guide you can get through on a lazy afternoon Good Shit is probably a perfect fit.