Beat the Odds

This guide to prevention of diseases and accidents supplies well-organized and clear tips and strategies. Charts are especially informative: statistics show that there are 353 victims per 317 million airplane passengers whereas one in 600 smokers dies each year from cigarette smoking. The enumeration of specific risks of several popular diets and a room-by-room safety checklist are also helpful. An engaging part of the book is a questionnaire that determines a health risk profile, although some readers may balk at the fee and the two-week wait for computerized results. Readers are instructed to send the questionnaire to Group Health Inc. (address supplied), a national company that processes health reports for various corporations and has a contract with the authors as well, a questionable inclusion in a book. Unfortunately, Solomon, director of health-style and heart attack prevention programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital and assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School, and Chilnick, a medical writer, don't offer a novel way to beat the odds or fresh information. The prose is tedious and didactic: ""Smoking makes no sense at all; don't ever drive and drink or drive and take drugs.'' Author tour. (January 14)