Immune for Life: Live Longer and Better by Strengthening Your Doctor Within

``Norman Vincent Peale has referred to my coauthor and son, Barry, and I sic as `an amazing father and son team,' '' notes Fox ( Beverly Hills Medical Diet ) in his discussion of how ``you can shrug off most illnesses,'' providing your immune system is sound. In their mishmash of homespun philosophy, anecdotal medical experience, recipes for cooking and reducing stress, psychology, exercises and mind-over-matter metaphysical excursions, the authors have written a book without substance. The Foxes' explanations of the immune system are vastly oversimplified, and the book's main tenet, that disease cannot ``strike'' unless allowed to do so by the potential sufferer, is scientifically insupportable. Though Fox goes to great lengths to recount his medical triumphs, his promise that readers can ``live longer and better'' is irresponsible. Troll Book Club selection; author tour. (Apr.)