matter of opinion?

So I picked up this BP book teh other day and have been reading it a little at a time, and I just got to a part where the guy is talking about feeding.

he says at one part, "Once you exhaust every other method to get your snake to eat, you can try feeding it live prey"

is it simply a personal preference on what you feed, or has there been some kind of study that says, this prey works best in this way?

It is all opinion. Some shy away from live feeding because they believe there is a risk associated with it. Others are confident enough in their keeping abilities that it does not matter what type of food item they feed.

What book are you reading? Some of the old ones still floating around pet stores are garbage.