Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic by Pamela Weintraub, nonfiction, 4/5:
Weintraub thought that raising children in the heart of New York City was not the ideal. She and her husband yearned for a home in the tree-lined streets of the suburbs.
But it wasn’t long after they moved to the idyllic suburban community of Chappaqua that first one, then the other son became sick with an illness that seemed to resist diagnosis. Soon both she and her husband began exhibiting symptoms as well.
Although Lyme Disease was mentioned almost every doctor refused this diagnosis for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the controversy over just what constitutes Lyme Disease. In addition to her family’s story this book is about the whole Lyme Disease controfversy and what thousands of people with similar symptoms are facing while medicos persist in their bickering.
The Healthy Skeptic: Cutting through the Hype about Your Health by Robert J. Davis, nonfiction, 5/5:
Every week, or more often, there’s a new study that says eat this fill-in-the-blank if you want to live longer or stay away from fill-in-the-blank to avoid cancer. If we listened to, or worse, followed each of these directives we’d all become basket case hypochondriacs in no time. We need to wait a minute.
There are enough people who do follow the advice of celebrity shills and the latest medical fix-of-the-week that it has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Yes, I said industry. There is an industry out there whose fake foundations and phony scientific studies lure an unsuspecting public into buying this or that miracle food or lotion or test or pill.
Davis’ advice: don’t believe most of it and at the very least ask who is making money by giving this bit of advice.
The truth is, among other things, blueberries don’t prevent Alzheimer’s, high cholesterol isn’t a disease and sunscreen does not prevent skin cancer.
Buy this book and keep it in medicine cabinet and the next time you read about how eating kiwi fruits will make you virile, re-read the book and just live your life as best you can.
My rating system for books is:
5 = An extraordinary book! I will keep it to read again and again!
4.5 = This book is either very clever, highly creative or brings new information to the table. I’m recommending it to my friends.
4 = This book accomplishes all the author seems to have intended. (I “get” it.)
3.5 = This book held my interest regardless of topic/genre.
3 = I enjoyed reading and/or I learned something from this book
2.5 = I could have easily put this book down and forgotten about it.
2 = This book is either poorly written or seems underdeveloped, like an out-of-focus photo. (I don’t “get” it.)
1 = Don’t bother.
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