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holly_keimig's review against another edition
4.0
50 Book Reading Challenge 2015: A book that scares you
This was SO good! As someone who has had allergies my whole life, this made a lot of things clearer for me. The author delves into the hygiene hypothesis a bit deeper and shows that losing our parasites and other organisms that can potentially harm us, may have harmed us in different ways by creating autoimmune disorders and allergies. Worm therapy might be a very real possibility in the future. Anyone interested in autoimmune disorders and allergies should read this book! Highly recommend. :)
This was SO good! As someone who has had allergies my whole life, this made a lot of things clearer for me. The author delves into the hygiene hypothesis a bit deeper and shows that losing our parasites and other organisms that can potentially harm us, may have harmed us in different ways by creating autoimmune disorders and allergies. Worm therapy might be a very real possibility in the future. Anyone interested in autoimmune disorders and allergies should read this book! Highly recommend. :)
serendipity730's review against another edition
3.0
I am of two minds about this book. On one hand, as a person w/asthma, allergies and a family tree riddled with both. it was interesting, engaging, and the author presents many compelling stories of ppl helped by Helminth therapy. However, as a scientist, I am leery. The author does spend some time discussing the cons of Helminth (hookworm) therapy, but comparatively, it's VERY little. I have no doubt the changing env't in the modern era has confused our immune system and disrupted our micro biome, but I think, at times, the author mistakes correlation for causation, particularly with respect to cancer. In the wrong hands, this book could lead someone to believing Helminth therapy is a 'cure all', to the exclusion of modem medicine. Many of the chapters were repetitive, and some seemed to offer only anecdotal evidence. This book is worth a read, as long as the reader understands the author is quite biased and that Helminth therapy is still, mostly unproven.
edgiles4's review against another edition
4.0
My lone complaint about this book is the density of information, which made it a challenging read for someone without any kind of biology experience beyond high school. It made me somewhat terrified to have children, given the various maladies that may await them in our increasingly sanitized world. This is a fascinating read if you're at all interested in the relative explosion of allergies, asthma, and other immune system issues.
radbear76's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting concept
The premise of the book is interesting and is definitely worth further scientific study. However, just as surgeons always recommend surgery, his linking of so many diseases to one hypothesis leads me to believe he's over speculating. I did find it refreshing that the author repeatedly emphasized the risks of the worm underground.
The premise of the book is interesting and is definitely worth further scientific study. However, just as surgeons always recommend surgery, his linking of so many diseases to one hypothesis leads me to believe he's over speculating. I did find it refreshing that the author repeatedly emphasized the risks of the worm underground.
juliana_aldous's review against another edition
4.0
Ever wonder why your kid's class has at least one or two kids with a severe food allergy and you remember none in your school room growing up? Ever buy that prescription for Claretin and wonder why your allergies seem worse than ever before? If you or a family member suffer from allergies, asthma, or an autoimmune disorder such as Chron's, then I highly recommend this book to learn about the latest research. The author wraps up the latest studies with his own personal story battling allergies and a quest for a cure involving parasites. Yes, parasites. Seriously. When I began reading I wondered if I had perhaps picked up a book by a whacko, but Velasquez-Manoff backs everything up. It is perhaps that we have so throughly cleaned our environment of microbes and other critters that we have evolved to live with that could be our undoing.
Now go eat some dirt.
Now go eat some dirt.
jrk's review against another edition
4.0
Enlightening information regarding "old friends" (parasites and bacteria that we've co-evolved with) and how their absence relates to modern health issues like allergies and asthma and eczema.
stevequinn's review against another edition
4.0
Really eye opening. I was worried this book would be cultish or push an agenda, but I think the author was quite responsible about making claims for worm therapy. The idea we've thinned out the biosphere and hurt ourselves in doing so is an attractive one. The book makes me want to know more v
sigo's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best science writing that I have ever read. The idea that Manoff puts forward is one that has the potential to change how we think about the afflictions of modern life; allergy, autoimmunity, possibly even autism. I read this book for my immunology class and it drastically changed how all of us, even our teacher, thought about the immune system and how it works. Basically, changes that have happened since the Industrial Revolution, even ones that we think are beneficial like better hygiene practices, could be causing an increase in the risk of allergies and autoimmune disorders. The author does a very good job of laying out how the immune system normally functions and how it has gone wrong, turning in on itself or attacking unnecessarily. Highly recommended for anyone interested in biology.
harkinna's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent book...if you are into this kind of thing, the author does a great job summarizing lots of scientific data and tells you his personal autoimmune story. I would have enjoyed a bit more about him and the things he has tried to grow his hair back, but over all, well written.