nonfiction; health/wellness. Would recommend for anyone with a mysterious chronic medical condition, or with a diagnosed autoimmune condition, or who is close to someone who is (more awareness is probably a good thing for anyone, but if you aren't personally concerned about these diseases, you're not likely to give it much credit. Even taken with a grain of salt, most of this is pretty depressing (with dramatic personal stories that might seem sensationalist to anyone who doesn't know someone with lupus or other serious conditions, and with alarming levels of inescapable toxins apparently lurking everywhere, ready to trigger disabling disease in susceptible individuals) but it also highlights the problems with getting autoimmune disorders recognized in the medical community (even though they are becoming increasingly common--though tough to recognize/diagnose, even more so than cancers). I did find the last chapter (foods to reduce inflammation and other ways to reduce your exposure to chemicals and toxins) to be pretty helpful, though the verdicts on some of the possibly helpful supplements were still out when this was published, so again, have to take with a grain of salt. ( )

I realized while I was about halfway through this book that I've read it before. Very informative about the clustering of disease due to environmental impact. ( )