You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by rhyvir
Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer by Barbara Ehrenreich
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
This book is a MESS, and not in any enjoyable way.
The author infuriatingly refuses to acknowledge nor address a plethora of research and evidence that point not just to the physical benefits of exercise but also to the mental health benefits of it.
Some other highlights of ways the book irked me:
- She claims that the medical suggestion for seniors to exercise regularly is “draconian,” but doesn’t even entertain discussing the alternative: the higher likelihood of the remainder of life spent bedridden and/or relying on a myriad of medications.
- She writes about the power of the placebo effect in one chapter but then dismisses and mocks meditation and mindfulness in another.
- She insinuates that anyone being mindful of their eating choices is doing so under medical and societal duress, but then she doesn’t offer any alternative other than, “I personally eat whatever I want and however much of it that I want!” There is then NO discussion about the consequences of, say, eating too much of something or drinking too much alcohol.
- She writes about the rise of ADHD and autism diagnoses as though it’s a moral failing on the part of adults and parents. (For one it’s really ableist in mindset to perceive ADHD and autism diagnoses as things we should be avoiding/working to not have, and on top of that maybe the reason there’s an increase in diagnoses is because we are overall more cognizant and knowledgeable about these symptoms nowadays compared to the past!)
- She makes a wild claim that poor white people “have it worse” than Black people, but then doesn’t even address what we now know about how trauma is passed down through our genes, affecting so much of our body and mind. Doesn’t even acknowledge how much the inherited generational trauma combined with modern day racism compounds to create disastrous effects on BIPOCs’ health.
I could go on, but I’d really not think about this book much more. I’m only writing this long of a review so as to warn others about how awful it was. It’s hard for me to DNF books, and I honestly was curious how she would conclude it after talking about how everything we know about taking care of our bodies and minds is essentially wrong and incorrect (spoiler alert: she does not offer any cogent alternative nor any semblance of a solution to her complaints).
It would’ve been a one star, though I gave it one more due to the fact that the one pro was that she is healthily and understandably skeptical of the medical industrial complex - something we should all be more weary of.
The author infuriatingly refuses to acknowledge nor address a plethora of research and evidence that point not just to the physical benefits of exercise but also to the mental health benefits of it.
Some other highlights of ways the book irked me:
- She claims that the medical suggestion for seniors to exercise regularly is “draconian,” but doesn’t even entertain discussing the alternative: the higher likelihood of the remainder of life spent bedridden and/or relying on a myriad of medications.
- She writes about the power of the placebo effect in one chapter but then dismisses and mocks meditation and mindfulness in another.
- She insinuates that anyone being mindful of their eating choices is doing so under medical and societal duress, but then she doesn’t offer any alternative other than, “I personally eat whatever I want and however much of it that I want!” There is then NO discussion about the consequences of, say, eating too much of something or drinking too much alcohol.
- She writes about the rise of ADHD and autism diagnoses as though it’s a moral failing on the part of adults and parents. (For one it’s really ableist in mindset to perceive ADHD and autism diagnoses as things we should be avoiding/working to not have, and on top of that maybe the reason there’s an increase in diagnoses is because we are overall more cognizant and knowledgeable about these symptoms nowadays compared to the past!)
- She makes a wild claim that poor white people “have it worse” than Black people, but then doesn’t even address what we now know about how trauma is passed down through our genes, affecting so much of our body and mind. Doesn’t even acknowledge how much the inherited generational trauma combined with modern day racism compounds to create disastrous effects on BIPOCs’ health.
I could go on, but I’d really not think about this book much more. I’m only writing this long of a review so as to warn others about how awful it was. It’s hard for me to DNF books, and I honestly was curious how she would conclude it after talking about how everything we know about taking care of our bodies and minds is essentially wrong and incorrect (spoiler alert: she does not offer any cogent alternative nor any semblance of a solution to her complaints).
It would’ve been a one star, though I gave it one more due to the fact that the one pro was that she is healthily and understandably skeptical of the medical industrial complex - something we should all be more weary of.