Allergic

How Our Immune System Reacts to a Changing World

By: Theresa MacPhail

Narrated by: Jaime Lamchick

Brought to you by Penguin.

Hay fever. Peanut allergies. Eczema. Billions of people worldwide have some form of allergy; millions have one severe enough to seriously endanger their health. And over the past decade, the number of people diagnosed with allergy has been steadily increasing, an ever-growing medical burden on individuals, families, and our health care system.

Medical anthropologist Theresa MacPhail, herself an allergy sufferer whose father died of a bee sting, set out to understand why. The result is a holistic and deeply researched examination of allergies, from their first medical description in 1819 to the mind-bending new treatments that are giving patients hope. MacPhail spent years interviewing hundreds of experts, patients and activists, in an effort to understand how recent changes in our environment and lifestyle are contributing to the dramatic rise in cases globally. Pollution, chemicals, antibiotics and, increasingly, climate change are all making our immune systems become more and more irritated. But, as she shows us in Allergic, understanding what is irritating us and why will help us to craft better environments in the future - so we can all breathe easier.

©2023 Theresa MacPhail (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

'A fascinating account that most of us (sniffle sniffle) will find of compelling interest, and also a powerful reminder that what we do to the world around us eventually affects the world inside us.' (Bill McKibben)

'Allergic is just the sort of thoughtful, comprehensible and comprehensive book we urgently need to understand how rapidly changing modern environments are interacting with our ancient immune systems to cause a frightening explosion in allergies.' (Daniel Lieberman)

'An astute, empathetic, and wonderfully informative investigation. Theresa MacPhail makes a persuasive case that cooperation - with each other, and with our internal ecosystems - is the key to relief.' (Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction)