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The Surprising Science of How We
by Harriet A. Washington
A groundbreaking look at the connection between germs and mental illness, and how we can protect ourselves.
Is it possible to catch autism or OCD the same way we catch the flu? Can a child's contact with cat litter lead to schizophrenia? In her eye-opening new book, National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Harriet Washington reveals that we can in fact "catch" mental illness. In Infectious Madness, Washington presents the new germ theory, which posits not only that many instances of Alzheimer's, OCD, and schizophrenia are caused by viruses, prions, and bacteria, but also that with antibiotics, vaccinations, and other strategies, these cases can be easily prevented or treated. Packed with cutting-edge research and tantalizing mysteries, Infectious Madness is rich in science, characters, and practical advice on how to protect yourself and your children from exposure to infectious threats that could sabotage your mental and physical health.
"Her sloppy scientific thinking and the vehemence with which she blames the establishment for ignoring the research into communicable mental illness make this more a political diatribe than a tale of surprising science." - Publishers Weekly
"Recommended for fans of science journalism and readers interested in the next 'hot topic' in biological psychiatry." - Library Journal
"It's acceptable to study how infection and immunity affect the brain, but only as part of a larger agenda to understand the brain in all its plasticity and complexity. Conclusion: an unproven but undoubtedly provocative case. Expect dissent and discussion." - Kirkus
This information about Infectious Madness was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Harriet A. Washington, Shearing Fellow at the University of Nevada's Black Mountain Institute, has been a Research Fellow in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School and a senior research scholar at the National Center for Bioethics at Tuskegee University She has held fellowships at the Harvard School of Public Health, Stanford University and DePaul University College of Law. She wrote Deadly Monopolies and Medical Apartheid, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Oakland Award, and the American Library Association Black Caucus Nonfiction Award.
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