- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Kaplan Trade; 1 edition (6 Jan 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1427798044
- ISBN-13: 978-1427798046
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 14.1 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,021,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #32 in Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Biochemistry > Biochemical Immunology
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More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
To boost your immune system and stay healthy, make friends with dirt! Do you believe the best way to protect yourself and your family from germs is to clean everything with antibacterial soap? If so, get ready to be surprised, informed, and entertained! In "Why Dirt Is Good", immunologist Dr. Mary Ruebush shows you why our obsession with cleanliness may be making us more vulnerable to disease and creating a new generation of superbugs! In these pages, you'll discover: why everyone needs a little dirt in their lives; the downside of antibacterial cleansers and hand sanitizers; the 5 Rules to boost your immune system - and make your kids stronger and healthier (Rule #1: Let them eat dirt!); why sometimes the best way to treat an illness is to do nothing (especially with kids' ear infections!); how a little dirt may help protect your child from allergies and asthma; what you can do to prevent so-called superbugs - by avoiding the unnecessary use of antibiotics and antibacterials; and, entertaining cartoons, irreverent (yet medically sound) advice, and expert tips on vaccinations, medicines, staying healthy, and much more.Mary Ruebush, PhD, is a microbiology and immunology instructor for Kaplan Medical. She has taught immunology, infectious disease, and pathology in medical school settings for over 30 years. Her studies on viruses, parasites, and bacteria have been published in scholarly journals. She is the mother of two children and lives in Bozeman, Montana.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
How to survive germs,
By
This review is from: Why Dirt is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends (Hardcover)
The author makes a good and convincing case. She starts with a metaphorical description of the parts of the immune system, which I found a bit too thorough for the general reader, but I believe it all. The details of the system in action, and the results of abandoning vaccination were much more interesting for me.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews) 8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Short, sweet and convincing,
By Kristine Hale - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Why Dirt is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends (Hardcover)
In this book, Mary Ruebush makes the case that we need to get a little "dirtier" if we want to improve our health and the health of generations to come.
Laid out in 5 different sections, this book explains how we have created "super-germs" and have actually lowered our immune response with our use of anti-bacterials and our hyper-cleanliness and how a little dirt and allowing our immune system to actually do its job will make us healthier in the long run. She shows that the use antibiotics, except in the most serious cases, actually weakens our immunity and how your immune system tends to become lazy and ineffective if it isn't given a job. She also explains the importance of vaccinations. Explained in simple terms and accompanied by cartoons, this book is a super quick read and based in solid scientific evidence. I give it four stars only because it is less an actual book and more like a hard-bound essay it is so short. After taking an hour to read this book front to end, I found myself taking a deep breath and resolving to follow the advice laid out in this book, despite my germ-o-phobia, that is how convincing and solid this book is. I would recommend this book to anyone curious about "Why dirt is good", but particularly those with babies or parents-to-be, as that is the primary audience that this book is aimed at. Not only will you find yourself having a better understanding of how our immune system works, you will find yourself better armed to deal with the day to day life with germs.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dirt is good,
By R. P. Stratton "DXinXS" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Why Dirt is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends (Hardcover)
The author of this very readable little book makes the case that children should experience germs in order to acquire immunity. I have passed this book on to friends who have children and are almost paranoid about germs, using antibacterial hand soap, etc., at every opportunity. As a psychologist, I extent this idea to include acquiring immunity, or resiliance, through childhood by experiencing life's disappointments, such as losing in sports and friendships, so children can learn to cope with the little things before having to cope with similar big things later in life. Unfortunately too many parents today are over-protective and shelter their children from disappointments.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making Dirt My Friend,
By Sudeep A. Chitnis "neel67" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Why Dirt is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends (Hardcover)
[[ASIN:1427798044 Why Dirt Is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends] was a book that caught my attention for its title than any thing. A book where the author true to the her word argues how can simple thing that we think that could be dangerous for our health can be actually be our friend.
What makes it more interesting is her way of explaining the whole complex medical terms for a layman. Let me tell you I have read many medical reviews , but this has been the most easiest and simplest to understand. Although the message of the author is very crystal clear, she also proves her point with ways to use this theory in practice which is very pleasing to read. The reviewer was compensated for posting this review. However, the opinion stated in the review is that of the reviewer and the reviewer alone. Further, the reviewer independently selected this product to review and has no affiliation with the product maker/distributor, Amazon or the review requester |
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