This book was disarmingly quirky, enchanting, melancholic, and informative. The questions and situations raised bring lots of deserved issues surrounding where our technology has brought us this far, and what we have reaped.

I was expecting a more rigorously researched discussion vs. anecdotal, did not finish. I think there was potential here, but it needed more depth and organization.

This book is part science lesson, part history lecture, and part classic road trip adventure. While I do wish there was more road trip in the mix, I so appreciate the funny, open-minded way that Broudy discusses Environmental Illness, an affliction I had never heard of before, and the ways in which our culture has previously and may continue to make EI more and more common.

I went into this book knowing nothing, but I think I would have benefited from knowing it would be a slow burn with some dense chapters that take a while to get through and fully understand. I’m glad I took the time, though, and especially enjoyed how Broudy inserted his opinions in ways that added and entertained rather than detracted from the greater story he was telling. I think that this is for sure worth a read, especially for those looking to do some serious learning!

Oliver Broudy's "The Sensitives" is difficult to wrap your head around. It ventures into the world of people affected by a dubiously recognized medical condition know as EI - an illness caused by "the 85,000 synthetic chemicals in play in our daily environments" or "the seventeen pesticides, on average, we are exposed to in a day," or "the nine thousand food additives" in the foods we eat. While the claims in the book are sometimes very far fetched (how much is illness and how much is madness is very much a question Broudy asks) this work should make us all question the artificiality of the world we've made and its attendant rise of illnesses. A strange read, certainly, with the sufferers going to incredible lengths to try to achieve a state of normalcy in a world that seems bent on increasing their suffering - but one that is sympathetic to the population it examines.

My latest read is The Sensitives by Oliver Broudy. A big thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this before it’s published.

This book was a bit mind-blowing and knew it was going to be good as soon as I started reading. I’ve been interested in chemical sensitivity after watching a couple of documentaries about it, including Afflicted on Netflix that follows several people with these types of health problems. I cannot imagine the frustration of feeling so terribly while receiving no clear answers from doctors and mostly skepticism.

This book follows Broudy as he joins James, a person with chemical sensitivities, on a road trip. On the way they meet up with other sufferers, talk with doctors and specialists, and search for one of the most famous “sensitives” that’s gone off the grid.

I love me a good nonfiction read and I learned so much from this book, which is chock full of knowledge. However, at times the book got into the weeds in science and history of anything related to chemical sensitivities, whereas I wanted a better balance of interactions with the people they were meeting and experiences from the road trip.

Broudy did a great job of showing both sides of the chemical sensitivity debate. What even causes this sensitivity? Where can these people even live? And sometimes, is this illness even real or is in these folks’ heads?

Publishing date is currently set for July 14th. I would definitely recommend this book, but get ready for some science.🤓

I agree with the other reviews that I saw of this book. It had such potential to be a gripping non fiction narrative, but fell flat in pacing and content. Perhaps if it included more personal anecdotes, it would have been more compelling. But, this was not the case and ultimately I was not able to finish this book. My apologies to the author.

An interesting, if somewhat bland at times Non-Fiction read.

While I found the subject matter - people with extremely sensitive environmental allergies - extremely interesting, I found the writing to be somewhat bland. It was a little preachy and somewhat textbook-ey. While I did complete this book, I unfortunately found it to be dry at times.

Like I mentioned previously, the subject matter is very interesting and compelling. I only wish that the author's writing style were a little less dry. Otherwise, it would have been a very well-rounded Non-Fiction read.

2 stars
Way to long and stuffed with way to much information. This could be such a good book but it just sputters along. Far too many people, too many side tracked moments and too hard to follow.
This should be shortened by 30% and edited to flow better.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.