This is a timely book when number of people with allergies is increasing. If you ask people what an ‘allergy’ was you will get various different answers. There is medical definition and this medical anthropologist, former journalist, associate professor gives us few definitions.

I learned a lot from this book and most of the science didn’t stick I am sure. But following are few take aways

Wow, what a fantastic reason. I was so excited to be able to read and review this book. I suffer from allergies and this was a very helpful, informational book. Just reading the science and theories behind allergies is super helpful and eye opening!

I really enjoyed reading through this book. MacPhail goes into a lot of detail regarding the history of allergies, theories of allergies, and prognoses for the future. She also grabs the reader with an emotional opening anecdote.

This was a fascinating deep dive into allergies! The book covers the mechanics behind what an allergy actually is and isn't, its history, treatments, and theories about why allergies are on the rise globally. I learned so much and found it very engaging. The author does a great job at finding a nuanced and balanced approach to explaining why allergy ails us in our current lifestyles, both dispelling common myths and providing the evidence we do have for theories that are difficult to definitively prove. Highly recommend to everyone, as we all either suffer from allergies, know someone who does, or will have family members who deal with them in the future.

I could not put this book down. It was fascinating to read the history, science, and theories behind allergies. I have a autoimmune condition that presents itself as allergies. This book gave me a lot of insight into what is going on in my body. Required reading for anyone who has allergies, the parent of a child with allergies, and anyone who cares for patients with allergies!

*I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.

There were some things about the book that I liked. The discussion of alternate therapies and their context was quite good as was the interaction between academia and industry. I thought that the book was well balanced with MacPhail not being dogmatic and being clear about any panacea. And the book was certainly thought-provoking. I also enjoyed the author’s anecdotes. But I felt that the story jumped around a bit early on and that there could have been more complete explanations of the basic science. I felt as if I am more aware of what we don’t know about allergies than I am about what we do know. I also felt that perhaps the book was too broad, as allergy is a huge topic. I didn’t feel that the book had a “I couldn’t put it down” element. There was also some pontificating which I am not really fond of, even when I agree. Overall though, this book is worth reading. We do need more awareness about allergies and this book will help. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the digital review copy.

Allergic is a book by Theresa MacPhail which covers allergies.
In this book, MacPhail goes over how allergies work, how to cure them, and how they affect people. MacPhail also goes back into the past discussing how they were first discovered, and also puts in a lot of real stories of people who are suffering from allergies.
This was an ambitious book. As MacPhail says many times, no one is 100% sure about anything allergy related, including how to cure it or even diagnose it. However, I think they do an admirable job. MacPhail is very clear about what is or is not known, and does a great deal of research. Their research spans years, and includes interviewing many different scientists and normal people. The best part of the book is how easy to understand it is. The science is not too overwhelming, and MacPhail often divides information into scenarios to allow for easier understanding.
There were a few issues, however. My biggest issue is how America-centric the book is. MacPhail interviews one Indian scientist to see what allergies are like in poorer countries, but they only mention the information they got from the scientist a couple times. MacPhail also mentions England when she is talking about the early discoveries about allergies. Apart from that, all the information is from American states and scientists. All of the remedies or diagnosing tools for allergies are American, as well as the prices. This makes it very difficult for anyone else to understand or learn.

(First of all--in no way does this indicate that this is a how-to on managing allergies. As the book clearly spells out, that varies significantly between individuals and allergies.)

As someone who has dealt with seasonal allergies since childhood and enjoy medical narratives, this intrigued me right from the start. Starting with her father's surprising death from a bee sting allergy, Theresa MacPhail investigates why allergies have become more widespread, how parents, allergy sufferers, and researchers are desparately trying to find ways to treat or cure allergies (that are not as limiting as food avoidance diets are), and more. Although it is a bit academic at parts, this is a very accessible and eye-opening read.

Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really had high expectations for this, because I am so interested in learning more about allergies and not only how they affect us, but how they can be treated in order to live a better life. If you're looking for a book that helps guide you in figuring out how to treat your allergies to live a better life and get healthier, look elsewhere. This is simply a book that details the history of allergies and that is it. I could have gotten this exact info from a Wikipedia page, a condensed and quicker read, rather than a lengthy book that didn't really help me solve anything. One part of the summary says "what that might mean about the fate of humanity in a rapidly changing world", when referring to allergies, but the book acgtually doesn't give any advice on what to do for allergies, short of a small excerpt about a medication called Dupixent. That is it. I felt like this book was mainly just for the author to work through her own stuff, as the reason why she wrote the book is because someone in her family died from an allergic reaction. I don't really think we needed a whole book on that, especially when we aren't told how we can help ourselves. It's basically just a 300+ page story, with some history thrown in there. I would not spend the money on this book, nor would I recommend it to others.