3.0
Natural Causes
ByPublisher Description
From the celebrated author of Nickel and Dimed, an exploration of how we are killing ourselves to live longer—not necessarily better.
"Sharp and fearless." —Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
A razor-sharp polemic which offers an entirely new understanding of our bodies, ourselves, and our place in the universe, Natural Causes describes how we over-prepare and worry way too much about what is inevitable. One by one, Ehrenreich topples the shibboleths that guide our attempts to live a long, healthy life—from the importance of preventive medical screenings to the concepts of wellness and mindfulness, from dietary fads to fitness culture.
But Natural Causes goes deeper—into the fundamental unreliability of our bodies and even our "mind-bodies," to use the fashionable term. Starting with the mysterious and seldom-acknowledged tendency of our own immune cells to promote deadly cancers, Ehrenreich looks into the cellular basis of aging, and shows how little control we actually have over it. We tend to believe we have agency over our bodies, our minds, and even over the manner of our deaths. But the latest science shows that the microscopic subunits of our bodies make their own "decisions," and not always in our favor.
We may buy expensive anti-aging products or cosmetic surgery, get preventive screenings and eat more kale, or throw ourselves into meditation and spirituality. But all these things offer only the illusion of control. How to live well, even joyously, while accepting our mortality—that is the vitally important philosophical challenge of this book.
Drawing on varied sources, from personal experience and sociological trends to pop culture and current scientific literature, Natural Causes examines the ways in which we obsess over death, our bodies, and our health. Both funny and caustic, Ehrenreich then tackles the seemingly unsolvable problem of how we might better prepare ourselves for the end—while still reveling in the lives that remain to us.
"Sharp and fearless." —Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
A razor-sharp polemic which offers an entirely new understanding of our bodies, ourselves, and our place in the universe, Natural Causes describes how we over-prepare and worry way too much about what is inevitable. One by one, Ehrenreich topples the shibboleths that guide our attempts to live a long, healthy life—from the importance of preventive medical screenings to the concepts of wellness and mindfulness, from dietary fads to fitness culture.
But Natural Causes goes deeper—into the fundamental unreliability of our bodies and even our "mind-bodies," to use the fashionable term. Starting with the mysterious and seldom-acknowledged tendency of our own immune cells to promote deadly cancers, Ehrenreich looks into the cellular basis of aging, and shows how little control we actually have over it. We tend to believe we have agency over our bodies, our minds, and even over the manner of our deaths. But the latest science shows that the microscopic subunits of our bodies make their own "decisions," and not always in our favor.
We may buy expensive anti-aging products or cosmetic surgery, get preventive screenings and eat more kale, or throw ourselves into meditation and spirituality. But all these things offer only the illusion of control. How to live well, even joyously, while accepting our mortality—that is the vitally important philosophical challenge of this book.
Drawing on varied sources, from personal experience and sociological trends to pop culture and current scientific literature, Natural Causes examines the ways in which we obsess over death, our bodies, and our health. Both funny and caustic, Ehrenreich then tackles the seemingly unsolvable problem of how we might better prepare ourselves for the end—while still reveling in the lives that remain to us.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesNatural Causes Reviews
3.0
“For someone who talks about having a PhD multiple times in this book, I was surprised by how anti science this author is. The premise of this book is quite interesting, but the execution fell completely flat. The author meanders all over the place without a central narrative.”
“Frankly my biggest issue with this book was just that it was not what I expected at all. The description and advertisement of it made me think it was going to be an examination of the things we humans obsessively do to prolong our life, and then a discussion about whether it’s worth it or not, and instead i got eleven chapters talking about whether or not cells have free will (??) and then one chapter talking about the beauty of the living world and the importance of ego death. Okay??? Also this is a purely personal critique but the author was SO pessimistic the entire time. Sorry I didn’t expect to hear the message of “actually we’re all going to die horrible deaths so don’t bother going to the gym or taking care of your body at all now”. Correct me if I’m wrong but that seems like a terrible message to spread?? Anyways I’m off my soap box now”
About Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich (1941-2022) was a bestselling author and political activist, whose more than a dozen books include Natural Causes, Living with a Wild God, the award winning essay collection Had I Known, and Nickel and Dimed, which the New York Times described as “a classic in social justice literature.” An award-winning journalist, she frequently contributed to Harper's, The Nation, The New York Times, and TIME magazine. Ehrenreich was born in Butte, Montana, when it was still a bustling mining town. She studied physics at Reed College and earned a Ph.D. in cell biology from Rockefeller University. Rather than going into laboratory work, she got involved in activism, and soon devoted herself to writing her innovative journalism.
Other books by Barbara Ehrenreich
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