Alanna Collen

I was very excited when I found a book about the human microbiome in my library. While the author does write in an accessible way (at least relative to the literature!) she has a clear agenda and keeps flip flopping between correlation is not causation and look at what science proved with these trends! It must be this way. Now even this is something I can look past to some extent, but ultimately this rating is based off the way she talks about mental illness and autistic people. She insists that autism must be caused by some kind of lack of microbiome diversity. Yes, when it was written this was more of a theory than it was now but she pushes this idea so much harder than she does any of he other correlations and goes on to call autism an "insidious disease". She frequently sidelines potential genetic causes, ignoring the potential impacts genetics have on what microbiome you may have the potential to host. Is this the only thing at play? Of course not. But she has no problem making reaching statements based on her views so at least discussing the possibility would have helped have a more balanced view. Some of the contents were interesting and I agreed with some points (e.g. some places prescribe antibiotics too readily, we underestimate how microbiota influence our health - although I don't always agree with the hows or the extent) but overall the tone ruined the experience for me.… (mehr)

The best book yet that explains to the ordinary person the implications of the microbiome. Well-written, full of interesting facts, but sticks strictly to mainstream science. For example, although the author explains the concept of "leaky gut", she observes it skeptically as an unproven hypothesis, rather than jump whole-hog into diagnoses.

Best parts discuss the gut role on behavior ("Mind Control"), with detailed examples from autism research, Whipple's Disease, and more.

The book includes a list of the highest-quality references, but unfortunately it's not complete, so many of the facts are hard to follow up.… (mehr)