12,000 Canaries Can't Be Wrong: What's Making Us Sick and What We Can Do about It

Historically, colliers used canaries as low-tech carbon monoxide detectors in the mines. Molot, a doctor at an environmental health clinic at Toronto's Women's College Hospital, turns the idea of those canaries into an analogy to shed light on diseases and ailments such as fibromyalgia, sick building syndrome, asthma, Alzheimer's and food sensitivities. He has dubbed more than 12,000 of his patients as "canaries", people who are more sensitive to environmental and chemical pollution than the average person. These canaries warn everyone else to get out of the coal mine and make changes in their home, workplace, diet, and lifestyle %E2%80%94 before it's too late. Compelling and well-written, this is a solidly researched, detailed explanation of the causes and effects of numerous modern health issues. Molot provides a nine-step plan to recover or maintain good health and posits that it's an individual as well as societal responsibility. He gives diet advice, with hard data to back it up, as well as exercise guidelines and urgings to get fresh air, sunshine and even love. It's possible to skip straight to the treatment plan, but it would be a shame, considering how persuasive, fascinating, and often mind-blowing Molot's case is. (June)