Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice Paperback – 7 July 2022

All good exactly what I wanted

This book should be widely read and will appeal to anyone interested in unlearning the colonised mindset, especially concerning approaches to medicine. I’m no scientist, so I struggled in part, but the sections that are clear to a layperson like me are magnificent. Highly recommended

I agree with so much of what is said in this book. Yes, it#s very USA centric, but there again there are a lot of Americans in all different ways and means of life and largely in climate too. I'd have liked more explanation of the science.Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

This is an absolutely fascinating and very important book about why black and ethnic minority groups suffer so much more in terms of health and disease, in comparison with whites. During Covid in particular, I had read that black and Asians were far more susceptible, but no media coverage explained the reasons behind this. This incredible book skilfully reveals the disturbing truth about generational trauma. Meticulously referenced and very thought provoking, I really think everyone needs to read this book. I have been telling so many people about it.I only wish there were some solutions that would help to lower the number of people who succumb to both acute and chronic inflammatory conditions.

It started off good then they went down a rabbit hole like a bunch of swj's. Not for me

The title of this piqued my interest as I’ve read a little on the involvement of systemic inflammation in so many health conditions. I didn’t warm to it easily at the beginning; I found the tone just a little too shouty and the arguments facile and one-sided. I enjoyed it more as I read on, though. It is at its best when the authors are in their own fields of expertise; I particularly liked the description of how the inflammatory response is orchestrated to deal with a cut to the skin.Inflamed is very much a book of its time: the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement are woven into the examples of how ‘trauma’s fingerprints last for generations’. It contains some good arguments and makes clear that poverty, poor housing, pollution and daily discrimination place a huge burden on the body, putting it under constant stress and ill-equipped to fight disease. Whatever the problems of NHS infrastructure and delivery, we should rejoice in it – the thought of living in a country where all healthcare is paid for, either at source or through insurance, is horrifying. The effects of debt on the cardiovascular system alone are striking.As I read, I switched between admiring Rupa Marya and Raj Patel for the thoroughness of their argument and thinking that Inflamed is just a little too long; I think it would pack even more of a punch had it been brutally edited. Inflamed paints a grim picture of society’s ills but does offer some solutions for tackling them. To defeat the bad guy of colonial capitalism, prioritising community is key.

This is an unbiased review following a free Netgalley request.In a lot of ways this is a difficult book to review. Is it a self help guide to reducing inflammation? Is it a lesson in medicine? Is it a historical account of social ills and effects on indigenous people?In truth it’s all of these things, which makes it a confusing read until you figure out the pattern of the narrative - the issue, context, history of how the issue affects society and people. Sadly there’s precious little in what you can practically do to relieve the inflammation we all seem to suffer from in varying degrees. Self help it is not. How to radically change the way society and the political systems function. to reduce societal inflammation is key here - but not aimed at the average person.It’s a serious, deeply analytical commentary & incredibly well researched. It doesn’t flinch from telling brutal truths about direct links from how power brokers have created adverse social and health conditions to how they directly effect us as the unwashed populations of the world.Again though sadly, few take-outs to apply to our lives. It did however, manage to reignite my sense of outrage as to what has become of our world - so, yes, at least it is an engaging read.

I received an advanced review copy of ‘Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice’ by Rupa Marya and Raj Patel from its publishers via NetGalley.Well, that was different. I had expected a work of medical nonfiction that would help me understand the nature of inflammation. There were some information pertaining to this subject though it seemed to be used more as a metaphor or jumping off point for its authors.I expect that I should have read the fine print as ‘Inflamed’ seemed much more focused on a variety of political and social issues. There where certainly thought-provoking ideas throughout linked to subjects such as the evils of capitalism, racism, and colonialism within the modern and historical medical establishment.Also, the sections about interconnectivity and our personal relationships to the land were undeniably of interest but it all just felt so jumbled as if they were trying to address every twenty-first century social injustice and then some. I kept wondering when we might get back to the subject of inflammation. Add to this, I found it at times rather preachy, repetitive, and USA-centric.However, I am not a medical professional and I admit that a fair amount of the material went over my head. The book was quite academic with 45% of its nearly 500 page length dedicated to notes and an index.Overall, not a good experience, though I expect that I was simply not part of its intended readership.