Environmental-Health Books

I got this workbook to help me get through the required text in a class and so I could prepare better for exams. It would be perfect except for one glaring problem. There are no answer keys. The teacher doesn't have the answers either. This means there is no way to check the accuracy of what you have answered. To me, this meant the workbook was a complete waste of time and money. The questions seemed relevant but with no way to check, whats the point? Someone should make the answers available somewhere. Then it would be a terific resource.

THe material itself is easy to read however as soon as you turn the page it will most likely fall out of the book. I had only opened the book maybe 5 times and pages already started falling out. Not what I would expect from a $60 book.

The author offers a fairly comprehensive overview of the hazards of the indoor home environment and how to combat them. He covers such menaces as mold, mildew, bacteria, dust, secondary smoke, plastics, building materials, pollen, radon, and household chemicals. However, despite the fact that this book was published fairly recently (this is a revised 2nd edition, copyright 1994), he fails to properly highlight some weapons that can be used to maintain a healthy indoor atmosphere, namely negative ions and ozone. He compounds this oversight by making inaccurate blanket statements regarding the technology that employs these weapons - negative ion generators. Regarding ion generators, he states on page 74 that, "it generates negatively charged ions which intercept particles and pull them back to a filter in the unit." Perhaps the generators he encountered work like that but the ones I've encountered emit low frequency radio waves (typically with a range of about 60 feet [radius}). These waves penetrate walls (provided they aren't metal walls) and reach every nook and cranny of a structure; creating ions away from the generating unit. He cites the ineffectiveness of the generators he's researched. I could understand how the units he's encountered would not be effective, but the boy is barking up the wrong tree and he was not exposed to the cutting edge technology of the radio wave units. The author also has a justified healthy (no pun intended) regard for the hazards posed by ozone in the environment. Unfortunately he fails to recognize that ozone (in small concentrations) is an ally in remedying many indoor air pollution problems. In fact the negative ion generators I've encountered also employ ozone generation as part of their indoor air quality restoration and maintenance arsenal. The newer models have sensors so that they can regulate their ozone output. When he writes about the more common and mundane aspects of indoor environment remediationhe appears to be dead on (someone correct me if I'm wrong). But in the end, the author's lack of knowledge, in the areas mentioned above, don't allow him to use the subtitle to this tome: "ACOMPLETE (my caps) Guide to Better Health Through Control of the Indoor Atmosphere"

RIP OFF! Beware. There is nothing new or useful in this!!!!!
My mom has cancer and is losing weight; I'm looking everywhere I can for useful information and I fell for this one. My mistake not to have weighed the previous reviewers comments enough!

This article does not include a "normal versus high-calorie menu). This is a complete fabrication and to steal any money from me is wrong!

After signing up for a distance course by the same name, I was sent this text as the sole body of the course. I can honestly say that after reading the book from cover to cover, twice, that my knowledge of the subject is not much greater than if I had pieced it together from a series of bad journal articles (and they probably would have accomplished a great deal more)! While there are one or two chapters that are at least somewhat in order, for the most part the text meanders, then tries to make a half dozen highly important points in the same paragraph occasionally backed up with wordy non-sensible explanations. The result leaves the reader annoyed at having lost so much precious time attempting to decipher what should be simple facts backed up by illustrative points. What could have been an excellent introductory text to the subject suffers from a poor sense of direction and very poor editing. The worst part about this text (and the course that it was linked to), was that the editor was none other than the course tutor! Avoid this one if you can, there are plenty of other excellent texts out there that I am quite certain are an improvement over this one!

Avoid this book at all cost -- including the $$$ the publisher is asking for it. It is one of the poorly written textbooks I have ever encountered. I gave up after reading the first 60 pages. They were enough to convince me that the book is dated (published in 2002 but no citations dated after 1990). But much worse is the terrible stream-of-consciousness writing "style."

Evidently, the principal authors recognized that they needed help, so they list an editorial assitant on the title page. But that assistant must not have seen the manuscript, or he would not have let through such howlers as "... it carry's (sic) with it the probability ...". Or how about the list of criteria for causal inference (pages 54-56). It consists of one non sequitur after another.

And if all of this isn't bad enough, the brief discussion of statistical methods in Chapter 3 should demonstrate that the authors are clueless about basic biostatistics.

So, save your money.

I had hoped to see a clear definition between mood and food. My question to answer: Is the food we're eating creating our mood/disposition? With the assumption that "it's probable," I was interested to see which food may cause specific reactions. For example, for some corn is a food-sensitivity and reactions to sinuses and allergies.

I didn't get that type of information out of this book. Lot's of text, but not what I wanted. If you're interested in a historical overview of psychology and other chemical disorders, this may be for you. In my case, it wasn't.

I am very interested in learning about human biology and ordered this book on this site. Boy!, was I disappointed! This book is more intent on propagating the global warming myth and other Chicken-Little-the-sky-is-falling-hysteria. There is not very much on simply human biology.

This book is going straight to the trash. It's a total waste of my money.

Interesting note: The author lives in Evergreen, CO and works at Denver University. Evergreen is in the mountains west of Denver. DU is in southeast Denver - a long commute - something like 30 miles. If the author is really concerned about global warming, then why doesn't he live closer to work?