Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed is one of my all-time favorite books, and I have recommended it to MANY people over the years. Several people have admitted to having their eyes opened enough that they began to see invisible workers such as hotel housekeeping staff as real people who should ALWAYS be tipped. So I happily received a copy of Natural Causes from Twelve Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The subtitle (An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer) provides clues to her message. She is not a fan of “wellness,” none of us are getting out of here alive, and the things people do to try to extend their lives may not provide any benefit at all.

I was unaware of her PhD in cellular immunology, and TBH there was way more scientific information than I could either understand or appreciate, but she is definitely qualified to speak about the human body’s immune system and how it can turn against us (easing the way for cancer cells to proliferate, for example). I do appreciate her emphasis on acceptance of death as a natural process and her encouragement to live life to its fullest rather than focus on how we might extend our lives.

She takes a fairly rigorous stance against the medical establishment and the wellness industry, emphasizing her disdain for clinicians’ assumption that patients will automatically endure many tests and (redundant or unnecessary?) procedures. I confess I got lost in her seeming to attribute the spread of mindfulness to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs wanting to sell products, and while I tend to agree with her regarding religious ideas, it’s clear these two areas will not be popular among a number of readers.

While Natural Causes isn’t for everyone (and I definitely won’t be recommending it as widely as I have done with Nickel and Dimed), it’s still a fascinating read (even humorous in places!). Three stars.