Alan Bell (6)

I have been interested in the environment ever since the Exxon Valdez Oil Spil in Alaska back in (I think) 1989. I also used to work in a sick building and was forced to leave after barely 3 years of working there. That was in the early 1990s - not too long after the Exxon Valdez disaster - so the concern about Environmental damages was still on my mind.

This book was a wonderful book. All about how Allen Bell became very ill due to sick building syndrome, but as a lawyer he found it very hard to accept such a diagnosis with no physical evidence of such an illness.

As one review mentions, yes Allen is perhaps a little boastful about his legal career, but in the end, he lost all of that when he became ill and was forced to live in a Bubble house in Arizona for many years.

I loved all the legal cases that Allan mentions, those that he worked on and others that he heard about in passing. I loved the movies, A Civil Action and Erin Brockovich, both of which dealt with true Environmental legal cases.

As for me, I now have autoimmune disease, possibly due to the early symptoms I developed during those 3 years I worked in that sick building!! (And that was 30 years ago at least!!!)

I can detect the smell of cigarette smoke, perfumes, cologne and some chemicals fairly easily. I cannot smell mold, but I dont think I am sensitive to mold - yet.

So yes I loved this book, because I have some of the same symptoms as the author. But I also got out early and did not make myself stay just because there was no "proof".
… (altro)

~review copy

POISONED is an autobiography of Alan Bell, a successful Miami attorney. Bell basically grew up with Miami. When he was young, it was still a safe and cozy sort of town. As his career began to take off in his 30's it was a growing metropolis with high rises reaching for the sun.

His charmed life took a huge turn though when his company moved into the wrong skyscraper. The new carpet, paint and continued construction set off a firestorm in his immune system that sent his body into a such a steep decline that for a long while it looked as if he would not survive.

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This book is not about a search for what the problem was. POISONED is about the search for a cure to the lesions and damage done to his body.

I found this book to be a quick read, and the people that Bell met were interesting and frequently familiar. Dr. Weir was one of them. The personal side of the story demonstrated that medicine is not all that is necessary for survival. A person needs a support system, a personal cheerleader, and they need to be willing to try one-more-possible cure.… (altro)