Audiobook7 hours
Ah-Choo!: The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold
Written by Jennifer Ackerman
Narrated by Emily Durante
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Scientists call this the Golden Age of the Common Cold because Americans suffer up to a billion colds each year, resulting in 40 million days of missed work and school and 100 million doctor visits. They've also learned over the past decade much more about what cold viruses are, what they do to the human body, and how symptoms can be addressed. In this ode to the odious cold, Jennifer Ackerman sifts through the chatter about treatments-what works, what doesn't, and what can't hurt. She dispels myths, such as susceptibility to colds reflects a weakened immune system. And she tracks current research, including work at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, a world-renowned center of cold research studies, where the search for a cure continues.
Author
Jennifer Ackerman
Jennifer Ackerman is the bestselling author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way. She was a writer at National Geographic for seven years and has written extensively for many publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American and Smithsonian Magazine.
Related to Ah-Choo!
Related audiobooks
Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Microbes: The Life-Changing Story of Germs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Infectious: Pathogens and How We Fight Them Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMosquito: The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Go By Boat: Stories of a Maine Island Doctor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Remedy: Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Quest to Cure Tuberculosis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves: Why Animals Matter for Pandemics, Climate Change, and other Catastrophes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEbola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America and the Fears They Have Unleashed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren't Your Best Source of Health Information Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Methuselah's Zoo: What Nature Can Teach Us about Living Longer, Healthier Lives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing the Sun: How the Science of Sunlight Shapes Our Bodies and Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vaccinated: From Cowpox to mRNA, the Remarkable Story of Vaccines Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chasing Lakes: Love, Science, and the Secrets of the Arctic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brainstorm: Detective Stories from the World of Neurology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance Into a Hopeful Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alien Worlds: The Secret Lives of Insects Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wellness For You
The Last House on Needless Street Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silent Patient Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health With Facts and Feminism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Happiness Makeover: Overcome Stress and Negativity to Become a Hopeful, Happy Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in ""Healthy"" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Broken (in the best possible way) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Highly Sensitive Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moneyzen: The Secret to Finding Your ""Enough"" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm So Effing Tired: A Proven Plan to Beat Burnout, Boost Your Energy, and Reclaim Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Forever Strong: A New, Science-Based Strategy for Aging Well Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Electricity of Every Living Thing: A Woman's Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grow Up: Becoming the Parent Your Kids Deserve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Ah-Choo!
Rating: 3.499999915 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
20 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ackerman goes through all the different studies that have been done on the common cold. How and where you catch one, what can factor into whether you catch one, what are the best ways to avoid catching one and research on all the cold medicines and folk remedies that claim to fight one off. There are a lot of interesting facts here about what a cold actually does to your body, what causes the different symptoms, why it is impossible to create a vaccine and many others. (Did you know that you swallow about a quart of mucus a day? And that’s when you’re healthy. I’m not sure I wanted to know that but now I do.) It is very informative. There are a few words like turbinates and cytokines that I’m not sure exactly what they mean but the general idea is always clear enough. It goes through a lot of the commonly used medicines and supplements and tells you what research and science says about them. It also gives you some pointers on what to do for various symptoms. If you are interested in the science of the cold definitely read this. And if you can find nothing that helps you this book could be useful but if you have something that you swear works don’t read this. Sometimes the science does not support theory and you don’t want to lose any placebo effect that might be at work.