The Sensitives

By: Oliver Broudy

Narrated by: Holter Graham

A compelling exploration of the mysteries of environmental toxicity and the community of "sensitives" - people with powerful, puzzling symptoms resulting from exposure to chemicals, fragrances, and cell phone signals that have no effect on "normals".

They call themselves "sensitives". Over 50 million Americans endure a mysterious environmental illness that renders them allergic to chemicals. Innocuous staples from deodorant to garbage bags wreak havoc on sensitives. For them, the enemy is modernity itself.

No one is born with EI. It often starts with a single toxic exposure. Then, the symptoms hit: extreme fatigue, brain fog, muscle aches, inability to tolerate certain foods. With over 85,000 chemicals in the environment, danger lurks around every corner. Largely ignored by the medical establishment and dismissed by family and friends, sensitives often resort to odd ersatz remedies, like lining their walls with aluminum foil or hanging mail on a clothesline for days so it can "off-gas" before they open it.

Broudy encounters Brian Welsh, a prominent figure in the EI community, and quickly becomes fascinated by his plight. When Brian goes missing, Broudy travels with Jeremy, an eager, trusting sensitive to find Brian, investigate this disease, and delve into the intricate, ardent subculture that surrounds it. Their destination: Snowflake, the capital of the EI world. Located in Eastern Arizona, it is a haven where sensitives can live openly without fear of toxins or the judgment of insensitive "normals".

While Broudy’s audiobook is wry, pacey, and down-to-earth, it also dives deeply into compelling corners of medical and American history. He finds telling parallels between sensitives and their cultural forebears, from the Puritans to those refugees and dreamers who settled the West. Ousted from mainstream society, these latter-day exiles nonetheless shed bright light on the anxious, noxious world we all inhabit now.

©2020 Oliver Broudy (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

Not a very thorough review

Throughout this book the author leaned heavily towards believing in an illness with zero hard evidence. Science works by disproving hypotheses. And it would be very easy to disprove nearly everything claimed by patients who say they suffer from EI. And yet virtually no effort was made to question some of the ridiculous claims made by these so-called patients. I have no doubt that environmental chemicals cause some issues for some people, but the people described in this book all appear to be nutjobs with psychological rather than physical problems.