These Six Things Will Kill You

By: Brandy Schillace, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Brandy Schillace

We might be afraid of lions, tigers, and bears (oh, my!), but much more frequently, our worst foes come without teeth and claws and in teeny, tiny packages.

In These Six Things Will Kill You, medical historian Brandy Schillace introduces you to half a dozen deadly forces, often microscopic and invisible, that might be coming for you at this very moment.

Dr. Schillace will introduce you to bacteria and fungi; cancer, Lyme, and heart disease; and some of the ways the very environment around us is out to get us. She will also arm you with the knowledge of how to avoid these fatal elements when possible, and what modern science is doing to help us protect ourselves against them. Dr. Schillace will also introduce you to the growing field of personalized medicine and how your unique genome might dictate which of these diseases you should be giving particular attention.

Whether you are young or old, healthy or frail, this course offers pragmatic guidance on how to avoid disease and reduce your risk for early death.

©2023 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2023 Audible Originals, LLC

Engaging and Informative

Though frightening by the title alone, this series of lectures thoroughly lays out information about each “thing that will kill you” without sensationalism or hyperbole. The straightforward and easy to follow presentation made listening and learning a very enjoyable and valuable experience.

Interesting

Good for a quick and informative listen. Superficial, but still has enough historical punch for a short drive.

Add a little paranoia to your life…

This very quick book will add a little paranoia to your life by telling you about six very common things that can kill you. Starts with cancer and suggests reasons why it has become much more common (we live longer, so more of us survive to suffer from it). The book then moves on to do similar things with heart disease, bacteria, fungi, Lyme’s disease, and toxic water.

Interesting but Troubling

This very quick Great Courses book will add a little paranoia to your life by telling you about six very common things that can kill you if you’re unlucky enough to encounter them. Starting with cancer, Shillace offers a little historical knowledge about cancer and suggests reasons that it has become more common (we live longer, so more of us survive to suffer from it). Then she moves on to do similar things with heart disease, bacteria, fungi, Lyme’s disease, and toxic water. It's an interesting but frankly troubling discussion.

Truly Interesting and Informative!

Although I would probably never "read" this book I very mych enjoyed listenibg to it! The audiobook is tuly Interesting and informative with a great narative production. I learned a lot and at a minimum will now take steps to better prepare myself, i.e. spraying my clothes with a tick repellant prior to heading on a hike with my dog during the season and avoiding lakes where I see blue green algae. Thanks for the info and advice!

Easy to listen to

Could the author’s sudden illness have been scombroid poisoning? Informative listen, Played in my car while running errands.

Fascinating!!

I found this book informative, a bit scary and fascinating. I am definitely going to listen to it again. I also love the title. When I am asked what I am listening to and I tell them, the response is hilarious. Thank you for presenting this unusual book to us!! Love it!!!

Unbearably perky narration

The middle school pep rally style of delivery completely distracts from the interesting and worthwhile info. I had to bail in the second lecture despite being very interested in heart disease- it was just too off putting!

Where are the editors?

I only listened to about half an hour of this audiobook. I found the narration unbearable, with the tone and constant inflection reminiscent of a kindergarten teacher trying to keep everyone's attention.
And then there are small but frequent errors: Watson and Crick did not discover the chemical structure of DNA; they discovered its physical structure. She calls pericarditis an inflammation of the heart's lining; it is actually an inflammation of the sac that surrounds the heart.
There are others. These are admittedly small errors, but frequent enough to disturb my listening and should not be made by a professional writer of the history of science.
I'm returning this one.