Description

Excerpt from Why Dirt Is Good.

Western civilization has an obsession with cleanliness, as seen through our obsessive use of antibacterial cleansers and hand sanitizers. This behavior has had the opposite effect, actually making us sick by making our immune systems more vulnerable as well as creating “super” bugs.

Why Dirt is Good is a fun look at the positive side of dirt and germs, through illustrations with cartoons showing the health benefit of dirt. In this book author Mary Ruebush, an award-winning scientist in the study of germs and bacteria, features irreverent yet medically sound advice that illustrates how we can become healthier by exposing ourselves to a bit of dirt and germs. Divided into four parts, chapters include dirt=good, antibiotics=bad; how your immune system really works and how it develops in children; what germs and bugs are doing to survive; and what you can do to make your immune system healthier.



Mary Ruebush, PhD., is an Associate Professor of Medical Science at the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, & Idaho (WWAMI) Rural Health Research Center and Medical School, where she teaches Medical Genetics, Microbiology, and Immunology. Her studies on germs and bacteria have been published in scholarly journals and she is also member of the Kaplan faculty.