Summary of Meghan O'Rourke's The Invisible Kingdom

📖 The Scoop

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview:

#1

I got sick the way Hemingway says you go broke: gradually and then suddenly. I had been intermittently unwell since I graduated from college in 1997, and now I was getting steadily worse. I was met by turns with cutting skepticism but also genuine concern from clinicians, friends, and colleagues.

#2

There is a silent epidemic of chronic illnesses that are often marginalized, contested, or even unrecognized. These illnesses are characterized by dysregulation of the immune system and/or the nervous system, which are powerfully intertwined in our bodies.

#3

Many people are still suffering in silence with poorly understood illnesses, and many doctors continue to dismiss patients like me, who have symptoms that appear to be normal test results.

#4

I wrote this book to explain the experience of being ill to myself and to help others who are confronted with the obstinate reality of a hardtoidentify chronic illness. The book actively resists the tidyness of most illness narratives.

Genre: Health & Fitness / Diseases / Immune & Autoimmune (fancy, right?)