These Six Things Will Kill You

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.

Genres: Audiobook, Science, Nonfiction, Medical

Audible Audio

Published April 27, 2023

About the author

Dr. BRANDY SCHILLACE (skil-AH-chay) is an autistic, nonbinary author, historian, mystery writer and Editor (who grew up in an underground house next to a cemetery with a pet raccoon). Her mystery novel, THE FRAMED WOMEN OF ARDEMORE HOUSE, features an autistic protagonist: Jo Jones. Plus: An abandoned English manor, a peculiar missing portrait, and one dead gardener. “A must read for any mystery lover.” – says DEANNA RAYBOURN, New York Times bestselling author of KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE. (This will be book one in the NETHERLEIGH mystery series.)

***QUICK NOTE! I love talking with readers - for Book Clubs and 1:1s, find me now on Skolay: skolay.com/writers/brandy-schillace***

Brandy’s recent nonfiction, MR. HUMBLE AND DR. BUTCHER–described by the New York Times as a “macabre delight”–explores Cold War medicine, bioethics, and transplant science. Brandy’s next nonfiction book, THE INTERMEDIARIES, will tell the forgotten, daring history of the interwar Institute of Sexology in Berlin: trans activists, the first gender affirming surgeries, and the fight for LGBTQ rights in the shadow of the Nazi Third Reich. Rebels against empires, it’s a heart-stopping story of courage in the face of long odds.

And because she writes in two worlds, both of them weird, Brandy hosts a regular YouTube show called Peculiar Book Club. It features livestream chats with bestselling authors of unusual nonfiction, from Lindsey Fitzharris and Mary Roach to Carl Zimmer and Deborah Blum. She has appeared on Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum, NPR’s Here and Now, and with Dan Aykroyd on THE UNBELIEVABLE (History Channel). Bylines at WIRED, Scientific American, Globe and Mail, WSJ Books, and Medium. She works as Editor in Chief for BMJ’s Medical Humanities, a journal for social justice and health equity.

Dr. Schillace is represented by Jessica Papin at Dystel and Goderich Literary Management.

http://brandyschillace.com/
@bschillace

Reviews

[Lynnaurya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps the title should be made to let the listener know that this is going down a more medical, scientific approach since there are plenty of things in this world that will kill you. The influx of Brandy's voice and tone added layers of interest to an otherwise grim and potentially boring science behind these six things. The 6 things listed in the lectures are predictable to the listener and we've for sure have heard or experienced them before, however it's interesting to have another way of looking at something that we hear about a lot. Sometimes it got a little to scientific in it's verbiage, but Brandy didn't let that stop them from teaching to an audience overall and they tried to explain it more in laymens terms so that those who interests or learning is not particular to the biological sciences can understand.

[Christine]

If you were not a hypochondriac, this book will fix that pretty quickly. The author explores several medical phenomena that are quite deadly. The information is very comprehensive and thorough for such a short book. I enjoyed listening about the phenomena as well as theories about why they may become more prevalent in present times, and in the near future. It was fascinating to hear the history of how some of them were developed, literally engineered. If you have an interest in medical history and phenomena, then this is a good book for you. If you want to sleep well at night, not worrying about your health, maybe give this a skip.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Steve Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating in a frightening way, Brandy Shillace’s brief lecture discusses how nature can kill you. She covers cancer, heart disease, fungal infections and fungal poisoning, deadly bacteria, Lyme disease and toxic waters.

It’s absolutely terrifying to think any one of us could succumb to one of these, but she explains how it can happen, and how we can reduce our risks of having it happen to us.

[Clare Kirwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audiobook narration is cheerful but the content less so. Nothing new about cancer and heart disease but bacteria and fungi are always fascinating and the last two chapters - Lyme disease to represent pathogens we may have introduced ourselves (and when I say ‘we’ I mean US chemical weapons boffins) and water pollution in general- we’re really alarming.

[Asami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this lecture course. I think it'd be informative for the general public and it acted as a great recap for me as the book mainly focuses on infective agents and noncommunicable diseases.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was interesting and informative. Definitely some food for thought on what I should avoid.

[Nancy Seamons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Environmental things that can and will cause your death.

[Jessica Weida · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you weren't a hypochondriac before listening to this, you will be afterwards.

[cypher · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting, quick, about some basic things, good for general knowledge...not gonna go swim in a pond or fresh water lake anytime soon, feels too risky.

[Laurie AH · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good info - weirdly animated delivery. Lyme disease lecture was eye-opening.