Description: "The story of the invention and use of electricity has often been told before, but never from an enviromnental point of view. The assumption of safety, and the conviction that electricity has nothing to do with life, are by now so entrenched in the human psyche that new research, and testimony by those who are being injured, are not enough to change the course that society has set. Two increasingly isolated worlds--that inhabited by the majority, who embrace new electrical technology without question, and that inhabited by a growing minority, who are fighting for survival in an electrically polluted environment--no longer even speak the same language. Arthur Firstenberg bridges the two worlds. In a story that is rigorously scientific yet easy to read, he provides a surprising answer to the question, 'How can electricity be suddenly harmful today when it was safe for centuries?'"--Provided by publisher.
Brief description:
Arthur Firstenberg was a scientist and journalist at the forefront of a global movement to tear down the taboo surrounding this subject. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University with a degree in mathematics, he attended the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine from 1978 to 1982. Injury by X-ray overdose cut short his medical career, and he became a researcher, consultant, and lecturer on the health and environmental effects of electromagnetic radiation, as well as a practitioner of several healing arts.
Review Quotes: "Few individuals today are able to grasp the entirety of a scientific subject and present it in a highly engaging manner, in plain English, without losing any of the details. In The Invisible Rainbow, Firstenberg has done just that with one of the most pressing but neglected problems of our technological age. This book, which as a medical doctor I found hard to put down, explores the relationship between electricity and life from beginning to end: from the early eighteenth century to today, and from the point of view of the physician, the physicist, and the average person in the street. Firstenberg makes a compelling case that the major diseases of civilization--heart disease, diabetes, and cancer--are in large part related to the pollution of our world by electricity."--Bradley Johnson, MD, Amen Clinic, San Francisco
"The Invisible Rainbow is wonderful. Firstenberg has done his research thoroughly. His book is easily readable and provocative while being entertaining. A remarkable contribution."--David O. Carpenter, MD, director, Institute for Health and the Environment, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany
"Firstenberg is a pioneer in the sense that Rachel Carson was a pioneer."--Chellis Glendinning, PhD, author of When Technology Wounds