From Library JournalAsthma and allergy sufferers, this book is necessary reading: it will answer all your questions regarding why you suffer in your own home and what you may do to prevent it. May, an air quality investigator and president of a home investigation company, takes you on a tour of your home, both interior and exterior, with a elaborate description of the organic and inorganic substances that are making you ill. He covers each room, including the basement, attic, laundry room, garage, heating and air-conditioning system(s), and nooks and crannies that you in all probability forgot about. He explains how insects, molds, bacteria, yeast, dust, moisture, larvae, pet dander, fabric fibers, smoke, and a good deal of other agents may trigger an episode and how to eliminate them permanently. May provides actual stories from his numerous years of experience with the solutions he has commended to his clients. Todd Schultze’s A Safe Haven? (LJ 4/01/01) complements May’s work with practical counsel on ridding your home of toxic hazards like radon, asbestos, and lead. Both will serve for years to come as the definitive guides to establishing disease-free living environments. [See also John Bower's The Healthy House, LJ 9/1/00. Ed.] Irving Weintraub, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., N.
- Irving Weintraub, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From BooklistA friend of May’s read a rough draft of his book on what is genuinely in a “clean” house, hoping it would put her to sleep. Instead, the pictures and text kept her awake all night. Chemical consultant May describes where and how the respective parts of a residence may cause temporary or chronic sickness for those with allergies or other sensitivities. Dust mites and other bugs, their fecal pellets and body parts, the skin scales of humane inhabitants, and volatile chemicals are the major contaminants, and numerous elements of a house commonly considered beneficial–finished basements, wall-to-wall carpeting, central air conditioning–can cause difficulties. One of the best single chapters is on cleaning processes and equipment; it reveals that “dry” steam, conservatively used, is excellent. The “Recommendations” that conclude each chapter serve as review and highlighting of an information-packed text. A first-rate reference that is pleasurable to read. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Asthma and allergy sufferers, this book is necessary reading. It will answer all your questions in regards to why you suffer in your home and what you may do to prevent it. May takes you on a tour of your home, both interior and exterior, with a elaborate description of the organic and inorganic substances that are making you ill… Will serve for years to come as the definitive guide to establishing disease-free living environments.
(Library Journal )
A first-rate reference that is gratifying to read.
(Booklist )
Jeffrey May is a skillful writer, and uses an informal style that is well suitable to communicating with a wide audience… This is the best book I’ve read in years. I couldn’t put it down… It painlessly educates the reader when it comes to problem houses.
(Ellen McCrady The Mold Reporter )
May has made a timely, helpful — and even agreeably diverting — contribution to a field that demands attention.
(Wagdy Anin Architecture Boston )
Great light reading for the professional… Gives the intermediate person control over his or her environment.
(Donna Weeks Synergist )
I just finished reading this superb book with a multitude of examples of homes with poor indoor air quality which caused health difficulties for the occupants. You will find this book very helpful for finding the elements which worsen your asthma. Five out of five stars for this book.
(Dr. Enright WebMD )
By giving a wide assortment of magnificent counsel on identifying and cleaning up mutual household environmental hazards, Mr. May will help you make your home a more comfortable place to live — even if you don’t have allergies.
(Ilyce Glink Washington Times )
Practical counsel and proven solutions.
(Natural Home )
Working with Jeff May has completely changed my attitude toward the affect of the indoor world on humane illness. His work has permitted us to focus on the unfeigned origins of allergic sickness — the microscopic organisms that the immune scheme ought to deal with each second we spend indoors. His counsel profoundly gains families with environmental sensitivity, including those with immunologic conditions beyond allergy and asthma.
(William J. Monafo, M.D., American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology )
Much as physicians heal sick persons, Mr. May and other indoor air quality pros ‘cure’ sick homes and buildings. Unless the cause of sicknesses arising from indoor allergens or other pollutants is efficaciously addressed, medical treatments may be extended unnecessarily or may even be ineffective… This book will be informative for those who think their health troubles may be caused by their homes. Such difficultnesses may be discouraging and hindering to affected people and to their health care providers, who are many times incognizant that the quality of indoor environments is connected with health and disease.
(from the Foreword, Jonathan M. Samet M.D., Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health )
I have had the probability to work with Jeff and he is the ‘real thing.’ He has helped a great deal of of my patients. After reading My House is Killing Me!, I am convinced that it is a must read for persons who requires medical care with respiratory difficulties and the physicians who care for them. His book is also a must read for any individual who owns a home or is when it comes to to buy or renovate one.
(Richard S. Irwin, M.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School )
