Curable: How an Unlikely Group of Radical Innovators Is Trying to Transform our Health Care System

Christofferson really nailed it with his book “Tripping Over the Truth”. I expected no less with “Curable” and I wasn’t disappointed! Christofferson writes eloquently of the evils and fallacies of the US’s current medical system, and of the major paradigm shifts and systems developments needed to remedy same.Curiously, he does not say much about the evils of our pharmaceutical industry and its ownership of academic research carefully that is designed to push more pharmaceuticals, regardless of their efficacy or the risks and dangers of taking these drugs. The path is familiar to any patient - - symptom, standard of care handbook, prescription – “a pill for every ill”; all this in a standard 15 minute doctor’s appointment. Maybe Christofferson feels that other books have already covered that sad part of the for-profit-above-all-else pharma/medical/insurance/hospital industry gluttony.Because of my current background in science and medicine, the first several chapters of Christofferson’s “Curable” kind of cruised along with valuable material that was mostly familiar to me. However, starting with his chapter 5 (Nature or Nurture: What Really Matters?”) Christofferson hit the afterburners and the book really took off. His discussion of methylation and epigenetics was the very best I have ever read, only to be surpassed with his summary of Daniel Kahneman’s exploration of the two faces of happiness – the remembering self, and the experiencing self. This was a new approach to the topic for me and will be very illuminating and rewarding to all readers.My disappointment with Christofferson’s discussion of the medical industry was due to his complete lack of any discussion of the revolution taking place with Functional Medicine (or Integrative Medicine, etc.) gradually superseding the conventional specialty-focused medicine of today. Perhaps in my perceived shortcoming of this second book of Christofferson’s lie the seeds of his third book. I hope so. Travis, are you reading this?The accelerating evolution toward Functional Medicine has at its roots considering the human body as a total system, and instead of describing illnesses by symptoms (and corresponding drugs), features a quest for the root cause of the symptom(s). So much recent research and progress has been made in the past five years on the major role the gut microbiome plays in determining one’s overall health. We now understand how a leaky gut can trigger any one or more of at least 140 chronic autoimmune diseases. We know that the answer to eliminating most of these diseases lies in better nutrition, supplementation with high quality vitamins and minerals, routine cardio and resistance exercise, better sleep, and stress reduction. For instance, while most of today’s doctors and pharma companies push drug treatment to Type 2 diabetics, most Type 2 diabetes and (usually) accompanying obesity can be quickly remedied by changes in diet alone. But there is no money in this for doctors and drug companies, so the status quo practices persist, and tens of thousands of people needlessly suffer and pay obscene prices for medications that will not cure their “disease”. Yet, in this second book of Christofferson’s, purporting to cover the medical industry, the Functional Medicine revolution in health thinking and practice gets little to no mention.Nor in Christofferson’s bibliography for “Curable” is there the mention of any prominent Functional Medicine doctor or scientist’s book or paper. It’s as if these giants of the field of Functional Medicine and the knowledge contained in their many books, scientific papers, and educational YouTube video presentations and interviews don’t exist – people such as Steven Gundry, Mark Hyman, David Perlmutter, Joseph Mercola, Dave Asprey, Bruce Ames, Terry Wahls, Dale Bredesen, Thomas Cowan, Jack Wolfson, Chris Kresser, Jason Fung, Ivor Cummins, Nick Lane, Lee Know, Malcolm Kendrick, Rhonda Patrick, Peter Attia, Thomas Seyfried, Russell Jaffe, and many more. How can this evolution/revolution be ignored? These Functional Medicine doctors and scientists are shifting the focus of medicine from maintaining patients to healing them.Obviously, an author must place limits on his/her chosen book subject. Christofferson has done an outstanding job with “Curable”. It is an illuminating and very enjoyable read. But there is a gaping hole in his medical/health care industry remediation story that screams for a writer of his knowledge and skill to fill it.

Good book. However, there is; as someone else mentioned, little mentioned re the dangers of epigenetic changes or their cause.By adding newer documented research from unbiased sources we have found that the accumulation of factors causing chronic disease are epigenetic (and sometimes genetic) mutations.The effects of industrial farming methods, ultra processed foods, toxic exposures, and iatrogenic cause; all effects that increase the number of people who are chronically ill.When this is finally written and properly identified (I guess over and over, as it’s not making headlines w the people saying it yet) these connections will make a complete story of the causes which have accumulated and increased the incidence of disease in our time.This logical inclusion is left out. The information, while apparent to those keeping-up with molecular, quantum, and genetic science, is a glaring omission. This leaves this book as an incomplete description of the implications of modern life. Instead of offering this insight into the “mysterious illnesses” doctors have a rough time diagnosing and are quite awful, in all honesty, at treating, this book asks for more data, while leaving out the data we have already.To fully comprehend health requires acknowledgement, identification, and mitigation of exposure, as well as acknowledgment of the ways restoring systems to their natural state can support cellular health for all beings, not just humans within the healt system.In changing exposure and supporting life I have made it possible to live with a debilitating illness (MCAS and the numerous other things I was once labeled as having: chronic pain, fibromyalgia, POTS, chronic fatigue, kidney pain, IBS, and skin lesions).When the medical, pharmaceutical and chemical engineers who make and promote synthetic food and fragrance begin to take responsibility for the biological fallout that is changing both the health of people and the biome as a whole, we can begin supporting the work of prevention and remediation and investing in real world action. Then we’ll be “Curable”Currently the increasing list of “side effects” of increasingly dangerous drugs, procedures and their PR campaigns claiming to treat disease only address minimizing symptoms. When we properly treat people with chronic disease we’ll be “Curable”.

Travis Christofferson is the finest science writer of the day. It’s hard to put this book down.

This was an easy to read book and reads almost like a story to get to the bottom of why we have very expensive health care that doesn't really go far enough to meet the needs of many people who are just sick.It gives some ideas of how it can be improved, but we need to have doctors sign on to making improvements. Doctors read this book! I know you really want to help people live longer better lives.

Well written and compelling. It's one of those books you read that makes you just wish and hope with all your heart that a bad situation could be turned around. I don't know if there's hope for America's Medical system. I'm a former RN. I got so disgusted & frustrated with the corruption and poor care I saw in conventional medicine, I retired early. This book is filled with undeniable, evidence based facts that could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars at the same time !

Wow, what a great book! Christofferson starts with some psychology history, goes into how "Moneyball" upset the way of doing major league baseball, then handles Warren Buffet, medical history of people like William Halstead and his radical mastectomies and then how innovative insurance companies like Intermountain Healthcare started looking at data for best outcomes.If more people started thinking this way, healthcare in America would be tremendously benefited.

I'm begging every doctor I know to read this book. Christofferson's "Tripping Over Truth" was amazing but I think this book goes even further. If you have cancer, a C diff infection, intractable depression or just plain care about your health, please read this book and recommend it to everyone that you know, especially your doctor.