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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent review of this perplexing and important disease
Review: Hillary Johnson does a masterful job of documenting the illness and its history at a level understandable by the lay public, yet it is detailed enough to satisfy the medical audience. This book is a meticulously researched and exposes some of the worst science has to offer and the best in patients and medical researchers. As an epidemiologist, I knew little about CFIDS before reading this book. After reading it, I am truly amazed (yet again) at how politics can corrupt and intrude into the scientific process. I highly recommend this book!
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Summary: Osler's Web A Good Portrayal
Review: I found Osler's Web to be a good, well-written portrayal of thedisease. I'm a YPWC - Young person with CFIDS, and to lend the book to people to help them understand my illness has helped a lot CFIDS is too unknown - thanks for helping us fight against ignorance, Hillary! The only thing I want to comment on - We don't know if it is a contagious disease. And to say it is, makes some people stay away from us instead of supporting us. Yes, there have been some outbreaks, but it has not been scientifically proven to be contagious!
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Summary: Gripping Tale of Human Nature
Review: My sister gave me this book because I was wondering if I have CFS. In the early pages, the symptoms are described and it became clear that I do not have CFS. So did I stop reading? I couldn't! What a gripping, pell-mell story, unfolding like a psychological thriller---one contributing scene unveiled at a time, in chronological order, with me on the edge of my seat, turning page after page! What fascinates me most in life is human nature, especially how we deal with minority opinions in our culture. It takes a very secure person to open up to new ideas that might shake our perceptual foundations---the entire grid of assumptions on which we base our approach to daily life. You know that old saying, "Don't move my water dish!" Osler's Web is about a developing story that the majority does not want to hear or believe. This sociological majority/minority dynamic that Johnson describes so meticulously in this book, I have seen acted out in a tiny non-profit volunteer organization. I've seen it in religious communities, even in families. Heresy. Orthodoxy. Whose voice gets heard. Whose does not. How we treat the "heretic." What motivates people to say their truth, to keep trying to get heard, once they've been shouted down and trivialized, marginalized or even demonized for saying something that nobody wants to hear? I'm not thrilled with the human minority/majority dynamic, but it is ubiquitous. This book would be useful to anybody who feels obliged in any context to say that the emporer has no clothes. This also is the most gripping drama I have read in years. Highly recommended!
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Summary: Realistic and Revealing
Review: The author does an outstanding job of revealing how some of our most "respected" agencies in western medicine attempt to deal with what they can not define, despite what the patient says. Through constant shifts in focus, we are shown how several different groups deal with this syndrome. The writings illicit a tremendous amount of rage at the incompetence, pain at the ignorance, and confusion in the beurocratic anchors. This book reads like a mystery, and keeps you intrigued until the last page. It concludes like the reality of the search for this anomoly- with no 'pat' answers.
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Summary: Can't Wait for the Sequal
Review: This chronicle of the history of CFIDS is fascinating. There are are better books about what CFIDS is, what it's like to live with it, and what to do about it. The strength of Osler's Web lies in what Johnson has to say about the politics of disease and science. As the wife of a scientist and the daughter of another (and a PWC), I found her highly detailed description of the scientific community to be sadly credible. A lot has happened with regard to CFIDS research since the book was published and I'd love to see an update. What does Johnson make of recent scandals at the CDC, for example, or what does she know about the projects being funded through the NIH? This is good, basic reading for anyone interested in CFIDS and in the dynamics of scientific inquiry.
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Summary: The Definitive Work on Chronic Fatigue
Review: This is the most informative book I've read on Chronic Fatigue. The reading is dry at times, but very informative. This book is about the Center for Disease Control (CDC) involvement in investigating CFS up to the date when the CDC was found quilty of misappropriation of funding for CFS research. Anyone new to the illness should have this book in their library, even if it is just used for references.
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Summary: Should be mandatory reading!
Review: This masterful book should be mandatory reading for every doctor and patient. The National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. recommends it to this day. It is unequaled for its accuracy and both those in the medical profession as well as patients will have a better understanding of this ill-named disease.
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