Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I was intrigued by this book the moment I read the description. Recently being diagnosed with kidney disease I was erger to know more. This was a very detailed and easy to understand book. I gained quite a bit of knowledge and understanding regarding the kidneys.

As someone who recently developed a minor issue with my kidneys —and even though I didn`t think much about them, they work hard to keep us healthy. when I saw this book I was very interested to know more about the history of the diseases of the kidneys and the treatments. This book gives us a comprehensive look at what I now realize is one of the most important organs in our bodies: the kidneys.
Amongst the kidney’s many functions, such as: filtering the blood of waste products; regulating electrolytes such as sodium and potassium; and maintaining fluid balance—( All issues that are not functioning properly in my body currently, and are all also affected by the environment you live in such as moving from a cold climate country to a more tropical country) this is a main reason I choose to read this book!
My biggest fear is that my condition will get worse and that my kidneys will fail —but luckily the kidneys can get outside assistance to perform some of their functions: the artificial kidney, also known as dialysis— I wanted to learn more about this and other possible treatments —
The book The Body's Keepers: A Social History of Kidney Failure and Its Treatments takes the reader through the history of the invention of the artificial kidney by Dr. Willem Kolff and the refinements of the technology. While the artificial kidney provided a lifeline for those patients suffering from kidney failure, there were not enough machines to take care of all the patients who needed them. To decide who would get to use such a limited resource fairly, “Life or Death Committees” were assembled to choose which patients would receive the gift of life— and the discrimination within it. It also takes us decade by decade through the improvements in the technology and ability to help patients as well it focused on the greed of the corporations wanting to make a buck off kidney disease and Federal regulations trying to keep patients safe. It looked at the experimental treatments done on patients, which interestingly seemed to be a bit discriminatory— practising on those of lower class or fitting into a specific social construct as if their lives were more disposable to test on back in the 40s and 50s. The author details the discovery of various drugs that assist dialysis patients and the rise of for-profit dialysis centers.

I found this book very interesting and informative to read — there are great explanations explaining the science, the patient cases and how corporations have contributed to the development of kidney disease. This is a book that I will buy for myself — so I can jump around in it and focus on the areas again that are of most interest to me and my Kidney issues.

I think I would recommend this book to anyone dealing with Kidney disease or a family member with CKD, interested in science or medicine and the fine details of how everything operates from treatments to funding for research etc.

Thank you to Netgalley and Mayo Clinic Press for this ARC — it has been very enlightening and I look forward to buying my hardcopy. This is my honest review.

This book is a comprehensive look at one of the most important organs in our bodies: the kidneys.

Most of us don’t think about our kidneys except in that rare case when one has a kidney stone or a disease of the kidneys or that affects them. Despite our not really giving much attention to these organs, they work hard to keep us healthy.

Amongst their many functions, the kidneys filter the blood of waste products; regulate electrolytes such as sodium and potassium; maintain fluid balance—drink a lot of water and the kidneys will make sure you spend your time running to the bathroom—and produce the erythropoietin (EPO) that stimulates the production of red blood cells.

However, when the kidneys are failing or don’t work at all, they are among the few organs of the body where outside assistance can be used to perform some of its functions: the artificial kidney, also known as dialysis. While dialysis is available, it’s a lifelong, fairly expensive, and inconvenient treatment. The best option is a kidney transplant from a living donor or an organ bank.

The book The Body's Keepers: A Social History of Kidney Failure and Its Treatments takes the reader through the history of the invention of the artificial kidney by Dr. Willem Kolff and the refinements of the machine. While the artificial kidney provided a lifeline for those patients suffering from kidney failure, there were not enough machines to take care of all the patients who needed them. To fairly allocate such a scarce resource, “Life or Death Committees” were assembled to choose which patients would receive the gift of life.

Thankfully, these “Death Panels” were put out of business when Congress authorized Medicare to pay for dialysis treatments to allow anyone who needed treatment to get it. You can find more information about Death Panels in the Friday, November 09, 1962, Life Magazine article “They Decide Who Lives, Who Dies” readily available online.

Much of the book is focused on the greed of the corporations wanting to make a buck off kidney disease and Federal regulations trying to keep patients safe. The author details the discovery of various drugs that assist dialysis patients and the rise of for-profit dialysis centers. I found these sections of the book quite tedious to read, but author Paul Kimmel does an excellent job in explaining what scientists, patients, and corporations have contributed to the treatment of kidney disease.

For anyone reading this book, don’t skip the notes section, as it is detailed with tidbits of information that I found fascinating.

I would recommend The Body's Keepers: A Social History of Kidney Failure and Its Treatments to anyone interested in the history of kidney disease, especially if you are interested in the nuts-and-bolts of how such endeavors are funded.

This is an excellent micro-history of the development of nephrology. But only a few specialists will want to read such a detailed book. The book contains everything that a nephrologist might wish to know about the developmental history of kidney transplants or kidney dialysis, but I cannot recommend this book to the general public. It is for experts only.

A fascinating deep dive on how our kidneys function, why they function, and the future of how we view kidney disease and treatments. As someone who has suffered from different kidney issues, this was an engrossing read that helped me better understand the function of the kidneys and how we view them in our society.