this is a very well-written book. it provides an excellent background to environmental pollution and sets the record straight about the realitites of manufacturing and its by-products. the multi-hit theory of cancer is thoroughly explored. i am a doctor and i highly reccomend this important and very personal book to everyone without reservation.

This book is short and potent. I love books that draw me in with candid personal thread and then reward me with consideration of larger ideas and questions, and Lake Effect does just that. Nancy Nichols masterfully weaves together the story of her and her sister's lives and cancers with a provocative big-picture look at why our society seems unable to make the crucial connections between environmental toxins and health. I've recommended the book to several friends who like smart, well-written books, with a personal angle.

Nancy writes an amazing environmental memoir. It combines the rigorous research of a journalist with the touching honesty of a woman. This makes a great read for all: the scientist, the humanist, and the regular bloke like me.

I rarely read a book in one sitting, but this one I could not put down. Nancy Nichols has put together a beautifully written and robustly researched book about her sister's - and her own - struggle with cancer, and her investigation into the links between these cancers and the contaminated lake of their childhood. What I love about the book is that it is as emotionally powerful as it is intellectually honest. There seems voluminous evidence to suggest a link between her old neighborhood and her family's cancers, but she does not let her writings resort to impulsive finger-pointing. She is journalistically rigorous, while being human, real and, at times, quite funny. A truly exceptional book - something for the heart and mind.