The Invisible Kingdom is a book about the author, Meghan O’Rourke, and her journey of being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. She walks through specific moments in time when she was at her worst, in addition to giving the reader a further understanding of the medical terms she uses and the current research there is about these terms. This helps the credibility of the book as she has experienced what it is like to live with this type of disease, and she has done exponential research on every point she talks about. Ultimately, O’Rourke could be considered biased because of the fact she is giving a personal story and only from her standpoint. She did not interview the doctors helping her and obtain their side of the story. This book takes …show more content…
For instance, O’Rourke explains her specific story throughout the entire book, bringing in examples of how she was discriminated against and treated differently compared to her fellow males. This piece of evidence is important in helping the readers understand how significant of an issue discrimination is in society. Near the end of the book, O’Rourke explains that if she had been diagnosed with Lyme Disease earlier, she would not be suffering, at lease not to the extent that she is today. This forces the reader to think deeper on how discrimination and not trusting the patient can ultimately change their lives forever. Additionally, O’Rourke uses statistics, specifically when talking about physicians refusing to care for specific individuals, and when she talks about different treatment men vs. women receive in emergence departments. This is the strongest piece of evidence as the author is providing researched facts to support her argument. Finally, O’Rourke employs stories of those around her who have also witnessed or experienced discrimination in the medical field. All in all, O’Rourke does an excellent job of backing up her argument with the use of her own experiences and other individuals’ experiences together with convincing …show more content…
She starts with when she first noticed pain in her early twenties and ends the book with how her life has been currently. As for splitting up the book, she has three main parts. For example, the first section is called “Obstacles” which holds chapters one through nine. This section focuses on O’Rourke’s experiences before doctors believed her pain was serious. In addition to her personal experiences, in this section O’Rourke spends a chapter breaking down what an autoimmune disease is and how it affects the lives of those suffering with one. In the second section titled “Mysteries”, O’Rourke explains the unknown information associated with autoimmune diseases along with her path to finding the doctor who would diagnose, and ultimately help her. She starts off by talking about past stigma associated with autoimmune diseases and identifies how some people convince themselves they are sick or sicker than they are. Overall, this section of the book excellently identifies the naysayers while giving compelling evidence on why the author agrees with her side of the argument. Finally, the third section of the book is labeled “Healing”. In the last few chapters O’Rourke ends with how her life is currently. She talks about her experience with becoming a mother, her father’s experience with cancer, in addition to how her disease still affects her