Reading The Deep Places, the new memoir from New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, I was reminded of a conversation I’d had with a friend back home in Connecticut. As I slugged one beer after another, my friend explained, for what felt like an hour, about the pitiless war between good and bad toxins constantly raging in every human body. He told me how the toxins spread, how they affected our health, and, crucially, how we could fight them. His weapon of choice in this conflict was the coffee enema, which, he helpfully informed me, was “super helpful with detoxing the liver and helping with the entire immune system, clearing yeast and parasites.” I told him I’d take his word for it.
Suggestion is an immensely powerful thing, and for the skeptic, it can explain nearly all of what Douthat relates over the brisk 200 pages of The Deep Places. You see, my friend and Douthat have something in common; they both fall into a category that does not officially exist: the chronic Lyme patient.
