Hari recounts being in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and buying a very large, appetizing apple. Following health guidelines for visitors to Vietnam, Hari washed the apple with water. Still, it had a “bitter, chemical taste” (1). Hari ate half of the apple, nonetheless. For the next several days, he became very ill. Despite that, he continued his work interviewing survivors of the Vietnam War for a book project.

Hari’s condition worsened during an interview with an elderly woman who was one of the sole survivors, along with her children, of the bombing of her village. The interviewee and Hari’s translator, Dang Hoang Linh, insisted that he go to the hospital. There, Hari learned it was the apple that made him sick and almost killed him. It was covered with so many pesticides that cleaning it with water was not enough; instead, the apple skin needed to be removed entirely. The lesson he took from his experience was what the doctor told him while he was sick: “You need your nausea. It is a message. It will tell us what is wrong with you” (4).