Cancer Books - Page 5

Pretty Is What Changes: Impossible Choices, The Breast Cancer Gene, and How I Defied My Destiny

Jessica Queller

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A timely, affecting memoir from the front lines of medical science: When genetics can predict how we may die, how then do we decide how to live?

Eleven months after her mother succumbs to cancer, Jessica Queller has herself tested for the BRCA “breast cancer” gene mutation. The results come back positive, putting her at a terrifyingly elevated risk of developing breast cancer before the age of fifty and ovarian cancer in her lifetime. Thirty-four, unattached, and yearning for marriage and a family of her own, Queller faces an agonizing choice: a lifetime of vigilant screenings and a commitment to fight the disease when caught, or its radical alternative—a prophylactic double mastectomy that would effectively restore life to her, even as it would challenge her most closely held beliefs about body image, identity, and sexuality.

Superbly informed and armed with surprising wit and style, Queller takes us on an odyssey from the frontiers of science to the private interiors of a woman’s life. Pretty Is What Changes is an absorbing account of how she reaches her courageous decision and its physical, emotional, and philosophical consequences. It is also an incredibly moving story of what we inherit from our parents and how we fashion it into the stuff of our own lives, of mothers and daughters and sisters, and of the sisterhood that forms when women are united in battle against a common enemy.

Without flinching, Jessica Queller answers a question we may one day face for ourselves: If genes can map our fates and their dark knowledge is offered to us, will we willingly trade innocence for the information that could save our lives?

Cancer Is Not A Disease - It's A Survival Mechanism

Andreas Moritz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In Cancer Is Not A Disease, bestselling author and internationally acclaimed health expert, Andreas Moritz, proves the point that cancer is the physical symptom reflecting our body's final attempt to eliminate specific life-destructive causes. He claims that removing such causes sets the precondition for complete healing of our body, mind and emotions. This book confronts you with a radically new understanding of cancer - one that outdates the current cancer model. On average, the conventional approaches of killing, cutting or burning cancerous cells offer most patients a remission rate of merely 7%, and the majority of the few survivors are "cured" for just five years or less. The prominent cancer researcher and professor at the University of California (Berkeley), Dr. Hardin Jones, stated: "Patients are as well, or better off, untreated." Any published success figures in cancer survival statistics are offset by equal or better scores among those not receiving any treatments. More people are killed by the treatments than saved. Cancer is Not a Disease shows you why regular cancer treatments can be fatal, what actually causes cancer, and how you can remove the obstacles that prevent the body from healing itself. Cancer is not an attempt on your life; to the contrary, cancer is trying to save it. Unless we change our perception of what cancer really is, it will continue to threaten the life of nearly one out of every two people. This book opens a door for those who wish to turn feelings of victimhood into empowerment and self-mastery, and disease into health.

There's No Place Like Hope: A Guide to Beating Cancer in Mind-Sized Bites : A Book of Hope, Help, and Inspiration for Cancer Patients and Their Families

Vickie Girard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Hope-> Understanding -> Help 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is great. It offers insight and HOPE. I am not living with cancer yet I have learned so much from this little book. What it has to offer is not little - big in understanding, big in learning, BIG in HOPE.

Editorial Review:

This is Vickie Girard's long-awaited and completely indispensable survival guide for cancer patients and their families. Regardless of the type of cancer, here is an immediate, practical, and inspiring guide that will empower any patient to better fight and survive this disease. Through her involvement with the Cancer Treatment Centersof America and The American Cancer Society, Vickie Girardhas taken her message of “empowered patient care” to the floor of the U.S. Senate and to thousands of cancer patients and survivors throughout the world. The message is simple, hopeful, powerful, and long overdue: “We must stop speaking of cancer in whispers. We may have cancer, but cancer does not have us. Cancer is a beatable, treatable, survivable disease.”

Breast Cancer Survival Manual, Fourth Edition: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Woman With Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer

John Link

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In a valuable guide for women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer, Dr. John Link helps sort through the confusion and the fear, by explaining such things as how to get a second opinion and how to understand a pathology report.

Particularly valuable is Link's step-by-step description of how breast cancer is characterized, or staged, according to tumor size, hormone receptors, and other factors--and how that affects prognosis. As a breast cancer specialist at Long Beach and Orange Coast Memorial hospitals in Southern California, Link knows the medical jargon and what it means. Although his writing style is at times a bit jargony and difficult to read, a breast cancer patient will willingly read and reread every word. The book also includes useful chapters on diet, exercise, herbs, and vitamins; managing the side effects of treatment; healing's mind-body connection; and organizing medical records and keeping a personal journal or log.

Ending on an encouraging note, Link writes, "You should know that most women today are cured of breast cancer. They undergo treatment, become survivors, and go on with their lives. But having breast cancer is certainly a wake-up call to many and may be for you. Life now has added uncertainty." This step-by-step manual helps you navigate the uncertainty and become a survivor, both physically and psychologically.

Death Be Not Proud (P.S.)

John J. Gunther

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 120 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Less Impressive Than I Had Expected 3 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

A journalist and occasional novelist, John J. Gunther (1901-1970)was best known for the series of geo-political books he wrote during the 1930s and 1940s; today, however, he is best recalled for DEATH BE NOT PROUD. Published in 1949 and subtitled "A Memoir," it is a short work describing the final months of son Johnny Gunther, who died of a cancerous brain tumor in the late 1940s. Over the years many people have recommended this book to me, describing it as poetic in style, deeply touching in story, philosophical in content. Having at last read the work, I find the descriptions of it largely inaccurate and myself sharply unimpressed.

To hear his father tell it, Johnny Gunther was an entity without flaw, a seventeen year old who was charming in his shyness, brilliant beyond his years, corresponding with Einstein even as he bemoaned his lack of skill at sports, the perfect child, a paragon beyond paragons who endured great suffering with a smile. While I can easily accept the brilliance and integrity and strength of character--such people do exist--the portrait quickly becomes cloying; Gunther elevates Johnny to the level of plaster saint and it is tiresome in the extreme.

Gunther's prose is not in the least poetic; it is in fact the workman-like writing of the journalist he was. As for philosophical tone, this seems to consist of asking the time-honored questions about life and death and little more. In the end, DEATH BE NOT PROUD is the emotional purging of a grief-stricken parent who considers his loss to be unique instead of universal and therefore lacks the scope that one would really wish of this sort of memoir. Recommended, but primarily for the details it offers of the way in which cancer patients were treated in this era.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Editorial Review:

Johnny Gunther was only seventeen years old when he died of a brain tumor. During the months of his illness, everyone near him was unforgettably impressed by his level-headed courage, his wit and quiet friendliness, and, above all, his unfaltering patience through times of despair. This deeply moving book is a father's memoir of a brave, intelligent, and spirited boy.

Principles of Cancer Biology

Lewis J. Kleinsmith

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Principles of Cancer Biology,is an engaging book focused on providing readers with a “big picture” view of cancer. Author Lewis Kleinsmith has written an instructional text focusing on key concepts for a general audience. Each chapter contains a list of suggested readings that expand the detail as needed. The text also emphasizes the scientific evidence that underlies cancer biology, and teaches readers to think critically about this evidence- as there are constantly new “breakthroughs” and reports in this field. For readers who need the review, there are brief reviews of several topics related to DNA replication and repair, cell division, cell signaling, and inheritance patterns in chapters where these subjects are relevant. By including these reviews, the text is both accessible and engaging to a broad audience of readers who are studying cancer biology for the first time, as well as an interested general audience. What Is Cancer, Profile of a Cancer Cell, How Cancers Spread, Identifying the Causes of Cancer, Chemicals and Cancer, Radiation and Cancer, Infectious Agents and Cancer, Heredity and Cancer, Oncogenes, Tumor Suppressor Genes and Cancer Overview, Cancer Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment, Preventing Cancer, Main Types of Cancer, Human Carcinogens. For all readers interested in the big picture view of cancer.

Betty Crocker's Living with Cancer Cookbook: Easy Recipes and Tips through Treatment and Beyond

Kris Ghosh, Linda Carson, Elyse Cohen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Good nutrition is vital to people undergoing cancer treatment, yet treatment side effects can make eating seem unappealing. Now Betty Crocker, two oncologists, and a nutritionist bring back the joy of eating topeople undergoing cancer treatment with delicious recipes that are nutritious and easy to make. A thoughtful, practical gift for patients and families coping with cancer, the book includes:
* 130 recipes, from breakfasts and snacks to dinners and desserts, like Extra-Easy Baked Ziti, Fettuccine with Asparagus and Mushrooms and Country Blueberry Cobbler
* Advice from cancer patients, from coping with the emotional roller coaster to making recipes more appealing
* Recipes tagged to show which are helpful for the most common side effects of cancer treatment, plus special diet menus to help with them
* "Q and A" between Dr. Ghosh and cancer patients about how to handle the effects of cancer treatment
* An easy 7-day menu plan based on eating small meals six times a day -- just right for patients in treatment
* Cancer resource guide, nutrition and medical glossary
"This book will be of great assistance to patients and families undergoing cancer treatment. It is a creative guide to the use of pleasant and easy menus to help alleviate difficult, commonly experienced side effects." --Dr. Barrie R. Cassileth, Chief, Integrative Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul: 101 Healing Stories About Those Who Have Survived Cancer

Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubrey, Beverly Katherine Kirkhart, Nancy Mitchell-Autio

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Beautiful 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

You won't find a lot of technical mumbo jumbo here, but what you will find is a beautifully written book of inspirational stories to soothe the cancer-ridden soul. I tend to shy away from anything that has "chicken soup" on the cover, but this was given by a colleague and I've treasured it. Great gift to newly-diagnosed loved ones and friends.

The gift of "Hope" 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book as a gift for a friend of mine who has cancer. She has been through quite an ordeal since her diagnosis 4 months ago and still has a long, difficult road ahead. I feared that she was losing hope and her spirits were low, so I gave this book to her. I didn't read it myself first, but after reading the reviews here, I was counting on this lifting her spirits.

She says it is so great to read positive stories for a change. She has been so bogged down with doctors and treatments, it was hard to see anything positive. She says this book has been a great help to her and made her realize that anything is possible.

Editorial Review:

More than 100 cancer survivors share their personal stories in this touching new collection of Chicken Soup. These heartwarming accounts of courageous people who found the power to battle cancer in their endless hope, unwavering faith and steadfast determination will inspire you to adopt a positive attitude, discover your faith and cherish every moment. Just what the doctor ordered for healing your body, mind and soul.

Cancer on $5 a Day* *(chemo not included): How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life

Robert Schimmel, Alan Eisenstock

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the spring of 2000, Robert Schimmel was riding high. He’d won the Stand-Up of the Year Award, his HBO special was a huge hit, and his sitcom had been picked up. And then it all came crashing down. Diagnosed with Stage III non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he was told he would have to undergo chemotherapy immediately. The sitcom was dumped and the fire of his white-hot career started to go out. But Schimmel never lost his sense of humor, his knife-like edge, and most of all, his passion to entertain. Indeed, it was his basic need to laugh-even if the only people around him were suffering from cancer and the room he was playing was the Mayo Clinic infusion center-that carried him through his ordeal. From his colorful banter with nurses and other patients during chemo, to his hilarious conversation with a wig salesman, going for the laugh was Robert Schimmel’s survival mechanism. Alternately laugh-out-loud funny and profound, Cancer on Five Dollars a Day is an honest account of how one man’s face-off with a deadly disease helped him better understand himself.

Every Second Counts

Lance Armstrong

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Total reviews: 99 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the opening of Lance Armstrong's memoir, Every Second Counts (co-authored by Sally Jenkins), he reflects: "Generally, one of the hardest things in the world to do is something twice." While he is talking here about his preparation for what would prove to be his second consecutive Tour de France victory in 2000, the sentiment could equally be applied to the book itself. And just as Armstrong managed to repeat his incredible 1999 tour victory, Every Second Counts repeats--and, in some ways exceeds—the success of his bestselling first memoir, It's Not About the Bike.

Every Second Counts confronts the challenge of moving beyond his cancer experience, his first Tour victory, and his celebrity status. Few of Armstrong's readers will ever compete in the Tour de France (though cyclists will relish Armstrong's detailed recounting of his 2000-2003 tour victories), but all will relate to his discussions of loss and disappointment in his personal and professional life since 1999. They will relate to his battles with petty bureaucracies, like the French court system during the doping scandal that almost halted his career. And they will especially relate to constant struggles with work/life balance.

In the face of September 11--which arrives halfway through the narrative (just before the fifth anniversary of his diagnosis)--Armstrong draws from his experiences to show that suffering, fear, and death are the essential human condition. In so openly using his own life to illustrate how to face this reality, he proves that he truly is a hero--and not just because of the bike. In Every Second Counts he is to be admired as a human being, a man who sees every day as a challenge to live richly and well, no matter what hardships may come. --Patrick O'Kelley