Anticancer: A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Clear and compelling view of how you might make changes in the way you live your life to minimise your risk of cancer. Written by a research MD and cancer sufferer, who clearly knows exactly what he’s talking about, it has become the most heavily bookmarked book I’ve ever read, and has changed my diet (which was already fairly healthy) quite significantly.
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Great perspective on cancer through its history and the history of its treatments, beautifully written by a practicing oncologist. I read this very shorly after my own diagnosis, which perhaps wasn’t the best thing to do, as some of the details of early treatments are fairly horrific. I do firmly believe, however, that knowledge is never a waste, and this was a gripping read. Ultimately, what it shows is how little of the details we know about this set of conditions, for each cancer – almost each person’s cancer – is unique. Treatments for one very often won’t work for another, and it all seems horrifically hit and miss in terms of finding new pathways to help people. None the less, our track record has improved, and over the past few decades, great strides have been made.