
Penguin, September 2008
All of us have cancer cells in our bodies. But not all of us will
develop cancer.
When David Servan-Schreiber, a dedicated scientist and doctor,
was diagnosed with brain cancer, his life changed. Confronting what
medicine knows about the illness and the little-known workings of his
body's natural cancerfighting capacities, and marshaling his own
will to live, Servan-Schreiber found himself on a fifteen-year
journey from disease and relapse into scientific exploration and,
finally, to health. Combining memoir, concise explanation of what makes
cancer cells thrive and what inhibits them, and drawing on both
conventional and alternative ways to slow and prevent cancer, Anticancer is revolutionary. It is
a moving story of a doctor's inner and outer search for balance;
radical in its discussion of the environment, lifestyle, and trauma;
and compelling and cautionary in its proposal that cancer cells lie
dormant in all of us -- and that we all must care for the "terrain" in
which they exist. Advocating a sea change in the way we understand and
confront cancer, Anticancer is
a radical synthesis of science and personal experience, an inspiring
personal journey, and certainly a guide to "a new way of life."
Anticancer tells us:
- Why the traditional Western diet creates the conditions for disease and how to develop a science-based anticancer diet
- How and why sugar and stress feed cancer -- and ways to achieve life balance and good nutrition to combat it
- Why the effects of helplessness and unhealed wounds affect our ability to restore health
- How to reap the benefits of exercise, yoga, and meditation
- How to minimize environmental toxins
- How to find the right blend of traditional and alternative health
care
hardcover | ISBN: 9780670020348 | Publication Date: September 2008
Reviews:
"Enormously compelling evidence and arguments for participating in our
own health by supporting our deep natural capacity for healing.
Everybody should read this book and enact its simple but potentially
lifesaving recommendations. David Servan-Schreiber speaks with a
powerful voice from both personal experience with cancer at a young age
and from his life's calling as a physician and neuroscientist."
--Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor of medicine emeritus, University of
Massachusetts Medical School; author of Full Catastrophe Living
''A mesmerizing, brilliant, astonishing, and well-documented journey
detailing the extraordinary successes and remarkable failures of
efforts to wrestle with cancer in the modern world."
--Devra Davis, National Book Award finalist; author of The Secret History of the War on Cancer
"A courageous, sensible, and rational discussion on how integrative
medical approaches may be used in the fight against this devastating
disease. Anticancer is an
absolutely indispensable guide for cancer survivors and anyone who
wants to adopt healthy lifestyle habits in order to prevent cancer."
--Dr. Richard Beliveau, author of Foods
That Fight Cancer
"Anticancer is a passionate
and thoughtful book. It speaks to both the heart and the head. Dr.
Servan-Schreiber builds on his own personal experience with cancer and
his medical training to show that life with cancer can be enhanced by
changing diet and exercise and living not in fear but fully. Read it
and leap into a vibrant life with and against cancer."
--David Spiegel, MD, Willson Professor and associate chair of
psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford University School of
Medicine; author of Living Beyond
Limits: New Hope and Help for Facing Life-Threatening Illness