Please use this discussion thread to post overall reviews of the book and discussions of those reviews.
The overall reviews can be based on your reading of the entire book, or most of it.
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I cannot recommend it enough
I bought this book online two days ago and was scarcely able to put it down until I finished it today. I cannot recommend it enough. (However, you need to be in a certain state of mind to read it. I certainly couldn't have understood it when I was in the throes of induction or SCT, as it is long and complex.)
I previously had learned enough about myeloma and its treatment to have a basic understanding of what was going on. However, I somehow got the impression that myeloma was an outlier --practically freakish --and markedly different from other cancers, both negatively (not curable) and positively (we have had so many targeted drugs approved).
What I didn't understand, and what this book explains so well and thoroughly, is the entire history of the treatment of cancer and, in the end, how similar myeloma is to other cancers.
I am in awe of the progress that the researchers and clinicians have made in the past thirty years and feel extremely fortunate to have been diagnosed in the 21st century!
Thanks so much for recommending this great book.
I previously had learned enough about myeloma and its treatment to have a basic understanding of what was going on. However, I somehow got the impression that myeloma was an outlier --practically freakish --and markedly different from other cancers, both negatively (not curable) and positively (we have had so many targeted drugs approved).
What I didn't understand, and what this book explains so well and thoroughly, is the entire history of the treatment of cancer and, in the end, how similar myeloma is to other cancers.
I am in awe of the progress that the researchers and clinicians have made in the past thirty years and feel extremely fortunate to have been diagnosed in the 21st century!
Thanks so much for recommending this great book.
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Ginny - Name: Ginny
- Who do you know with myeloma?: self and four friends
- When were you/they diagnosed?: October, 2012
- Age at diagnosis: 62
An outstanding read / listen
This is an outstanding book.
I began listening to it on my long drives to work. I drive about one hour each way everyday to work and home and find this book so informative. It dives right into the history of the disease, with early man showing evidence of cancer in their mummified bodies from over thousands of years ago. The author outlines the early, bizarre treatments and takes us right up to modern day. His discussion of radical mastectomies and the error the early surgeons made by resecting almost the entire upper thorax of women was very disturbing ... and this took place from the 1880 to roughly 1981, when clinical trials showed no need for such radical removals of muscle and bone in breast metasties.
The discussion of the A.L. Leukemia in children. Dr. Faber and their research is fascinating and frankly up setting again. It make me think about the children who frankly are young, innocent and not lived yet.
I am 2/3 through the book and will finish it next week and respond more.
thx
I began listening to it on my long drives to work. I drive about one hour each way everyday to work and home and find this book so informative. It dives right into the history of the disease, with early man showing evidence of cancer in their mummified bodies from over thousands of years ago. The author outlines the early, bizarre treatments and takes us right up to modern day. His discussion of radical mastectomies and the error the early surgeons made by resecting almost the entire upper thorax of women was very disturbing ... and this took place from the 1880 to roughly 1981, when clinical trials showed no need for such radical removals of muscle and bone in breast metasties.
The discussion of the A.L. Leukemia in children. Dr. Faber and their research is fascinating and frankly up setting again. It make me think about the children who frankly are young, innocent and not lived yet.
I am 2/3 through the book and will finish it next week and respond more.
thx
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Keith V
Re: Overall reviews
I found the book fascinating, and I loved every minute reading it.
The book brought home the point, to me, of the absolute importance of the success of Dr. E. Donnal Thomas' research in the bone marrow transplant. This idea started a whole new paradigm in cancer treatment.
I recommend this book.
The book brought home the point, to me, of the absolute importance of the success of Dr. E. Donnal Thomas' research in the bone marrow transplant. This idea started a whole new paradigm in cancer treatment.
I recommend this book.
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Kdgreentea
Re: Overall reviews
I got this from the library and really enjoyed what I read. Overall, it was too technical for me, but what I gleaned was fascinating. My husband listened to it on BCD and probably that's what I'll do down the road. The author's research was amazing, and cancer research has come an extraordinary way.
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Christina1952
Re: Overall reviews
The Emperor of All Maladies...So far, in the first 45 pages only, I have learned a lot of medical history. Cancer is not mentioned much in the histories of ancient cultures, since most people in those eras did not have a long life span. Even as recently as the early twentieth century, infectious diseases were rampant. But with the discovery of antibiotics in the last century, including penicillin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline and streptomycin, as well as with the development of vaccines against smallpox, polio and other diseases, rates of human survival went up. With public health measures such as clean water and good nutrition, improvements were also made in the health of the populations fortunate to have these measures. With infectious diseases more or less under control, and better living conditions, the two main causes of mortality then became cancer and heart disease.
Interestingly enough, for people interested in myeloma, some of the early research into cancer was conducted on another blood cancer, leukaemia. The forerunner to this research were the investigations into two types of anemia, pernicious, and anemia caused by chronic malnutrition. Pernicious anemia was found in 1934 to be treatable with Vitamin B12. And it turned out that Marmite (a vegetable spread popular in Australia) could be used to treat the other anemia...the active ingredient was found to be folic acid (folate).
Dr. Sidney Farber was a pediatrician treating children who had leukaemia. He wondered if the folic acid might help them too. However, the opposite proved to be the case, for the folic actually enhanced the cancers. He then wondered if the opposite might be true, and looked for an 'anti-vitamin' compound that might prevent the manufacture of folic acid in the system. Folate is needed for DNA synthesis, and nowhere is this more rapidly used than in the production of red blood cells, which are produced at the rate of 300 billion cells per day. By working with chemists, he was able to find a compound that would inhibit the production of folic acid, called aminopterin. This compound actually put some children who were suffering from leukaemia into a remission. The remission only held for a few months, but that showed that this compound, which actually inhibited DNA synthesis, could be used as chemotherapy.
One poignant bit of this first part of the book describes that one of Dr. Farber's assistants performed a bone marrow biopsy on a childhood leukaemia patient, back in the summer of 1948 (66 years ago now!).
So, it seems to be a very well written informative book and I will continue to read it in my spare time...hope others will post in their impressions too!
Interestingly enough, for people interested in myeloma, some of the early research into cancer was conducted on another blood cancer, leukaemia. The forerunner to this research were the investigations into two types of anemia, pernicious, and anemia caused by chronic malnutrition. Pernicious anemia was found in 1934 to be treatable with Vitamin B12. And it turned out that Marmite (a vegetable spread popular in Australia) could be used to treat the other anemia...the active ingredient was found to be folic acid (folate).
Dr. Sidney Farber was a pediatrician treating children who had leukaemia. He wondered if the folic acid might help them too. However, the opposite proved to be the case, for the folic actually enhanced the cancers. He then wondered if the opposite might be true, and looked for an 'anti-vitamin' compound that might prevent the manufacture of folic acid in the system. Folate is needed for DNA synthesis, and nowhere is this more rapidly used than in the production of red blood cells, which are produced at the rate of 300 billion cells per day. By working with chemists, he was able to find a compound that would inhibit the production of folic acid, called aminopterin. This compound actually put some children who were suffering from leukaemia into a remission. The remission only held for a few months, but that showed that this compound, which actually inhibited DNA synthesis, could be used as chemotherapy.
One poignant bit of this first part of the book describes that one of Dr. Farber's assistants performed a bone marrow biopsy on a childhood leukaemia patient, back in the summer of 1948 (66 years ago now!).
So, it seems to be a very well written informative book and I will continue to read it in my spare time...hope others will post in their impressions too!
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Nancy Shamanna - Name: Nancy Shamanna
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Self and others too
- When were you/they diagnosed?: July 2009
Re: Overall reviews
I read this book when it was first published and learned an amazing amount about the history of cancer treatment and the development of medicine in this country. It is a well researched book with many literary references. I was constantly amazed that this book was researched and written by the author while he was completing his oncology fellowship. When did he find the time?
I am a retired PT who specialized in treating people with cancer. This book so enhanced my understanding of the types of treatments and drugs that my patients were getting, or had gotten, for all kinds of cancer diagnoses. It really underlined how unsophisticated the treatments were as recently as 10-15 years ago. I'm sure that in 10-15 years people will look at what kinds of treatments are available now and think of them as unsophisticated. As the development of more sophisticated technology in testing, imaging and treatment are made, the more people will survive and live normal lives with cancer diagnoses.
This is a really hopeful book in that one can see how much progress has been made in cancer diagnosis and treatment. And, if one reads the news about progress since this book was written, the story continues. So many new drugs and treatment regimens have been approved and are in clinical trials.
This is a must read to understand where we have been and where we may be going. It is also a book of hope for those of us living with cancer, especially myeloma.
On a side note, my oncologist said that he was almost named in the book. He is part of the Philadelphia Group that is referenced. He started the bone marrow transplant program at the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and was one of the dissenting authors for the use of bone marrow transplants in treatment of breast cancer. He said that there was a 50% chance of it being successful. He also said that he still currently follows 2 women who were in the study. One of them had a transplant and one didn't. They are both doing well.
One of my professors, mentors and friend who had aggressive breast cancer died a year after having a bone marrow transplant as treatment for the breast cancer. Currently there are trials again for the use of bone marrow transplants for treatment of breast cancer since the technology / science of transplants had progressed so much since the early 1990's.
Bottom line: I highly recommend this book for many, many reasons. I need to reread it.
Nancy in Phila
I am a retired PT who specialized in treating people with cancer. This book so enhanced my understanding of the types of treatments and drugs that my patients were getting, or had gotten, for all kinds of cancer diagnoses. It really underlined how unsophisticated the treatments were as recently as 10-15 years ago. I'm sure that in 10-15 years people will look at what kinds of treatments are available now and think of them as unsophisticated. As the development of more sophisticated technology in testing, imaging and treatment are made, the more people will survive and live normal lives with cancer diagnoses.
This is a really hopeful book in that one can see how much progress has been made in cancer diagnosis and treatment. And, if one reads the news about progress since this book was written, the story continues. So many new drugs and treatment regimens have been approved and are in clinical trials.
This is a must read to understand where we have been and where we may be going. It is also a book of hope for those of us living with cancer, especially myeloma.
On a side note, my oncologist said that he was almost named in the book. He is part of the Philadelphia Group that is referenced. He started the bone marrow transplant program at the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and was one of the dissenting authors for the use of bone marrow transplants in treatment of breast cancer. He said that there was a 50% chance of it being successful. He also said that he still currently follows 2 women who were in the study. One of them had a transplant and one didn't. They are both doing well.
One of my professors, mentors and friend who had aggressive breast cancer died a year after having a bone marrow transplant as treatment for the breast cancer. Currently there are trials again for the use of bone marrow transplants for treatment of breast cancer since the technology / science of transplants had progressed so much since the early 1990's.
Bottom line: I highly recommend this book for many, many reasons. I need to reread it.
Nancy in Phila
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NStewart - Name: Nancy Stewart
- Who do you know with myeloma?: self
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 3/08
- Age at diagnosis: 60
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