Books About Cancer

Peace Love and Healing, Bodymind Communication & the Path to Self-Healing: An Exploration
Bernie Siegal, MD - 1989- Harper and Row

This is a very inspiring book. Many anecdotes about people who overcame or are extremely long term survivors of life threatening illnesses. Lengthy reading list. Book is also available on tape. Also note his earlier book, Love Medicine and Miracles.
Contributed by AL

Choices in Healing, Integrating the Best of Conventional and complementary Approaches to Cancer
Michael Lerner - 1994 - MIT Press

Encyclopedic in scope. Very readable even though it is basically a textbook. An excellent overview of the state of cancer technology. Lerner is not a physician and clearly respects the work being done in non-medical therapies. His work was featured in Bill Moyer's Healing and the Mind series on PBS.
Contributed by AL

Spontaneous Healing, How to Discover and Enhance Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself
Andrew Weil, MD - 1995 - Alfred A. Knopf

A very important book. Not cancer specific. Very readable. Best description I've ever read about how the immune system works. Program for optimal healing power which involves lifestyles changes --lots of good common sense here.
Contributed by AL

Sharks Don't Get Cancer
Dr. I. William Lane and Linda Comac - 1992 - Avery Publishing Group,

A very readable pitch for Shark Cartilage therapy. Sounds logical. I know one person doing it. I decided not to --at least for now.
Contributed by AL

Chi Gong. The ancient Chinese way to Health
Paul Dong & Aristide H. Esser, MD - 1990 - Marlowe and Co, Garden City Park, New York

Chi Gong (Qi Gung). Also featured on Bill Moyer's Healing and the Mind series on PBS. I would be taking classes in Qi Gung if I could find a convenient class that I liked. It is sort of similar to Yoga and Tai Chi except that it has a specific healing component to its philosophy and practice. I found a video tape but I don't practice it yet.
Contributed by AL

Healing and the Mind
Bill Moyer's PBS series

Five video tapes I was able to get them from my local library. This is worth viewing to broaden awareness of alternate therapies
Contributed by AL

Healing Yourself, A Step-by-Step Program for Better Health Through Guided Imagery
Marin L Rossman, MD - 1987 - Pocket Books div of Simon Schuster

Also a set of six tapes to use in the practice of self guided imagery. A very interesting process. I had a couple of sessions with Marty and found them exciting. Intend to pursue the process on my own although I have not been very disciplined about this.
Contributed by AL

Getting Well Again: A Step-by-step, Self-help Guide to Overcoming Cancer for Patients and their Families.
O. Carl Simonton. - 1978 - St. Martin's Press, New York City

Stephanie Matthews-Simonton and James Creighton are also major contributors to this book (not sure if they co-authored it). It's an excellent book, and Bernie Segal's work was inspired by a workshop run by Simonton. I read it because my father, who has EC, found it very useful. It really gave my father the feeling that *he* was in control of his body, *not* the cancer. I also found the section meant for families of cancer patients to be very helpful. It's very readable, with lots of anecdotes, and good explanations of how the mind affects the body (placebo effect etc). Despite the dated material, it is still very relevant.
Contributed by Cathy Weeks

How to Be An Exceptional Patient.
Bernie Siegal, MD

Bernie Siegel, MD, the surgeon who has a second career telling people how a positive attitude can influence their health and the outcome of disease treatments, has another winner here. He emphasizes the ways the patient can remain in control of herself or himself while being treated for serious diseases. The book is sprinkled with anecdotes about patients and doctors who had and didn't have a positive attitude, and the outcomes they experienced. There is some spiritual content here, but it's not overpowering.

How to be an Exceptional Patient is available in [hardcover/soft cover] as well as on tape, read by the author. I heartily recommend listening to the tape (I found it in our public library) first. Dr. Siegel's warmth and upbeat, caring attitude come through in his voice and provide a psychological lift above and beyond the information in the words he is reading. If you want a copy to refer to, the printed word is then probably appropriate.
Contributed by Sandy Robinson

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