On the Cancer Frontier: One Man, One Disease, and a Medical Revolution
This well-written, often dramatic book about the nation’s second-largest killer is a cross between memoir and cancer history. With help from his skillful coauthor, Wall Street Journal writer Sterngold, Marks, president emeritus of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, presents his life in and out of the lab. In the middle of the book, Marks mentions that when he was five, his seven-months-pregnant mom died in a horrific accident when she tumbled down the stairs of her father’s clothing store. He discusses hospital politics and research and the infamous war on cancer, which is more about containment than a final victory. Still, he remains upbeat because of better prevention, early diagnosis, and personalized treatment that keeps many cancer patients alive for years. Marks himself is the beneficiary of new knowledge. In 2009, he learned that he had bladder cancer, and today is alive and healthy and sharing such insights as, Cancer is, in a way, the body’s war on itself. A good ­addition to the growing number of engaging titles about this disease. --Karen Springen