Best books about cancer according to redditors
We found 151 Reddit comments discussing the best books about cancer. We ranked the 42 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 151 Reddit comments discussing the best books about cancer. We ranked the 42 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
I sort of addressed this in a previous comment, if you want to read more. There's actually a book that has your definitive answer, and that's the The Emperor of All Maladies, one of the best pop-medical books I've ever read.
But briefly, cancer is not a new disease; the ancients were aware of it (Edwin Smith papyrus is the first likely mention of cancer, and the Hippocratic corpus deals with cancer explicitly). Prevalence prior to modern times is essentially impossible to figure out; nosology didn't exist in any modern sense, and any number of diseases could present like cancer (especially "pthisis", or tuberculosis). There have been a few paleopathological reports (essentially medical examinations of old bones) that suggest that cancer was far less common in pre-modern peoples. However, this is controversial (this is a great NYTimes articles that nicely outlines the controversy). There are all sorts of methodological reasons this is incredibly difficult to ascertain, and while some risk factors (most notably tobacco smoke and copious red meat consumption) weren't around, there's every reason to believe ancient peoples would have been exposed to risk factors that we don't have (ergot-contaminated grain, open fires, &c).
Sorry for the abbreviated answer, but I hope that helps!
I'm surprised more people on here aren't bringing up the term 'overdiagnosis'.
Overdiagnosis is a problem facing the medical industry today because our ability to detect and diagnose has surpassed our ability to predict and treat.
That means that men go through unnecessary prostate cancer treatments (surgery to remove the prostate leaves many men impotent and incontinent). The treatments are unnecessary because most forms of prostate cancer grow so slowly a man lives out his natural life before symptoms of the cancer appear.
If you're interested a good book is 'Overdiagnosed'. Prostate cancer isn't the only area humanity is having trouble with, either.
You know this is the same author who made The Hidden Story of Cancer: Find Out Why Cancer Has Physicians on the Run and How a Simple Plan Based on New Science Can Prevent It, right? Once you go shill, it's hard to be real.
Also it's my personal opinion that whenever anybody crams in a section of their book on autism (if that book is not specific to the state of autism or fetal development at least) that they're just trying to siphon money from a certain subset of housewives who will gobble up anything on that topic.
Another bit on that, for him to call them Parent ESSENTIAL OILS rather than parent essential fatty acids shows that marketing also plays a role in this name, since 'essential oil' is a huge keyword these days for shit like homeopathy and other naturalistic BS. Sure, fatty acids are oils, but it's still a misnomer if he only refers to LA, ALA, and GLA.
I'm glad the LA/ALA oil blend is working for your mental clarity, but none of this refutes the potential benefits of EPA/DHA supplementation. You notice that most of his claims have a single citation connected to them? This is because single citations can be twisted into whatever you want, from agreeing that fish oil is useless for cardiovascular health, to mixed evidence, to the AHA recommended seafood outright. His take-aways are large enough in magnitude that he needs a large body of evidence to support those claims, and essential fatty acids are known to be quite flippant in how they behave (as prior EO status in the body is a major factor, yet rarely measured) so cherrypicking can be a huge problem.
Cancer is basically a series of mutations that screw up the part of a cell that says "don't go crazy, OK?" This leads to uncontrolled growth. Normally, the cell has a lot of built-in mechanisms to stop this, so there's a lot of things that have to go wrong in order for cancer to actually get hold.
The carcinogens in smoke cause mutations at a certain rate. Over time, as more mutations accumulate, the chance that the mechanisms for suppressing uncontrolled growth will fail becomes greater. However, it's a statistical thing. Some people can smoke forever and not get cancer. They just happened to get lucky; their mutations are in genes that aren't important to cancer.
edit: if you're interested in cancer, get this book. It's seriously "buy a copy for all of your friends" good.
It is due to a combination of slick marketing and the fact that everyone has a mother. Breast cancer is vastly overfunded relative to other cancers in terms of mortality and morbidity. Worse, this pink ribbon shit only spends its charitable money on "awareness". Note that awareness does not include:
It does include things like TV ad spending and bumper stickers.
So if you're a media organization (or even a person) that wants to sound charitable, this is a great way to maximize seeming like you care about doing something. Unfortunately its generally a waste of money.
You can google up tons of stories about women in terrible stage 4 breast cancer situations that pink ribbon organizations want nothing to do with, since at that point they no longer seem like plucky survivors. There's various good books on the subject such as http://www.amazon.com/Pink-Ribbon-Blues-Culture-Undermines/dp/0199933995.
I loved Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
It gives a lot of good background about the history of cancer, but along the way you learn a lot about the history of science and research, as well. A lo of basic research and epidemiology that we take fro granted these days came out of cancer research.
I also recently read "Rabid" which was more of a cultural history. It was a really interesting read.
I was also moved by a book about end of life. It's called "Knocking on heaven's door" by Katy Butler. She describes how the US healthcare system caused her family immeasurable suffering due to its persistence on prolonging life, without regard for the quality of that life or for the quality of life of the caregivers. Butler makes a powerful case for the benefits of Slow Medicine, palliative care, and hospice.
A lot of my patients enjoy the book Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips https://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Sexy-Cancer-Tips-Kris/dp/1599212315
Wishing you the best! Get a library card and noise cancelling headphones
> HPV Vaccine Used as Population Control?
If I were to make such a controversial statement, I think I would have found someone with a bit more legitimacy to interview: "Dr." Leonard Coldwell is not a certified medical professional, and he has no advanced degree from an actual educational institution. Then again, it's hard to attend lectures with one's head located so far up one's anal canal.
But I suppose having found the only answer to cancer (That's the actual name of a book of his; I don't know if the rhyme was intentional, but I sure hope it was) earns him some boasting rights. He also does depression.
I especially enjoyed his talk on how microwave ovens will kill you, from the related videos on YouTube.
Around the same time the way cancer was treated by removing as much of the body near the tumor as could possibly be removed without killing the patient. In the case of breast cancer surgeons would remove so much muscle that women would lose the use of an arm. But dont take my word for it...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
Different forms of cancer have different outcomes, but if it's peak cancer, no one can really survive.
Cancer just gets stronger and stronger. It has no peak, unless you consider its peak to be whatever stage it's in when the patient dies.
If you're looking for a respect thread, check out "The Emperor of All Maladies", by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
It reads almost like a mystery novel even though you know how it will end, weirdly enough. I highly recommend it to anyone who has been touched by cancer.
Good morning,
Its Friday and today is especially good for TWO reasons.
I finished my book reading August goal! It was a pretty short book, it was a reprint of the Hiroshima article but it was a powerful read. If anyone is interested, it has my highest recommendation. A disturbing read, informative, and unlike anything Ive known prior about this historic tragedy.
My next book for September is all ready to go. I am reading Tripping over the Truth which explores cancer as a metablic theory. I like sciency things and learning and I find the information around this theory highly fascinating :)
Helping one of my friends get started on keto, with the approach of giving her resources and answering specific questions only. Been burnt too many times otherwise :P
My morning goal is to post the haus-keeping before I leave work, so keep an eye out for that!
Happy Friday all <3
I found this to be a good read
The Emperor of all Maladies is a brilliantly written book documenting the history of cancer, told through a human lens.
MS1 here:
Is she a coffee or tea drinker? If so, there are companies that do some really cool "coffee or tea" of the month deals. I've gone through quite a bit of coffee since I began...
Here are some really awesome books: House of God, Emperor of All Maladies, and Complications to name a few.
I wouldn't recommend getting her a stethoscope/medical supplies because they can be very personal. Sure, they're all roughly the same but it's an instrument you're going to be using for many years to come. "This is my stethoscope. There are many like it but this one is mine..." Just my 2 cents, at least.
I hope that helps! If I come up with any others, I'll post them here.
>Emperor of All Maladies
There's fascinating book under the same title: https://www.amazon.com/Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography-Cancer/dp/1439170916 and I also recommend this (if I remember correctly 7 part) series "A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20960499 (can be downloaded for free).
On cancer, I can strongly recommend Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies, which (among many other things) is a history of cancer and the ways we have treated it. (That is my source for the purposes of this comment, in any case - actual historians of science and medicine may be able to do better!)
One of the earliest cases Mukherjee talks about is recounted in Egyptian hieroglyphics, the tale of a woman with a breast tumor around 2000 BCE (very roughly). In that particular case, the physician recommended no treatment, but contemporary records suggest that surgery (to remove such tumors) was known of, though you can imagine what the prognosis for patients was like before the (very modern) age of antiseptic techniques.
So cancer's been around for a very very long time; part of the increase in frequency we see for such illnesses is a consequence of the fact that we are living so much longer, due to better nutrition and control of other infectious diseases. Mukherjee writes quite elegantly about the underlying nature of all cancers, their untamable desire to grow and expand and colonize, as a twisted reflection of the very processes that take us from fetus to infant to child to adult.
If I were to go on, I'd just continue summarizing his book, and it's eminently worth reading for yourself if you're interested enough in the topic.
Enjoy!
following up here, but take a look at The Emperor of All Maladies for a little history into how cancer became a huge marketing, PR, and money-raising machine in the mid 20th century, led largely by Mary Lasker.
This coincided with radical changes in breast cancer surgery from the mid to late 20th centuries. Breast cancer surgery used to be a mutilating procedure that would remove the entire breast and inner chest cavity, despite barely any differences in real outcomes. It was easy to champion breast cancer research partly for these reasons and partly because it was one of the first cancers in which we understood the biology of certain types (namely, BRCA genes as well as HER2-positive cancers that could be treated with tamoxifen). This gave the public added confidence in their money going to research which was leading to tangible improvements in cancer outcomes.
If you interested in biology/cancer research, read The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. I really is a fantastic read, even if you're not interested in cancer.
I was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer that has also significantly impacted my life and independence. I found it is difficult not only to admit you need help, but also to ask for and ultimately accept it.
I will say though, besides people offering to make you food/buy you things/lend you money/etc., one of the best things about letting those close to you in on your diagnosis is the never-ending stream of well wishes and supportive words. It doesn’t sound like much but it can make you feel less alone (it also often comes with a lot of unsolicited advice, but that still comes from a good place).
At the very least, I’m sure there are plenty of groups here, across the internet, and in real life of other women living with cervical cancer that you could benefit from meeting (or at least reading about their experiences). Depending on where you live, there may also be federal and/or state support programs that can help you and your children financially. This is something fellow survivors in your area may be able to help out with as well.
Lastly, I found this book to be very helpful early on in my diagnosis, if only to remind me that many, many other women have (unfortunately) found themselves in a similar situation and have pulled through. (There are also a few chapter where the authors suggest you adopt a very strict vegan diet plan; not my jam but to each his own.)
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee This book presents how our understanding of cancer evolved over time, from Ancient Egypt until the present. Not only does the human and societal element keep the science interesting, but it also gives you an understanding of the experimental method, the (sometimes cringe-worthy) history of medicine and how clinical research works. As someone who is equally interested in science and the humanities, this book was awesome.
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer - Siddhartha Mukherjee
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence.
http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography-Cancer/dp/1439170916/ref=la_B003SNL6EA_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1397799083&amp;sr=1-1
Have you seen their Highlights for High School feature?
Also, there are sites like Academic Earth that might be useful.
Here are a few blogs with potential. You'll have to decide for yourself if they have inappropriate content.
Here are a few book recommendations covering various fields, in no particular order (though they should all read #1):
And here's a video interview with Richard Feynman they might enjoy.
Anticancer is a good book about this topic. It was a fairly interesting read as well.
I am going to come right out and say I am not an oncologist and this is getting to the periphery of my clinical knowledge.
The easy answer is that the cancer cells produce chemical that trick your body into growing blood vessels toward and supply it with nutrients. There is a lot of research into blocking these signals. One example is VEGF or Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
To get to the second part of your question, our immune system does mop up the majority of mutated cells. What we end up seeing as clinical cancer is actually the small subset of mutated cells that can both a) recruit support for growth and b) avoid the immune system.
For anyone looking to get a (relatively) accessible lesson on cancer and it's medical history, I recommend The Emperor of All Maladies.
If you have any interest in cancer at all - The Emperor of all Maladies is an amazing book. It's titled a "biography" of cancer and tells how scientific advances have changed how doctors/patients/society have dealt with cancer through history, and ultimately guides the reader towards a modern understanding of the disease. It sounds dry but really isn't - it's a compelling book, and I especially loved how the science wasn't "dumbed down".
Glad to here the fertility preservation went well.
Re: Chemo - check this out. Helped me out a lot. No relationship with the authors.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Chemotherapy-Survival-Guide-Everything/dp/1572246219
For cancer - you might look into CBD (and CBD/THC) -
http://projectcbd.org
http://www.reddit.com/r/cbd
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AO9VVOA/
For yoga - you might look into Yin Yoga and explore other approaches to yoga besides vinyasa. You have developed a practice that you liked and that was probably good for you and appropriate for you. If that no longer works, you can do that again - start from scratch and develop a practice that does work for you. might have to let go of vinyasa, ujayi breathing, synchronized breathing. maybe a much gentler approach, more time in postures, more meditative.
I'm sorry. I know what you're going through is really hard.
Cancer is part of the reason I started reading Stoic philosophy tbh. To calm that animal fear of death we all carry.
I'm coming to that moment in my own life as well. Someone I love very much is very ill and I suspect it will come to this sooner rather than later in our family.
I was thinking, I'll probably be the last of my little family to die. Everyone I love will die before me.
My mother will die- she's very ill.
My husband is much older than me.
My sister is older w approaching health issues of her own.
And my younger brother is struggling w mental illness.
I'll probably have to bury them all one by one someday. I dunno that anyone will be left to bury me.
On my worst days I'm sad about it. I feel sorry for myself. Why me? I never asked for it.
But then on other days, I'm grateful for the opportunity. It's one final duty to discharge, one last chance to honor someone very special in my life.
Who else would I want to shoulder my burden?
If I'm not the one to bury them all, then it'll fall to my brother. I love him but his life is a mess even in the best of times. Leave my sister to do it? Her big heart might crack under the strain.
We shared a little bit of time together and it's been lovely. I can do my part.
The funny thing is I'll be dead soon, too. Whether it's a week from now or 100 years it doesn't much matter I guess. I must've read it somewhere but can't recall where (Marcus Aurelius probably):
'We're all dead already, we just haven't been buried yet.'
I try to live my little chunk of time in a way that will leave people around me with a good memory and a warm feeling in their hearts.
Take my blessings with you. I wish you well! Say hi if you see me somewhere on the other side.
Edit: I'm a big reader. These are the books that helped me through the worst of it. Maybe they can help you, too.
wiki, author discusses book, Amazon
wiki, Amazon
Have not seen that app. What we are learning now is that cancers may share similarities with other cancers that were not previously known. For example, certain lung cancers may be more similar to cervical cancers or melanomas due to the mutations they share. So I do think it is possible that one treatment may help treat other cancers. Good book here http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
Not fiction, but I'm reading The Emperor of All Maladies. It's spectacular -- definitely one of the best books I've ever read. I can't figure out why I never read it before, considering my career (I diagnose cancer every day).
I also tend to forgo sleep when I'm reading really good fiction!
Now that I'm at home I've looked at the bookshelf and would like to add:
Almost Human -- written by a primate researcher about her experiences studying baboons in the wild. I read this book several years ago and still think about it regularly. Lots of interesting lessons about primates and people in here.
The Emperor of all Maladies -- a history of cancer, won a Pulitzer for best non-fiction.
Agree with The Ghost Map. The Emperor of All Maladies is good if you are interested in cancer-related health and public health.
Best to you and your brother-- I have 2 people close to me with cancer, and have been doing research as well. This material may of interest, although I'm not sure it would relate to that exact type of cancer, I found this to be very interesting even just for background info on cancer in general and possible new prevention/treatment ideas:
Cancer as a Metabolic Disease - What You Need to Know: Professor Thomas Seyfried
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FALEe0EZUc&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=12m15s
Tripping over the Truth: How the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Is Overturning One of Medicine's Most Entrenched Paradigms
https://www.amazon.com/Tripping-over-Truth-Overturning-Entrenched/dp/1603587292
The Gawande books are good. Another one I've liked recently was "The Emperor of all Maladies" - it's essentially a biography of cancer.
If you want to read more about it, check out the book Emperor of All Maladies, it's an absolutely fascinating story.
The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee
It is literally a biography of Cancer. Its a bit slow during the first 50 pages but really picks up at the end.
http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography-Cancer/dp/1439170916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1425782502&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=emporer+of+all+maladies
I'm halfway through The Emperor of all Maladies and not only is it an amazing read, but it kind of deals with the questions you are asking.
But the very tl;dr version of what you are wondering is that cancer rates are higher in developed countries because people don't die more from other things instead. A few kids dying from cancer is insignificant when there are hundreds dying from parasites, that sort of thing.
Link to the book for anyone interested - I highly recommend it.
I like to always have a book on hand and try to read some every night in lieu of TV or internet. I'm fairly scientifically minded so it's generally stuff like Brian Greene, Oliver Sacks, Michael Pollan, and recently lots of Stephen Ambrose. A close friend has been dealing with ongoing cancer and I found The Emperor of All Maladies to be a great read, and pretty germane since few of us have lives not touched by the disease somehow.
I actually had a 5 year affliction with Scrabble and played hours every night at isc.ro, a primitive looking but great place to play real Scrabble online. I actually got obsessed enough that it was a problem in my marriage so I don't really play much anymore. Some favorite plays EIGHTVO, ANT(IN)OISE, DIaZEP(A)M, FANTAs(I)E(S), THR(I)LL(I)NG, EOBIONT, and a 176 point 3x3 PEREG(R)IN.
I loved The Wire, and just finished Breaking Bad last night, haven't watched True Detective yet - but just got a Nexus and Chromecast which totally rock and facilitate some catching up! I'm so far behind in most shows that I don't go anywhere near special subreddits for fear of spoilers. I recently got my Sansaire, so honestly most of my time is spent tinkering in the kitchen, glass of wine in hand, Do Make Say Think or TV on the Radio blasting from the aforementioned stereo.
I read The biography of cancer which is very insightful, and as you put it, accessible. It went into the background of cancer, and the background of everyone at the most important moments of its history. So it's a bit of a read but a very interesting one if you're looking for a long chew.
For a thriller treatment of infections diseases, the following are a nice read
I'm inclined to also suggest the works of Simon Singh, to whom I was introduced by his book on math and cryptography - The Code Book. But he has also written about cosmology and "alternative" medicine. The later got him involved in a landmark libel lawsuit in the UK. For that reason, there is probably more than the usual bit of politics you'd expect in a popular science book. However, in the post-truth era of Donald Trump and company, that maybe fitting if bitter medicine.
Edit: As someone who may not have the best scientific background, one might be prone to confuse science with pseudoscience. Even today, there is no shortage of low quality literature on UFOs and parapsychology. As such, Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is highly recommended.
Interesting. In my shaving book section on acne, I quote Anticancer: A New Way of Life, by David Servan-Schreiber:
>When [Loren Cordain, PhD] was told that certain population groups whose way of life is very different from ours had no experience of acne (which is caused by an inflammation of the epidermis, among other mechanisms), he wanted to find out how this could occur… Cordain accompanied a team of dermatologists to examine the skin of 1,200 adolescents cut off from the rest of the world in the Kitavan Islands of New Guinea, and 130 Ache Indians living in isolation in Paraguay. In these two groups they found no trace whatsoever of acne. In their article in Archives of Dermatology, the researchers attributed their amazing discovery to the adolescents’ nutrition. The diets of these contemporary sheltered groups resemble those of our distant ancestors: no refined sugar or white flour, thus no peaks of insulin or IGF in the blood.
>
>In Australia, researchers convinced Western adolescents to try a diet restricting sugar and white flour for three months. In a few weeks, their insulin and IGF levels diminished. So did their acne.
Note a key finding: "in a few weeks..." I suspect most people would not try it for that long on their own: a week, max, and if no big change, back to business as usual---the same reason people can't lose that last 10 pounds.
Also see the NY Times article "Is Sugar Toxic?" and this video by the University of California on the effects of sugar.
I quite enjoyed The Emperor of Maladies and Detroit: An American Autoposy. Obviously the book about Detroit isn't about a world issue, it's a pretty localized one but it's a great read.
There's a SmartEM podcast on the topic. I found it fairly convincing.
However, one doesn't need to do a deep literature search on this. It's a fundamental trend in medicine: the smaller the risk of a bad outcome, the less potential good an intervention can do. This means that for most "population health"-level interventions (e.g., statins in populations without heart disease), the adverse effects of the intervention are generally going to vastly outweigh the benefits.
That's not an absolute rule (e.g., vaccination), but it's a safe default position until firmly proven otherwise. Generally, we don't do these sorts of interventions because there's good evidence for them. We tend to jump the gun on the principle that "if X saves lives in Condition, imagine how much good it would do if we just got there earlier!" Except, earlier, the cost-benefit discussion is entirely different.
A good read on the topic is Overdiagnosed, which for some reason got a "popular medicine" cover for a book that's really aimed at clinicians.
I love science books. These are all on my bookshelf/around my apt. They aren't all chemistry, but they appeal to my science senses:
I got a coffee table book once as a gift. It's Theodore Gray's The Elements. It's beautiful, but like I said, more of a coffee table book. It's got a ton of very cool info about each atom though.
I tried The Immortal Life of Henrieta Lacks, which is all about the people and family behind HeLa cells. That was a big hit, but I didn't care for it.
I liked The Emperor of all Maladies which took a long time to read, but was super cool. It's essentially a biography of cancer. (Actually I think that's it's subtitle)
The Wizard of Quarks and Alice in Quantumland are both super cute allegories relating to partical physics and quantum physics respectively. I liked them both, though they felt low-level, tying them to high-level physics resulted in a fun read.
Unscientific America I bought on a whim and didn't really enjoy since it wasn't science enough.
The Ghost Map was a suuuper fun read about Cholera. I love reading about mass-epidemics and plague.
The Bell that Rings Light, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, Schrödinger's Kittens, The Fabric of the Cosmos and Beyond the God Particle are all pleasure reading books that are really primers on Quantum.
I also tend to like anything by Mary Roach, which isn't necessarily chemistry or science, but is amusing and feels informative. I started with Stiff but she has a few others that I also enjoyed.
Have fun!
Sure.
If evolution is of interest to you (and if you have interest in the intersection between theology and science), Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller explores both sides of the debate and debunks many common misconceptions about evolution. I first read it in a college biology topics course.
If you like the topic of 'creationist attempts to dispute or disrupt the teaching of evolution in the classroom', Summer of the Gods, about the Scopes Monkey Trial, is a great book (although not explicitly about science).
You may find The Selfish Gene by Dawkins worth a read.
Books by Mary Roach can be fun; I've read Stiff and enjoyed it, and Packing for Mars was pretty good as well.
I have heard good things about The Emperor of All Maladies, though I haven't read it myself.
Our Stolen Future, about contamination of the environment by artificially produced estrogen and estrogen analogs, is dated but interesting.
The Discovery of Insulin by Bliss is a great story about how science happens and how scientific discovery occurs, and it lays out what may be the most important discovery in medical science during the 20th century.
Were those types of books what you were looking for?
There've been a couple of good books about this phenomenon.
The Chemotherapy Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Get Through Treatment
[A Guide to Survivorship for Women with Ovarian Cancer (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)] ( http://www.amazon.com/Survivorship-Ovarian-Cancer-Hopkins-Health/dp/0801880912/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1331227414&amp;sr=1-1&amp;tag=bookforyouru-20)
I know there have been some, but my memory is terrible.
I did read "The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" recently (that's not a referral link or anything). While it was not uplifting, necessarily, as someone who has been surrounded by cancer in family and friends since the age of 9 (34 years ago) I learned so much that I could not put the 600+ page book down. It really, thoroughly blew my mind.
I don't necessarily recommend reading it if you're in a heavy emotional state due to dealing with the illness. There are some unappealing facts and truths in the book that hurt to read, because my mother is currently fighting lung cancer. I advised my dad not to read the book, for instance.
But for me, knowledge feels like power in a world where ultimately I can't do anything.
And for me, the book hit so close to home. I lost my sister to leukemia, I was a bone marrow donor for her, and I never truly understood our place in history. The author actually uses leukemia as a starting point for explaining about cancer, describing it as "cancer in liquid form". And the history was fascinating because I was a part of it. He writes about research in Seattle, WA on bone marrow transplants. My sister and I were some of the first to participate in bone marrow transplants in the late 70's out in Seattle. We may very well be a footnote in his research, I don't know. Reading the book helped me feel like my sister and our transplant was 'immortalized' a bit in history, even though she didn't survive due to the radiation treatments. (And I never understood why they had to perform radiation on her brain for leukemia. The book explains why.)
It's truly gripping, and a book I will never have too far away. I bookmarked and highlighted that book on my Kindle more than any other book I have ever read in my life.
That's a great book. The government is killing us, and they don't give a fuck.
Another recommendation is "Tripping over the Truth" by Travis Christofferson. It's about the entire cancer industry and how the government, researchers, etc. are all participating in groupthink (among other things) and are completely wrong about the causes of cancer, and there's an alternative theory (the metabolic theory) that has been ignored for decades but is proving to be correct, and free. Because it's free, no industry who profits from health care is remotely interested in studying it or promoting it. It ties in nicely with Denise Minger's book, in that the "smart" people in charge are fucking up our health.
Tripping over the Truth
Firstly, I love that dude in that gif up top. I can't not smile like a maniac when I see it!
Last year I read 26 books in total. A lot of those were literature from a course I was studying and included such classics as The Cruicible, Maus and Lolita to name a few of my favorites.
A large amount of my other reading was biology/physiology related books to do with my degree, which I will spare you all from here, save one honourable mention to a complete story of cancer research and treatment starting from it's inception to relatively present day. The book is called The Emperor of all Maladies and it is a "biography" of cancer and it's treatment written by a very prolific caner researcher. It has loads of really heartwarming (and emotional) first hand stories and really gives you a up close and personal look at the world of cancer without you necessarily needing a scientific mind.
This year I want to get a bit more casual with my reading, maybe lay off the science so much and read more for fun again. I have been meaning to go back to the Artemis Fowl series as I really enjoyed it as a kid. I have been told it is a good one to re-read as an adult. I also have a metric tonne of assorted Douglas Adams books that I want to read, including all of the Hitchikers and Dirk Gently series.
The Emperor of All Maladies -- an amazing book about cancer.
Also, Into the Wild, if you're the adventurous type.
This is such a hard promise to make. Anyone who knows anything about how cancer operates, has a full understanding that we simply don't have the overall knowledge, yet, to cure it.
The simple truth is there are too many forms of cancer to have a cure all for the ultimate human disease. We simply don't know enough about what causes it, how it happens, why it happens and the right avenues of treatment to be able to eradicate cancer on all levels.
It should be mentioned, a great read about the subject is "The Emperor of all Maladies". For anyone looking to understand the human history of cancer and why it is so hard to eradicate, it is well worth your time. - http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
I think President Obama set a good goal in suggesting we, as a nation, cure cancer. Yet I also think the smarter bet, one which we are closer to, would be to fully tramp out AIDS and HIV. For the interested, look at the recent Vice report on AIDS which HBO ran a bit ago.
http://www.vice.com/read/watch-the-trailer-for-the-vice-on-hbo-special-report-on-the-fight-to-end-aids-009
Cancer is a great goal. One to strive for and continue to fight against. It is, without question, the ultimate of all human disease. In a way, cancer defines us. But defeating AIDS, I believe, is a more concrete goal which can be reached.
If you don't mind a read, this book is excellent and will answer any and all cancer-history questions you could possibly have:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
I recommend The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
I quite enjoyed The Emperor Of All Maladies: A Biography Of Cancer. It's mostly about the fight against it starting 2000 years ago till tday, very well written.
I'm currently reading The Emperor of Maladies which is about the history of cancer. It's actually fascinating and not nearly as morbid as one might think.
If I win, I'd love a book off my book list or kindle list :)
You ALL still have Zoidberg!
Read "The Emperor of All Maladies". It explains why there's no such thing as a cure for cancer.
Allow me to recommend. The guy that wrote this book taught my EMB class. You'll never look at screening tests the same way again.
There is a book called "The Cancer Industry" by Ralph Moss that says basically the same thing.
https://www.amazon.com/Cancer-Industry-Ralph-W-Moss/dp/1881025098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1511075547&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+cancer+industry+ralph+moss&amp;dpID=5189JV6N11L&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch
Or better yet The Biography of Cancer
It hasn't "become some kind of horror show". It was an option, not a particularly desirable one, but an option none-the-less. You need to read about the history of cancer surgery. Mastectomies especially.
http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-All-Maladies-Siddhartha-Mukherjee-ebook/dp/B003UYUP58
I think there are some good historical, justifiable reasons for it. Prior to the 70's breast cancer was not talked about in public very much, there was a tendency to regard it as too embarrassing or shameful. As a result, women who experienced it did not have much of a support group to turn to. A common form of treatment for it at the time was radical mastectomy, which was (and is) still considered very disfiguring.
In the U.S., Mary Tyler Moore helped to break the taboo against talking about breast cancer with the TV-movie, "First You Cry" (CBS, 1978), where she earned an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of a reporter battling breast cancer. Since that time, society has (rightly) become much more open about providing public discussion and support for people with breast cancer.
However, as Barbara Ehrenreich describes below, sometimes breast cancer support and public discussion has taken some bizarre turns:
http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/cancerland.htm
Recently I read Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Mukherjee
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
One thing I took away from it is that society as a whole is STILL groping towards dealing with cancer - of all forms - in a rational, compassionate and mature manner. So even though I'm very MRA, I think the problem with breast versus prostate cancer issues is that the whole issue of cancer, and how society responds to it, is still very confused, rather than being a situation of deliberate double standards. As an issue you can't get much more personal than cancer - so it's natural that people are going to look at it as to how it affects them, rather than how it affects other people.
The Emperor of All Maladies: It was the best non-fiction book I read all year. I was a little intimidated at first because of the size of the book and subject matter. I assumed it would be more than a little over my head since I do not have a medical background. But it really was amazing. The author deserves praise for making this book and its subject interesting from beginning to end and accessible to nearly all of us.
So my non-medical person opinion after reading The Emperor of all Maladies, learning about various biases in cancer statistics, and having a family member die very quickly from an aggressive cancer is that it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Unless there is a family history of a specific cancer, I don't think early screening is worthwhile as it can lead to over-diagnosis and over-treatment which is harmful. Plus, a truly a nasty cancer is going to kill you regardless whereas a less aggressive cancer may go into remission even if caught later. So for me personally, I err on the side of less/later screening.
Really it is a personal decision and you are the one that has to be okay with the consequences of whatever choice you and your doctor make. Your body, your rules.
It's easy to fall into this mindset, because our brains are wired to simplify complex topics. And here, the mistake is thinking that "Cancer" is some monolithic disease that can be understood and combatted with reasonable effort.
Unfortunately, cancer has been described as thousands of diseases with one label. The complexity is simply stunning, requiring expertise from genetics, physiology, pharmacology, immunology and many other disciplines to even grasp the bare essentials.
A fantastic book that will give an overview of the history of cancer treatment and the processes involved is "The Emperor of All Maladies".
A Guide to Survivorship for Women with Ovarian Cancer (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)
Polio: an American story
http://www.amazon.com/Polio-American-David-M-Oshinsky/dp/0195307143
The emperor of all maladies
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
To repair the world
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0520275977/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1459122802&amp;sr=8-3&amp;pi=SY200_QL40&amp;keywords=public+health&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=416EuTeXlNL&amp;ref=plSrch
The main beneficiary of Susan G. Komen charitable activity is the Susan G. Komen foundation. They expend giant effort getting airlines to paint their airplanes pink and getting major league baseball to use pink bats, etc. That's mostly it. "Awareness" might be a worthy cause when the problem is obscure and underappreciated, but everyone is pretty aware of breast cancer. It's like making people aware of hurricanes.
Komen also suppresses or marginalizes case studies that don't end well because they subvert the Komen meta-narrative of strength and victory over cancer. So if you are a woman who gets a terminal prognosis Komen is brutal to you, basically denying you exist.
Here are two interesting books that explain this stuff in sad and terrible detail: Pink Ribbon Blues and Pink Ribbons, Inc..
Reading them will make you mad.
https://www.amazon.com/One-Renegade-Cell-Science-Masters/dp/0465072763
> How cancers begin and spread, by the scientist responsible for the major recent research breakthroughs
> Cancer research has reached a major turning point. The amount of information gathered in the past twenty years about the origins of the disease is without equal in the history of biomedical research. In this book one of America's most eminent scientists explains to the general reader the step-by-step process by which cancers arise, and more importantly, how they spread.
> Robert Weinberg explains how normal genes control the conventional growth of the cell, how, in their mutated form, they enable cancers to arise, and why these genes have such life-and-death power over us. Drawing from information that simply was not available until recently, One Renegade Cell explains this insidious disease as no other book as ever been able to do.
Thomas Seyfried, Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer
(That is a textbook, but this next one is written by an investigative journalist):
Travis Christofferson, Tripping over the Truth: How the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Is Overturning One of Medicine's Most Entrenched Paradigms
If you really wanna geek out you can also find and look into the actual cancer genome project results once you have access to it.
If you don't like Atkins and if you're gonna use a variant of the "everything in moderation" argument you're not gonna like what these people have to say about how to treat cancer (but you do have the right attitude to pass medical school: you're repeating conventional wisdom talking points so you won't piss off your professors. Just don't go all Robb Wolf on us; he was about to get a medical license but then decided to go into biochemistry instead after being disillusioned with the medical industry).
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" You say that medicine is not intellectual, and you are wrong. " What I mean is that it is not a minimum requirement to be a doctor, and most doctors are time-starved, so they're not gonna be looking too hard at the data that's being presented to them by medical researchers. Example Seriously if you think being a doctor will be like living the life of an intellectual you will be very disappointed.
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Michael Eades mentioned in another blog post about how he just had to accept that his colleagues were used to having such low standards for what was an acceptable fasting blood glucose level in diabetic patients that their patients would end up as leg/foot amputees and blind from the mildly but constantly elevated blood glucose levels, while he himself didn't have this problem with his patients (because he actually knew what he was doing). The fact that his colleagues might learn something from him never occurred to his colleagues. This is what I mean when I say being a doctor is not an intellectual job. He takes an intellectual approach to the job but his colleagues don't; yet they are still allowed to practice medicine. In fact you are literally defending the mindset that his colleagues have in these posts, you just don't know it yet (and hopefully this will change but if it does, expect some people to hate you)
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By the way you might as well check out this book by what might very well be the oldest living type 1 diabetic. The author was well on his way to dying from diabetes when he figured it out with the help of his physician wife who had access to a glycometer (back then patients weren't allowed to monitor their blood glucose so only a doctor could buy a glucometer). He tried to tell others about how he recovered from certain death but nobody listened so he switched careers and became a doctor. Unfortunately he's also considered a quack by the mainstream because he promotes low carb, which, like I said before, is politically incorrect.
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Also, Terry Wahls - a medical researcher who got MS, got put in a wheelchair and managed to heal herself enough to no longer need it. Seriosuly. She's also somebody that got labelled a quack and they tried to tell her she "didn't have MS after all" because until her nobody ever reversed MS symptoms (therefore, if she did do it, it must mean she didn't really have it). But unlike Dr. Richard K. Bernstein the label of quack isn't quite sticking to her; she's becoming popular in MS circles as more ppl w/ MS try out her protocol and it worked. And lucky for us she's a medical researcher; last time I checked she's going to be doing some research on her modified paleo / low carb diet
cancer is nothing to worry about really... i know that sounds odd but we are looking at it all wrong.
my mom cured her breast cancer after reading this book.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Only-Answer-Cancer-Defeating-Disease/dp/0982442874
http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography-Cancer/dp/1439170916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1458615678&amp;sr=1-1 Emperor of All Maladies is a great biography of cancer :) it's basically the history of cancer, really excellent.
Also any New Yorker articles and books by Atul Gawande - my favorite books by him are Complications and Being Mortal. There's also a great (albeit really sad, warning you) Frontline documentary based on Being Mortal - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/being-mortal/
Another interesting Frontline documentary is The League of Denial - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/league-of-denial/ it's a documentary about the neuropathologist that Will Smith played in the recent movie Concussion and the real story with the NFL behind that movie.
The movie "Wit" with Emma Thompson is also a fantastic movie but it's incredibly depressing (she plays a professor with stage 4 cancer) and it's about her stay in the hospital. Couldn't stop crying when I saw this movie lol.
https://www.amazon.com/Cancer-Outside-Ty-M-Bollinger/dp/0978806506
References in the back.
Not books, but I recommend CGPGrey's videos on topics such as the formation of the commonwealth for some anecdotal discussion of how modern states are structured. Crash Course World History is another good series that gives extremely quick (~10-15 minutes) overviews of a variety of topics historians like to discuss.
As for books - many of the more interesting books are on specific topics. Guns, Germs, and Steel is an interesting discussion on why some societies do better than others. Stuff matters is a neat discussion of how modern materials came to be. Honestly, I think it is more fun to pick a topic that interests you and dig into that topic specifically. You will probably learn about other things as necessary along the way. One of Dan Carlin's Common Sense podcasts, Controlling the Past, discusses this very idea.
Some of my favorite "history" books aren't even sold as "history" books. The Emperor of all Maladies is a fascinating look at the history of cancer. As a kid I loved David Macaulay's Building Big, which discusses large structures in America. And an embarrassing amount of my knowledge on other countries comes from folktale anthologies.
If you are interested in international politics specifically, I would suggest looking for books on the UN and NATO (two of the biggest international organizations right now).
For what? If you want something health-related and vaguely fun, try The Emperor of Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. If you just want a book, the last ones I've read have been Anathem by Neal Stephenson, one of the craziest authors of all time and the most recent installment of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.
Read The Cancer Industry. Both of my parents died of Cancer and I wouldn't give a dime to any cancer charity. Maybe its just me.
>Lasik is a horrible example
Fair. I hesitated to use it but decided to use the first medical example that came to mind. I will say though that from everything I've read lately, I don't think the procedure is as dangerous as made out to be. Serious, lasting side effects percentage-wise are still low and improving despite the issues. I also think there needs to be due diligence on the part of the patient. I probably wouldn't get Lasik myself, but if I ever do, I'm going to do my research to find a reputable program for it and understand the risks. I'll also note, there are many 'regulated' procedures done in fancy hospitals that I would never agree to because they also pose a level of risk that I'm not comfortable with. There's risk in any health procedure.
>but your argument breaks down when early detection and payment of say heart medications would increase quality of life and make patients live longer and overall be cheaper to everyone, insurers and providers.
>Same with diabetes. Figure it out very early, start treatment and get people healthier, because now many who can barely afford to see a doctor are doing just what you say, having catastrophic insurance and waiting until there is a problem not easily fixed.
Agreed, people need to focus on prevention. But I think the current mentality is misguided and focuses on band-aid fixes instead of correcting the root cause. The western lifestyle is horrible for our health. Very little sleep (another good read), very little exercise, and a horrendous diet. Get people 8+ hrs of sleep, get them moving around more, and get them eating more veggies seems like a much better plan than "here's a pill that will help your BP but will also give you bad side effects". Not against pills entirely, but it should be reserved for when lifestyle improvements aren't enough; supplemental use. These changes would free up healthcare resources which also lowers costs since we have an increasing amount of people in poor health and a healthcare system struggling to keep up with demand. Insulin is a different topic that I can't accurately explain in short, but here are 2 articles that begin to break into that discussion: 1, 2.
>Much like a dentist. See one twice a year, catch things early and saves a ton of money compared to waiting until something hurts and spending a metric ton and going into debt.
The experience may vary persons to person, but I personally don't have dental insurance (not saying it's for everyone). I pay out of pocket for yearly cleanings and it ends up costing less than dental insurance (tell them you'll pay cash upfront). I also focus on a good diet without lots of sugar and processed foods to support teeth health. Both are preventative measures, neither require insurance, and both will save me money in the long run.
>On top of all that, prior to WWII, if you could see a doctor which was not nearly as readily available now, you didn't have expensive tests, or medications. The doc knew from what experience they had or it was simply palliative care.
You are correct. However tech tends to improve in service and cost over time so while it may be more expensive, I don't think it has to be extraordinarily more expensive. Look at electronics. We get crazy new tech every year with all these new features, and every year, that same tech goes way down in cost, even after inflation. Many things we take for granted today were unattainable to everyone but the rich back when they first came out (cars, phones, computers, AC, etc).
>but it simply is just a conservative vs liberal argument and goes no where.
It often is, I'll agree there as well. I wish it wasn't, and I personally do not argue for either side because I have disagreements with both sides. I just want to provide a viewpoint not many people hear because I passionately believe that we're better off fixing our problems on our own (or at least at the local govt level) than relying on a massive bureaucratic central govt.
>the overhaul of healthcare in the US which you or I are def not intelligent enough to do alone.
I think the fact we can both dig in this deep and not resort to insults represents a minimum level of intelligence. And maybe this is blind optimism, but I also think the solutions aren't as complex once we start really digging into the root cause of the problem and fixing things little by little (easier said than done). I'm also willing to bet we have plenty of common ground, maybe not as much on solutions, but on what the issues are. I find that promising.
This is such an excellent article -- I found it via hackernews, but just read it in Pocket and was wondering what others think. I think I'm going to order the authors' book on Kindle... http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Half-Nature-Microbial-Health-ebook/dp/B00TMA91YU
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
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cancer is simple. its diet 100%. if you want to pop a magic pill then enjoy cancer.
answer lies in why are soybean, canola, and corn crops all gmo'd. and why is milk pasteurized and red meat demonized.
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Story-Cancer-Physicians-Science/dp/0988278006
dont know much about hiv, but im certain it doesnt lead to aids. if anyone has any good books to recommend id be interested.
This will probably get buried but I am reading The Emperor of All Maladies right now and am continually saddened, surprised, and inspired by the history of cancer and its treatment. This should be required reading for everyone IMHO.
I loved
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
I listened to it on Audiobook and it was truly an experience. Gave me so much hope, but also really reinforced how arbitrary and randomly lucky finding these cures and treatments can be.
Chapter 6 of this book would go much farther explaining the rising health problems in America far more than shotgun blast (with no rational basis) GMO food. AND, this book uses actual science by actual scientists ;)
edit: i wish this book were required reading in High School health class.
The issue of overdiagnosis is huge in medicine right now. In one of my med school classes we read this book
It was very enlightening and written for the general public and not just medical professionals by one of the leaders on the subject. Check it out if you have some free time on your hands. It's a fast read.
I think that there is also a very big historical factor. During the 60s/70s a "war on cancer" was launched with huge political pressures (full page adds calling Nixon out) to build a national cancer program that would eventually eradicate cancer. Over the years, researchers learned that there are different types of ways to get their "war on cancer" numbers to be positive; namely, prevention and cure.
Breast cancer stood out for a few reasons. Concurrent with all of this research led to mammography and the discovery of how effective it was in prevention. The result: Huge pushes to get women to have regular mammograms. Similarly, discovery of correlations between estrogen and breast cancer with concurrent discoveries of medications that affected cells and estrogen led go cures. I may have some of the facts here slightly wrong (source: The Emperor of all Maladies ) but this is generally the situation. Breast cancer could get those numbers up and was therefore a key cancer to promote prevention and cure.
Other factors: Momentum from this has carried. Another important factor is that there is a much larger group of female volunteers because many more women choose to stay at home. While they are also vulnerable to other cancers, none is as prominent as breast cancer.
They were also naked. That's whey the cancer rates were so high due to the direct exposure to the scrotum.
Check out the excellent The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
<https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1439170916/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1504813210&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=cancer+history&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51qcgiTZOiL&amp;ref=plSrch&gt;
Ah yes, sciencebasedmedicine.com, the reductionist playbook of authoritative Intellectuals Yet Idiots like yourself. Please link some more opinion pieces, like the ones outlining the virtues of Monsanto, SSRI's, and broad-spectrum Fentanyl. Please don't hesitate to go on strawmanning me, while you cease to even recognize what profit motives or nutrition are.
Update: I'm currently wading through the "Truth About Cancer" documentary/film series (link to book), very informative with 18 hours of interviews spanning dozens of MD's and Oncologists. It's very informative, if somewhat plainspeaking, and the reductionist backlash/shilling seems underwhelming, with classic quotes such as "it's not true", etc, in many cases not bothering to cite anything, ie. light on counter-evidence with lots of opinions, ignorant of epigenetics and economic/incentive influences as would be expected from some retired military Boomer. Make up your own minds, don't let others think for you.
Here's a link to the books page here at r/AlternativeCancer. So far, I've listed 90 books.
I especially recommend these as excellent introductions to alternative concepts and protocols:
Cancer-Free: Your Guide to Gentle, Non-toxic Healing (Bill Henderson, 2011)
Beating Cancer with Nutrition (Patrick Quillin, 2005)
Cancer: Step Outside the Box (Ty Bollinger, 2011)
Killing Cancer - Not People (Bob Wright, 2014)
The Cancer Survivor's Bible (Jonathan Chamberlain, 2nd ed., 2012)
Cancer? Don't Panic! (a free e-book by Jonathan Chamberlain, 2013)
***Amazon somehow / sometimes links back to an older edition on some of these titles, so...If you do order there.....be sure to look closely and make sure you always buy the most recent editions.
If you're interested in more alternative treatment info, check out the posting on Gerson Therapy & the video link, above. Also, there is a ton of useful alternative therapy information assembled in the book Cancer: Step Outside the Box, available over at cancertruth.net.
I was going to ignore what you wrote because it was just so ridiculous and showed how you aren't really aware of how the world works. But after seeing the amount of downvotes my comment got compared to your upvotes, it seems a lot of people are really not sure how things work.
Let me break this down then:
> True. I mean what good do the universities do? It's not like they do cutting edge research that can alleviate poverty, streamline factories and form new economic policies.
Do you have any evidence for this? Do you know of any major technological breakthrough that has occurred because of university directed and funded research? No, you don't. Because there literally isn't any major breakthrough from such research.
The internal combustion engine was made by a man in the United States in his garage by trial and error. He did not go to university. His name was Henry Ford.
The Internet was a project which started as a spy network to gather Russian data and intelligence for the US Army.
The US could have been dependent on the Arab state for their oil imports (like India) but through sheer ingenuity and entrepreneurship, they figured out fracking and they produce natural gas without having to depend on anybody else outside. It wasn't a university project that made it happen.
Consider the war on cancer - the US universities poured in billions from the 1940s till now on research on how to beat cancer. Has it been successful? No. In fact, read the book The Emperor of All Maladies in which the author argues that such directed research may have actually slowed down to finding the cure for cancer.
There is simply no evidence that University labs have alleviated poverty or streamline factories although they have formed new economic policies which have been mostly disastrous for the world economy. All the improvements in the standard of living and technological innovations have been because of entrepreneurs and companies who deserve every bit of the money they get. Because they make huge strides, the benefits trickle down to the rest of the people.
> Look, the free markets aren't the magic solution to every problem. If you let the free market (aka Indian parents) decide what kind of schools we want right now then I'm sure they'd want a cramming cage where children are prepared for the IITs from their nurseries. Letting the markets decide what is a good school and what is a bad one is an immensely stupid idea
Free markets are not the magic solution but they are the best solution yet. Compare the countries which have adopted free markets with a stable rule of law and compare socialist countries with both top-down and bottom-up policies. Socialism has failed everywhere and failed to produce any advances when compared to free markets.
Regarding your parents remark, do you know what are the regulations of setting up a school? Do you know schools in India have regulations ranging from the size of a classroom window to the area of a playground? Who can comply with these sort of requirements if not the rich and well connected to politicians? Free markets with these sort of regulations only result in a very limited number of good private schools and a vast number of pseudo-private schools run by politically affiliated people who can compromise on the regulations and get away with it.
Right now, your parents do not have any real choice when it comes to selecting schools. India has become a degree factory with a very limited number of institutions that actually teach something of use to its population. Have you asked yourself how does the CBSE and the State Board set their curriculum? Listen to this podcast - http://www.seenunseen.in/episodes/2018/7/16/episode-77-education-in-india
> Right, which is why most of them need government welfare schemes to survive right? Such wealth much immense benefits.
This is such a trivial statement. You are just being ignorant here. Compare social welfare schemes of the US and India and you will see the difference. A simple google search will tell you the difference between how many people depend on the welfare system. Besides, who do you think funds the most of these welfare schemes? The top 1% pays the bulk of taxes that goes into funding social schemes.
It is kinda disheartening to see so many people despise capitalism here. Capitalism has winner-take-all effects but it is the only solution yet that has created prosperity for most number of people. Hope you read some books and stuff and change your view.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916
>..could you give me some other examples of science that goes against "political correctness" or "modern fads"?
One example of impeccably accurate science that has gone against political correctness for over 60 years:
It is commonly referred to as The Warburg Effect, but many in the scientific and medical community have erroneously dubbed it: "The Warburg Hypothesis". Discovered by Otto Warburg, MD, PhD, in the early 1900s, and succinctly delineated in the article titled "On the Origin of Cancer Cells", which appeared in the February, 1956 issue of Science Magazine.
In that article, Dr. Warburg illustrates how all cancers of mammalian tissue, regardless of where they occur in the body, originate from a singular cause; a reduction in the cell's access to, or utilization of oxygen for the creation of ATP, with a compensatory shift of the cell's metabolism toward anaerobic fermentation of glucose (the degree of malignancy being determined by the ratio of aerobic respiration to anaerobic fermentation in the cell).
Warburg's findings were independently confirmed by Cameron and Goldblatt Published April 1, 1953
None have succeeded in disproving Warburg's research. Because of the long-favored theory that Cancer is caused by genetic mutation, either hereditary or induced, Warburg's work was marginalized from the start.
Dr. Weinberg reversed his original theory years ago after discovering that less than one DNA base in a million appeared to have been miscopied, concluding that not enough defect existed to cause cell mutation.
One Renegade Cell: How Cancer Begins : “Something was very wrong. The notion that a cancer developed through the successive activation of a series of oncogenes had lost its link to reality”.
Despite the retraction of the mutation theory as being causal to the development of cancer by Dr. Robert Weinberg (who theorized the oncogene mechanism), both science and medicine have too much invested in the theory to put it to pasture.
For example: (March 24, 2017) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cancer-random-genetic-dna-mutations-two-thirds-of-cases/
Also pinging /u/kimjongundressed