One in Three
A Son's Journey into the History and Science of Cancer
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
How close are we to defeating cancer? A “calming and illuminating” blend of memoir and medical history (Janet Maslin, The New York Times).
When his father was diagnosed with cancer, documentary filmmaker Adam Wishart couldn’t find a book that clearly answered his most basic questions: What was the disease and how did it take hold? What is it about cancer’s biology that makes it hard to eradicate? And most importantly, are we on the way to a cure?
One in Three is both a son’s personal story and a journalistic take on cancer’s history, outlining the encouraging story of science’s progress in changing the outlook on cancer from a disease we die from to one we live with. Covering the discovery of the disease, its treatment, and its prevention, this is a story of both hardship and hope, and a helpful companion for anyone dealing with this all too common illness as a patient, a loved one, or a caregiver.
“An engaging presentation of facts reported with the cool detachment of a professional journalist interspersed with the raw feelings of a son recording the progress of his father’s fatal illness, what’s right and wrong within the medical community, and the emotional toll on everyone involved with the father and son’s journey.” —Booklist
“Fascinating.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Makes abstract science accessible and dignifies a human story with the insights of medicine.” —Andrew Solomon, New York Times–bestselling and National Book Award–winning author of Far from the Tree
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wishart's title refers to the number of people who will be diagnosed with cancer and his belief that we need to stop talking about the disease in hushed whispers as it becomes something "to live with rather than only die from." Wishart (Leaving Reality Behind), a British TV director and producer, juxtaposes an unflinching account of his father's diagnosis and treatment with a wider look at cancer research. The constant shuttling between past and present has the unfortunate effect of disrupting the emotional momentum of the Wishart family's struggle. Miniportraits of cancer research activists like Mary Lasker and Penny Brohn tell an important story, but never fully mesh with the scenes of the father's slow decline. Individual moments from the personal saga, as when Wishart's father reads a newspaper in a hospital bed because books have become too heavy for his weakened arms, have strong emotional resonance, but too often, when Wishart manages to hook readers into the drama, he veers off into another historical digression. Either narrative strand could have been an effective book in its own right; in putting them together, Wishart hasn't quite created an integrated whole.
