The Truth in Small Doses: Why We're Losing the War on Cancer-and How to Win It - Hardcover

Leaf, Clifton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1476739986 ISBN 13: 9781476739984

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2013

Synopsis

A provocative, eye-opening history of the war on cancer, The Truth in Small Doses asks why we are losing this essential fight and charts a path forward.

OVER THE PAST HALF CENTURY, deaths from heart disease, stroke, and so many other killers have fallen dramatically. But cancer continues to kill with abandon. In 2014, despite a four-decade "war" against the disease that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars, more than 1.6 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer and nearly six hundred thousand will die from it.

A decade ago, Clifton Leaf, a celebrated journalist and a cancer survivor himself, began to investigate why we had made such limited progress fighting this terrifying disease. The result is a gripping narrative that reveals why the public's immense investment in research has been badly misspent, why scientists seldom collaborate and share their data, why new drugs are so expensive yet routinely fail, and why our best hope for progress--brilliant young scientists-- are now abandoning the search for a cure. The Truth in Small Doses is that rare tale that will both outrage readers and inspire conversation and change.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

NEW! July 2014--WINNER of the European School of Oncology's first LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD for cancer reporting. "It takes an outsider to stand back and ask the critical questions that Clifton Leaf poses. And it takes superb journalistic skills to make sense of it all and tell the story in a way that is both compelling and constructive...The European School of Oncology (ESO) is delighted to recognise his powerful contribution to efforts to speed up progress in cancer research with this Lifetime Achievement Award."--Franco Cavalli, chair, "Best Cancer Reporter Award" judging panel

From the Back Cover:

One of "10 Books to Provoke Conversation in the New Year!"
"The Truth in Small Doses is a detailed, sober myth-busting report. Leaf concludes the 'war on cancer' is a failure due to a dysfunctional 'cancer culture'--'a groupthink that pushes tens of thousands of physicians and scientists toward the goal of finding the tiniest improvements in treatment rather than genuine breakthroughs; that fosters isolated and redundant problem-solving instead of cooperation...' He shows why the public's immense investment in research has been badly misspent."--RALPH NADER

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1476739986
• ISBN 13: 9781476739984
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512