Whether you're newly diagnosed, having a recurrence, the caregiver of a cancer patient, or simply looking for prevention tips, read on to find some of the most informative cancer books out there.
A new cancer diagnosis is pretty scary. Many of us were overwhelmed and paralyzed with fear. If that's you, first take a deep breath. You need to grieve, certainly, but then you need to realize this is a marathon, not a sprint.
The unfortunate reality is that cancer isn't really over for most people who get into remission. The good news is that life will get good again once you are stable. You will have happy times.
Cancer does not have to be a death sentence.
I won't sugar coat it for you. You're in for a lot of hard work, but you are not totally helpless in this. You have tools to fight this disease, it's just a matter of learning about them. It's up to God when any of our time is up, but you can keep on fighting until he calls you home.
With that in mind, today I'm sharing some of my favorite books for my cancer warriors. (Perhaps a better term for us is cancer worriers.) The plan is to grow it as I read more. If you have a great book that should be included, please shoot me a message so I can investigate.😉
I want to note, though, that due to the constantly evolving nature of cancer, you should supplement these books with reading actual research papers from pubmed. Many people are unaware that pubmed is a resource that everyone with internet can access to read studies first hand.
These links are affiliate links to Amazon. You know the drill, if you order through the link, you will not be charged any additional fees but I will get a small compensation for referring you to them.
Books for the Newly Diagnosed
When you're first diagnosed, you need hope. For that reason, these books aren't particularly technical, and some of them aren't even about the actual cancer fight at all.
50 Days of Hope by Lynn Eib was given to my by a friend from high school. I read this through several times. Lynn Eib is a long term survivor of late stage colorectal cancer. She writes with compassion and gives you the encouragement that you need to get through those first few weeks. I highly recommend this book.
This book is a little sad because the author has now died. It was written years ago by a man who had lived for twenty years with terminal brain cancer. It is also filled with stories of people who have survived their cancer or outlived their prognosis by decades. It even has a story of a man who had mesothelioma and lived for decades. It gave me a lot of hope.
This is quickly becoming the most recommended book on cancer. I see it all over my cancer groups. This book tells the stories of people who beat cancer against all odds. I highly recommend giving this a read.
I have yet to read Radical Hope by the same author, but as soon as I can put away all of my cancer biology texts, I plan to.
The next two, I'm including on the Newly Diagnosed list because I find them easy to read and implement. You can immediately begin making changes to your diet and we'll see in more detail in later books that it is essential to fighting cancer. I love both of these books and though they are quite similar, I think it's worth reading both! When I was first diagnosed, I got a second opinion. (Okay, four) One of the doctors who I consulted with was a gynecological oncologist at Johns Hopkins. He recommended How Not to Die to me and it made a huge difference in feeling empowered to fight this disease.
Eat to Beat Disease also had great information. The two of them helped to encourage me in that first month or so.
Books For Those Making Treatment Choices
Depending on the type of cancer, treatment choices can sometimes be made before you're really prepared to make them. It was only around two weeks from the time the mass was found until I had my surgery. I wish I'd had some time to learn a bit more than what I did, because I would have done a few things a little differently.
I'm partial to this book because the author is my own beloved doctor. He's a great person, as is everyone at the Block Center. I'm grateful for what they do.
However, this book is good on its own, too. Dr. Block lays out the generic treatment plan of which all his patients follow in some form. It gives the reader a great idea of what can be accomplished with an integrative plan. Of course, when you go to him in person, they create a specialized plan just for you and your cancer.
This book is very similar to the above book. I included it because it is actually what led me to seek out The Block Center. I read it after I got sent home from chemo due to anaphylaxis. While I waited for a call that didn't come until days later, I realized I needed to have an integrative oncology center.
This book leans a little more to the alternative side of things, rather than integrative, but she still uses chemo when necessary. She seems brilliant in all of the interviews I have watched with her, so I was interested to read her book.
If you are doing neoadjuvant chemotherapy or are awaiting surgery day, this is a fascinating book to read. Dr. Williams has a unique treatment which involves killing the tumor and leaving it within the body so the immune system recognizes it as something to attack. It's amazing, really, and every cancer patient should be aware of this possibility.
Books for Those Wanting to Dive Deeper
Once you have your initial decisions made, you really need to be able to understand how cancer occurs, what drives it, its signaling pathways, and how to prevent recurrences. I have tweaked my protocol multiple times as I've learned new things, so I encourage every cancer patient to read the books below once their disease is stable.
There are countless cancer biology textbooks out there. This one seems to be the most understandable but also quite comprehensive. There may be new editions, as this is an actual textbook.
This is hands down my favorite book on cancer. It is so informative, but it is all spelled out in an easy to understand way. Every cancer pathway is discussed in this book. I have an older edition, which is green.
While not the most cancer-specific book on the market, this book is wonderful for explaining how liver metabolism works, among other things. Anyone who is taking multiple supplements or medicines knows that liver metabolism is important to understand. The book also offers advice on cancer prevention. It is HUGE, so you'll need a couple dozen pots of coffee to get through it.
I'll be honest, this isn't my favorite. I find Jane to be brilliant, but difficult to follow. Her writing makes me stressed, personally, and I'm already a neurotic ball of stress. I tried reading this right after diagnosis and it just made me cry because I didn't understand what she was talking about.
Months later, I went back and realized that it's not so much the subject matter, but her manner of writing that doesn't click with me.
Regardless, she has found a really great way of keeping her cancer in check with off-label drugs, supplements, and a diet change. The book is passed around quite a bit and many people love it. I would recommend giving it a read.
This one is for those of you who really like to geek out. I find this stuff interesting, but for the majority of people who are going through cancer, knowing how they developed Taxol is probably not all that helpful.
What is helpful, though, is understanding that even the most conventional of cancer treatments are derived from natural sources. Knowing that, it makes integrative approaches seem a little less kooky, amirite?
More Books on the Metabolic Aspect of Cancer
Many people make light of the dietary changes that some cancer patients go through to achieve remission or stay NED, but there are piles of research supporting this approach. While the details may be argued, new research shows every day how important diet is. Read these books if you want to understand why.
It makes me really sad that Max Gerson was a vilified, laughing stock of medicine during his time. He was one of the pioneers of nutritional cancer therapy.
Though dated, the book is worth reading in my opinion, because of the case studies.
This is the book that many other dietary approaches were built upon. It's worth reading to understand why cancer is not first a genetic disease.
Full disclosure: I don't use this approach to battling my cancer. My diet is quite restricted as is and I have food allergies after my surgery and blood transfusion, so I have limited options.
This book is similar to Dr. Seyfried's book, but I am including it because Nasha Winters has a slightly different take on it and she happens to be a long-term survivor of ovarian cancer! I gotta represent with my teal sisters.
Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez had some interesting theories about cancer. I have several of his books, recommended to me by my local doctor, Dr. Windley. I may add them later, too. This one, though, is interesting as it discusses his approach to diet and how it relates to the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system.
This isn't a cancer specific book, but I'm including it because Pam Popper is awesome! I spoke with her on several phone consultations prior to landing at the Block Center. She steered me in the right direction with my diet when my original oncologist failed to get me information for the nutritionist.
She has a great YouTube channel and she also has a program called the Wellness Forum which is super helpful for people other than cancer patients, too.
Written by the same guy who wrote the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, this book follows a similar structure. It's a great book to have on hand for every family. Full Disclosure: I don't actually own this book yet, sadly. Our library had a well-loved copy, though, so it's good.
This study is quoted so often in other research, it's worth having a copy of it for yourself. It gives indisputable evidence for a link between diet and cancer.
Cancer Cookbooks
My diet is almost completely Whole Foods, Plant Based (ie- vegan, but my husband made me promise to never call us vegans, so you didn't hear that from me.) It follows that my favorite cookbooks are all ones with recipes like this. Unfortunately, I can't offer any great recommendations on the keto diet because I don't eat a keto diet.
This cookbook is excellent, even if he does go a little overboard on certain ingredients. It has some variety and they taste really good.
This is probably the best bang for your buck out of any cookbook in the history of cookbooks. Over 300 recipes is a lot of recipes. I didn't even know there were that many ways to combine vegetables and grains.
This book has a lot of interesting takes on ethnic foods, so you won't get bored with the same old thing. If you need to start changing your diet ASAP, this is a must have.
I don't even know why I'm including this one because there are not that many recipes in the book. It has one of my favorites, though: Beefless Stew.
Yum. Just thinking about it is making me hungry. It's worth buying just for that one recipe, I think.
The whole book is SOS free, too.
I pre-ordered this sucker and I'm glad I did. It isn't as jam packed as some of the others, but the recipes are good and I've already adopted some as my favorites.
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