Books I think you should know about

Loads of people have written about cancer, healing, mainstream and alternative therapies and medications, and plenty of people have also written about their own journeys with cancer.

I’m going to tell you about the books I think are worth paying attention to. You may want to read them, like I did, or you may want simply to know about them and read my reviews below.

Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All The Odds. Kelly A. Turner Ph.D. Harper One publications.

Kelly Turner is a psychotherapist (like me!) and has spent her career giving therapy to cancer patients through the mainstream medical services in America. She has developed a sense of frustration at the suppression of stories and testimonies of unexpected healing. https://www.radicalremission.com/.

She calls them ‘radical remission’ stories and she has a dedicated website to gather more stories. She draws together 9 common threads that all people who have unexpected healing from cancer have in common, with some inspiring case studies. This book taught me a lot.

When the Body Says No: the Cost of Hidden Stress. Gabor Maté. Vermillion.

Gabor Maté is a medical doctor who has a history of trauma and recovery himself (escaping the Nazi regime as a small child). He has a lot to say about the way that mainstream medical training ignores the emotional and spiritual dimension, and the role of these in the development of disease. He takes detailed research of high-profile cases of disease and tracks the personality- types and coping mechanisms of the people involved, using their own testimonials, and analysing diaries and letters of their close family members, for example. This was the first place I heard the expression ‘cancer personality-type’.

The body keeps the score. Mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma. Bessel van der Kolk. Penguin.

This is a very popular book about the cellular dysfunction that is a result of trauma and wounding. It is accepted in the mainstream. He draws on the work of Dr. Bruce Lipton who first evidenced (in the 50s) that the emotional world alters the blood chemistry, which alters the way the body grows and develops.

Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life. Dr. David Servan-Schreiber. Penguin. Also a medical doctor, this time a research psychiatrist, David discovered his own brain tumour while playing with some friends and research colleagues on an early MRI-machine. He then developed a rigorous understanding of his own life, psychological wounds and also his needs, and developed a detailed diet plan to optimise his health. He has a whole chapter about why doctors aren’t interested in talking about diet and holistic health in relation to cancer and other chronic diseases. He did die of his brain tumour after 20 years and outliving all expectations. There is a lot to be learnt from this book.

Women of Silence: The Emotional Healing of Breast Cancer. Grace Gawler. Hill of Content Publishing.

This is a very helpful book by one half of an Australian couple whose lives have been dedicated to emotional work with breast cancer patients. They also have their own healing story to tell (not from breast cancer). It has some extremely helpful points about the opportunities that a cancer diagnosis brings, and the importance of working with the emotional and spiritual world which cannot be seen, rather than just the physical world which can be seen.

Cancer is not a Disease: It’s a Healing Mechanism. Andreas Moritz. Ener-Chi Wellness Press.

Andreas Moritz was a pioneer of alternative thinking about cancer and also about other health challenges. His death under strange and suspicious circumstances was a great loss to the natural health world. He lays out a philosophy of the body as a self-healing organism, and the role of a tumour as one of extracting negative energy and toxic blood chemistry. He makes the very good point that it is not the only way to understand and view cancer, and invites the reader to consider all opinions and methods of treatment.

The Smart Woman’s Guide to Breast Cancer. Jenn Simmons, MD (self- published. Available on Amazon.)

Jenn Simmons (a former mainstream breast surgeon, now functional doctor) has launched a new, safer alternative to mammograms in the USA, along with partners in mainland Europe called ‘QT imaging’. This is a comprehensive scan of the breast with no radiation exposure and fewer false positives than mammograms. She has written a helpful self-published book about the details of breast cancer and also the importance of holistic therapies.

Ancient Remedies. Dr. Josh Axe. Little Brown Spark.

Josh Axe has his own remarkable healing story, from being told he would never walk again to being currently in the peak of physical health. He specialises in thyroid and hormone dysfunction. He pulls together ancient practices of medicine, both Eastern and Western, and talks about the ways that each of these world-views can inform our current understanding of health and well-being. He also has some useful recipes at the end of the book! His instagram channel is full of health and wellbeing tips, and he does not neglect the emotional aspect.

The Well-Tuned Body. Penny Ingham & Colin Shelbourn. Summersdale. Penny Ingham is an Alexander Technique teacher and Colin Shelbourn is her pupil (he drew the illustrations!). This book highlights the importance of posture, movement and correct use of the body in everyday actions. If you have never heard of the Alexander Technique, it is worth reading about and understanding that the everyday use of the body has a profound influence on all sorts of things such as circulation of the blood and lymph flow (detoxification).

Limits to Medicine. Ivan Illich. Marion Boyars Publishers.

A well-established book for anybody embarking on a course of medical treatment. The author shows very clearly that the second cause of death in the USA is medical treatment. (!) This is worth thinking about. The title says it all. Medicine in the Western sense has a lot to offer us, but it is not the last word on any aspect of health.

The Root Cause of Cancer. Paul Leendertse. (Self-published. Available at wheeloflife.ca).

Paul Leendertse is a pioneer of the holistic understanding of cancer. Having spent 10 years living with cancer patients (for 3 weeks at a time) supposedly at the end of their lives, and having seen some of them heal, he has a comprehensive understanding of the emotional roots of all different cancers, and a plan for working towards healing at the deepest level. If you can afford it, you will benefit from one of his training courses. He makes the point that humanity has been looking at cancer for 100 years in a test-tube, but hasn’t been looking at the people who have the cancers.

Beat Cancer Daily: 365 Days of Inspiration, Encouragement and Action Steps to Survive and Thrive. Chris Wark. Hay House Publishing.

Chris Wark is an inspiring 20-year cancer ‘survivor’ and also a heath coach and mentor for anybody living with cancer. His package ‘Square 1’ contains a full plan for diet, lifestyle and also he teaches the importance of forgiveness and emotional healing. In my opinion, his programme focuses too much on diet and juicing, and although he says that it’s ‘90% spiritual and emotional, 10% diet’, the plan and the coaching videos don’t reflect that entirely. He is a warm and compelling person who has an excellent podcast with many clear- thinking people on the subject of cancer.

There you have it- my favourite books about cancer. I hope you have enjoyed reading about them and maybe want to check back in sometime to see if I’ve added any more to the list!