The Cancer Chronicles

出版者:Knopf Publishing Group

作者:George Johnson

页数:304

出版时间:2013-8-27

价格:GBP 20.03

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780307595140

具体描述

When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is a revolution under way—an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. In a provocative and intellectually vibrant exploration, he takes us on an adventure through the history and recent advances of cancer research that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the disease.

Deftly excavating and illuminating decades of investigation and analysis, he reveals what we know and don’t know about cancer, showing why a cure remains such a slippery concept. We follow him as he combs through the realms of epidemiology, clinical trials, laboratory experiments, and scientific hypotheses—rooted in every discipline from evolutionary biology to game theory and physics. Cogently extracting fact from a towering canon of myth and hype, he describes tumors that evolve like alien creatures inside the body, paleo-oncologists who uncover petrified tumors clinging to the skeletons of dinosaurs and ancient human ancestors, and the surprising reversals in science’s comprehension of the causes of cancer, with the foods we eat and environmental toxins playing a lesser role. Perhaps most fascinating of all is how cancer borrows natural processes involved in the healing of a wound or the unfolding of a human embryo and turns them, jujitsu-like, against the body.

Throughout his pursuit, Johnson clarifies the human experience of cancer with elegiac grace, bearing witness to the punishing gauntlet of consultations, surgeries, targeted therapies, and other treatments. He finds compassion, solace, and community among a vast network of patients and professionals committed to the fight and wrestles to comprehend the cruel randomness cancer metes out in his own family. For anyone whose life has been affected by cancer and has found themselves asking why?, this book provides a new understanding. In good company with the works of Atul Gawande, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Abraham Verghese, The Cancer Chronicles is endlessly surprising and as radiant in its prose as it is authoritative in its eye-opening science.

用户评价

从阅读体验上来说，这是一部需要“重读”的书籍。初读时，你可能会被其广博的内容和复杂的叙事结构所淹没，像是在穿越一片茂密的森林，急于找到出口。然而，当我放下书本，稍作沉淀后，一些原本被忽略的细节和微妙的情感层次如同被阳光照耀般浮现出来。这本书的价值，绝非一次阅读就能完全吸收。它像是一面棱镜，你从不同的角度去看，折射出的光芒和色彩都是不一样的。它不仅仅是记录了一系列事件，它更像是在搭建一个思维模型，一个关于脆弱性、韧性以及人如何与不可控的巨大力量共存的模型。它要求读者不仅是旁观者，更需要成为一个积极的参与者，去思辨、去感受，甚至去反思自己生命中的那些“不可承受之轻”与“无法逃避之重”。这份持久的思辨价值，才是它最宝贵的财富所在。

这本书的语言功力实在令人叹为观止，那种沉郁、内敛却又暗流涌动的文字风格，构建了一种近乎史诗般的氛围。它不像那些试图煽动情绪的文字那样直白，而是用一种近乎冷峻的、科学家的精确度来描述最极端的痛苦和最微小的希望。我特别欣赏作者对于意象的运用，那些重复出现的意象，比如“冰冷的金属光泽”、“褪色的旧照片”、“窗外永远不肯停歇的雨”，它们像一个个音符，在不同的章节里变奏，共同谱写出一曲关于“存在”的复杂乐章。阅读过程与其说是“看”故事，不如说是在进行一场缓慢的、沉浸式的冥想。文字的节奏掌握得炉火纯青，有的段落如同急促的鼓点，推动着情节紧张地向前奔跑；而有的段落则仿佛被拉长的慢镜头，让你有足够的时间去感受人物的呼吸、心跳乃至灵魂的颤抖。对于那些追求文字美感和深层意蕴的读者来说，这本书无疑是一场饕餮盛宴。

坦白讲，这本书的结构设计是极具挑战性的，它完全拒绝了线性的、清晰的叙事路径。起初我有些迷失，感觉自己被扔进了一张巨大的、由无数碎片信息构成的网里。作者似乎故意打乱了时间顺序，将后期的顿悟穿插在早期的懵懂之中，这种跳跃感要求读者必须时刻保持高度的专注力。但一旦适应了这种非线性的阅读模式，你会发现其高明之处：它模拟了记忆的运作方式——记忆本身就是碎片化的、充满情感色彩的回闪。通过这种手法，作者成功地让读者体验到“已知后果”的沉重感，即我们作为读者，带着对未来的认知去审视过去的选择和挣扎，这平添了一种宿命般的悲剧张力。这本书不是让你轻松地获得答案，而是让你在迷宫中体验探索的过程，最终拼凑出一个属于你自己的完整拼图。这种对读者智力的尊重，在当代文学中是相当难得的。

这本书最让我震撼的，是它在宏大叙事与微观细节之间的完美平衡。它并不满足于记录个体的痛苦，而是巧妙地将这些个人化的遭遇置于更广阔的社会、历史背景之下进行审视。你可以在某一个章节中读到关于某项医疗政策的冷酷细节，下一章可能就立刻转入了对一个家庭晚餐桌上沉默的细腻描绘。这种“大背景切入小人物”的处理方式，使得这本书避免了成为一部纯粹的个人日记，而升华为对时代精神、科技伦理乃至生命哲学的一次深刻探讨。我尤其欣赏作者那种不动声色的批判力量，它不喊口号，不指责，而是通过展示无可辩驳的现实，让读者自己得出结论。那些关于资源分配、关于尊严的维护、关于“活着的意义”的拷问，都潜藏在那些看似日常的对话和场景之下，如同深海的暗流，不动声色却力量惊人。

这本书的叙事手法简直是鬼斧神工，它没有采用那种常见的、一板一眼的编年史叙述，而是像一个技艺高超的钟表匠，将时间线打散、重组，然后用极其细腻的情感丝线将那些看似不相干的片段巧妙地编织在一起。我读到一些章节时，感觉自己就像是站在一个高耸的瞭望塔上，俯瞰着一个个鲜活的个体在命运的洪流中挣扎、欢笑、最终沉寂。作者对于人性的捕捉入木三分，他笔下的人物绝不是脸谱化的符号，他们有各自的怪癖、微小的胜利和那些不为人知的恐惧。比如，书中对某位母亲在等待诊断结果时的心理刻画，那种将世界收缩到一间小小的候诊室，时间被拉伸到近乎静止的描摹，让我几乎能感受到空气中的尘埃都在缓慢地漂浮。这种对心理深度的挖掘，远超了一般的纪实文学所能达到的层面。它更像是一部心理学论文披上了文学的外衣，每一个场景、每一次对话都充满了隐喻和多重解读的可能性，让人在合上书本后依然久久不能平静，不断回味那些留白的艺术。

cancer is not an disease, it's an norm of life, an alternative to reach mortality

cancer is not an disease, it's an norm of life, an alternative to reach mortality

cancer is not an disease, it's an norm of life, an alternative to reach mortality

cancer is not an disease, it's an norm of life, an alternative to reach mortality

cancer is not an disease, it's an norm of life, an alternative to reach mortality