A New York Times Bestseller
Finalist for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize
Longlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize
A rigorous, skeptical, deeply reported look at the new science behind the mind's surprising ability to heal the body
Have you ever felt a surge of adrenaline after narrowly avoiding an accident? Salivated at the sight (or thought) of a sour lemon? Felt turned on just from hearing your partner's voice? If so, then you've experienced how dramatically the workings of your mind can affect your body.
Yet while we accept that stress or anxiety can damage our health, the idea of "healing thoughts" was long ago hijacked by New Age gurus and spiritual healers. Recently, however, serious scientists from a range of fields have been uncovering evidence that our thoughts, emotions and beliefs can ease pain, heal wounds, fend off infection and heart disease and even slow the progression of AIDS and some cancers.
In Cure, award-winning science writer Jo Marchant travels the world to meet the physicians, patients and researchers on the cutting edge of this new world of medicine. We learn how meditation protects against depression and dementia, how social connections increase life expectancy and how patients who feel cared for recover from surgery faster. We meet Iraq war veterans who are using a virtual arctic world to treat their burns and children whose ADHD is kept under control with half the normal dose of medication. We watch as a transplant patient uses the smell of lavender to calm his hostile immune system and an Olympic runner shaves vital seconds off his time through mind-power alone.
Drawing on the very latest research, Marchant explores the vast potential of the mind's ability to heal, lays out its limitations and explains how we can make use of the findings in our own lives. With clarity and compassion, Cure points the way towards a system of medicine that treats us not simply as bodies but as human beings.
About the Author
Jo Marchant is the author of Decoding the Heavens, shortlisted for the Royal Society Prize. She has a PhD in genetics and medical microbiology and has written on everything from the future of genetic engineering to underwater archaeology for New Scientist, Nature, The Guardian, and Smithsonian. She has appeared on BBC Radio, CNN, and National Geographic. She lives in London.
Industry Reviews
Should be compulsory reading for all young doctors * * NEW SCIENTIST * *
[Marchant] surveys with grace what we think we know, and what we would like to know, about the mysterious and troubling relationship between our minds and our bodies * * GUARDIAN * *
A revved-up, research-packed explication of the use of mind in medicine * * NATURE * *
Turns the mind-body debate on its head * * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT * *
A well-researched page-turner . . . may very well lead to widespread changes in the ways we practice medicine * * NEW YORK POST * *
A diligent and useful work that makes the case for 'holistic' medicine while warning against the snake-oil salesmen who have annexed that word for profit * * SUNDAY TIMES * *
This is popular science writing at its very best . . . I would recommend this book to anybody who has a mind and a body -- HENRY MARSH * * author of DO NO HARM: STORIES OF LIFE, DEATH, AND BRAIN SURGERY * *
Marchant is a skeptical, evidence-based reporter - one with a background in microbiology, no less - which makes for a fascinating juxtaposition against some of the alternative treatments she discusses * * NEW YORK MAGAZINE * *
A thought-provoking exploration of how the mind affects the body and can be harnessed to help treat physical illness, by an award-winning science journalist * * ECONOMIST, Book of the Year * *
A rewarding read that seeks to separate the wishful and emotion-driven from the scientifically tested * * WASHINGTON POST * *
Marchant writes this with sparkling clarity and authority . . . much food for thought * * NUDGE * *
This is an important book, and one that will challenge those dismissive of efforts to investigate how our thoughts, emotions and beliefs might directly influence our physical wellbeing . . . intriguing and trailblazing * * SYDNEY MORNING HERALD * *
A powerful and critically needed conceptual bridge for those who are frustrated with pseudoscientific explanations of alternative therapies but intrigued by the mind's potential power to both cause and treat chronic, stress-related conditions * * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * *
Cure represents a journey in the best sense of the word: a vivid, compassionate, generous exploration of the role of the human mind in both health and illness -- DEBORAH BLUM
Optimistic . . . [and] empowering * * MAIL ON SUNDAY * *
Marchant makes her case so cogently that it is hard to disagree * * INDEPENDENT * *
Thought-provoking . . . Ms Marchant's book makes a convincing case * * ECONOMIST * *
