Welch’s engaging style and touches of humor make this an easy read, and the facts he presents make a convincing case.
A bright, lively discussion of the excesses of medical care to which patients often unwittingly go due to certain false assumptions.
In a natural follow-up to his previous book, Welch (co-author: Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health, 2011, etc.), a primary care physician who teaches at Dartmouth Medical School, warns that too much medical care can be bad for your health. Patients and doctors are driven toward action by various forces—e.g., patients feel they are being paid attention to, which makes them feel better, and doctors like getting credit for trying if not for curing. The author lays out his argument around seven faulty assumptions too often made by the public: 1) All risks can be lowered; 2) It’s always better to fix the problem; 3) Sooner is always better; 4) It never hurts to get more information; 5) Action is always better than inaction; 6) Newer is always better; 7) It’s all about avoiding death. Drawing on history, scientific research, statistics and his own experience, Welch demonstrates the flaws in these assumptions. His stories involve the risks, uncertainties and harms of cancer screenings, treatments for heart disease, drugs, medical devices and surgical procedures. He makes an especially strong case for the risks of mass screenings for cancer—the fear, the false alarms, the overdiagnoses and the resulting overtreatments. Vivid images make what could be discouragingly technical quite understandable: Small, nonlethal tumors that need no treatment are “turtles,” aggressive ones that have already spread and are beyond cure are “birds,” and the ones that might be stopped by early treatment are “rabbits.” In Welch’s view, cancer screening can find “rabbits” but it creates the problem of overdiagnosis of “turtles” and offers little benefit to “birds.”
Welch’s engaging style and touches of humor make this an easy read, and the facts he presents make a convincing case.Pub Date: March 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8070-7164-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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