The End of Illness

A good book, well written and speaks as to some future medical progress, as well as ways each of us can improve our own health. But it could have been much better if it had concluded with a more specific path to follow for the future. It suggested tests to have run to establish a baseline, but in the end I still had no idea of how each test would point me towards some solutions to my own medical problems, other than the standard "see your doctor regularly" which I've been told for over half a century now and which is stated at the end of every tv commercial for every medical product being advertised. Dr. Agus has written a new book that suggests that others may have felt this same way and which seems to address his advice on practical approaches that can take advantage of all the suggestions in this book. I have just ordered it and hope that it does so in reality. Time will tell.

The End of Illness, by David B. Agus, M.D., is a book that describes in great detail the amazing complexity of the human body and what is happening to it when it begins to change, specifically with regard to illnesses such as cancer. Dr. Agus is an oncologist with an exciting, if not revolutionary, outlook on the future of how we treat, or actually prevent, such diseases. And although he is an oncologist, this is not just a book about cancer. It relates to all health issues we face.While we have made great progress in combating death from other diseases, he is disappointed in the progress the medical profession has made in the fight against cancer and wonders if our way of looking at cancer is keeping us from curing it. We need to look at cancer as a "system."Our goal should be to prolong our life and to make it a better one. To do so, we need to understand that steps can be taken to stop illness before it strikes rather than dealing with it after the fact. He likens it to going to war in order to understand peace. It is better to never have to go to war than to win the war. In other words, it is better to prevent the disease than to have to fight it.Dr. Agus wants to empower us to take control of our bodies and the future of our health. He gives us a checklist to help us "get to know ourselves" and how we are feeling and explains ways in which we can, and should, become more involved in our own health care.Health is a system of checks and balances, and each person's system is different. He gives advice on steps to take to understand your personal body and health, some suggestions on tests to take and how to be more involved in the process of keeping track of what is going on in your body. It is important to work in partnership with your doctor.Since the main focus of the book is cancer, it is interesting to note that while many diseases can be attributed to external causes, cancer is the "sleeping giant" that lies within each of us, not a "germ" that attacks us from outside. He suggests that we are ultimately responsible for controlling whether or not this giant wakes up. I always wondered if cancer was a modern illness caused by something new we were exposed to. The author answered that by explaining that there is evidence that people had cancer at least 2,000 years B.C. Cancer isn't just a particular thing...it is a failure of a system, the communication between your cells that causes some to be destroyed. Like other diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, cancer isn't something the body "has" or "gets"; it's something that the body does.Again, Dr. Agus puts great emphasis on ways in which we can be effective in our own health care. He explains why it is helpful to have a family health history, a genetic profile, in order to understand what risk factors you have. He also points out the fact that this is not necessarily your destiny, that you can "shift your fate" armed with these tools.The author emphasizes the importance of not being quick to believe every headline with regard to health issues, such as vitamin supplements. He encourages thorough research and study of data. He devotes an entire chapter to the controversy over the vitamin D supplement. Even in the case of this doctor's data, you need to read it and decide for yourself. He then goes on in the next chapter discussing other vitamin supplements, gives data on the research that has been done, and will explain why he feels the "hype" over vitamins is overrated. He considers them to be shortcuts that are only necessary under certain conditions.Dr. Agus covers "fresh" vs frozen fruits and vegetables, the popularity of juicing (and why you might want to avoid it), what fish to eat, wine, and how to eat for a healthy "gut." He discusses other areas that affect our health such as exercise, keeping a daily routine, and the importance of good sleep. The difference between this book and others, however, is that he breaks it down into such detail that you will thoroughly understand why and how to apply this to your life. Another great chapter. Yes, this information can be found in other health books, but not explained so thoroughly and in such depth.The chapter on inflammation is profound. I had read some on this issue, but I never really understood the different areas of our lives that contribute to it (internal and external) or how detrimental it could be to our health. We're talking inflammation from obesity, external trauma, and even the flu. This is a very informative chapter, one you will want to share with others.The author writes a chapter discussing the work being done at the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine at the USC and Applied Proteomics. This is the company he, along with Danny Hillis, cofounded. The work involves "trying to find the key to understanding all of our body's proteins and how they work together to create the language our bodies speak, which ultimately translates the dialogue of our health." Yes, this chapter is a bit over my head, but I do understand that the goal here is personalized medicine and how in the future it will change the way we are individually being treated; or more importantly, how it will help us to prevent needing to be treated.Towards the end of the book, Dr. Agus gives advice in which he explains the reason we need to reevaluate the medications we take on a regular basis, keep track of our health issues and how they may be changing, keep up on new technologies and how they may apply to your life. The author is excited about new technology on the horizon that will virtually change health care in the near future. He encourages us to be willing to share medical information so that it can be used, via technology, to increase researchers' knowledge, add to the databases.In conclusion, I would say this book is about preventive medicine, living a healthy life, rather than waiting to diagnose where we have gone wrong. Illness is largely preventable. Guide your body back to a healthy state, as he puts it, whereby your system will allow you to function on all cylinders and enjoy a high quality of life.

For once, I fell for the hype surrounding a book but after reading "The End of Illness" I realized I should have stuck with my original plan to check it out from my library. There is absolutely nothing groundbreaking or particularly significant about anything contained in this book. So why give it three stars? It does contain basic, medically supported info that some older person who has had no tv, no internet, no newspaper, and no radio access for the last 30 years and refuses to go to the doctor or listen to his doctor would need to know. As for the rest of us, all this book does is confirm what you already knew or suspected.I am assuming though that you're interested in this book because you want to: (a) avoid an illness, particularly a life threatening illness or (b) you already have an illness and think this book will give suggestions on how to improve your life and get control of your illness. Learning about new advances in medicine which may or may not lead to anything that will help you during your lifetime is just a bonus but not high on your list of priorities. To be truthful, even if you read the book for that last purpose, you'd still be disappointed. I'm one of those unlucky people who was diagnosed with a chronic illness at the tender age of 13. Before then, nothing major happened in my life to kick start the illness - no drug use, no past illnesses/accidents, no lack of exercise, no atrocious diet, no lack of sleep habits, not a genetic disease. Sometimes $%&@ happens. As a mid 30s person, I'm pretty well versed in health matters but not an expert by far. I suspect many people my age and slightly older already know about the "tools" Dr. Agus "details" in this book and probably have been using them for years. It's the same "tools" you can learn about in any of the pithy little "Live to be 100" yahoo health articles the site spouts off every few weeks - and today.Since the table of contents is available, I don't think I'd be breaking any rules or providing any spoilers by mentioning these tools:(1) Don't believe every health study that comes out (duh)(2) Taking vitamins is not as good as eating healthy food (duh)(3) Try to avoid or lessen inflammation in the body (big Duh) - doesn't really tell you how except to get flu shots and wear comfortable clothes. Basically anytime you injure yourself or get sick there is inflammation. Not really a way to avoid all that esp. if you were a rambunctious kid since apparently things that happened to you as a kid can have a long lasting effect on your health today. From the anecdotes he tells in this section, I think Monk would be the only person capable of pulling this suggestion off successfully from birth to death. Even so, he could still get an illness because $%#@ Happens!(4) Exercise (really?!)(5) Keep a regular schedule for eating, sleeping, exercising (you don't say)(6) Overall theme, keep track of how you are health-wise. Find out what's normal for you (done and done)Rest of the book is filler on historical discoveries you learned in high school and hopes for the future, particularly with proteomics. He does seem to have a love affair with statins. Not being in the age range or having the type of illness to require these meds, I have absolutely no opinion on that.There were only two things I took away from this book - that it's better to exercise in spurts than all at once (read about that earlier somewhere but it doesn't hurt to reinforce it) and you may want to get a DNA test to show your susceptibility to certain illnesses .... tests which coincidentally are offered by a company co-founded by Dr. Agus. Imagine that. Regardless, it does sound helpful esp. the ability to tell which drugs will work best for you. My doctor would probably say it's a waste of time and money but I'll make that decision after further research.That's the book in a nutshell. He could have just written that in a two page internet article but I guess it wouldn't get much attention or money. Oh, and although the book is called "The End of Illness," it of course does not say a thing about "ending" illness now or in the future. A more truthful title would be "The Possible Downgrading of Terminal Diseases and Chronic Diseases that Substantially Lower Your Quality of Life into Easily Manageable Minor Diseases that You'll Still Suffer From But Will Have Better Control Over than Previous Generations." Reminds me of the Chris Rock joke where he says doctors will never cure AIDS but they'll make it manageable so all you have to do is take a pill everyday. The money's in the medicine. Not the cure. Prevention is the biggest weapon we have but you don't need this book to tell you that.

Great - thankyou.

Very informative even though written 6 years ago.....

I learned alot from this book, well written. Changed my view of health. The idea that health and the body ate a complex emergent system made such an impact on me.

Interesting book.

Doctor David Angus has written a brilliant book. He gives some intelligent and evidence based advice on how to approach your health. His advice is meant to keep you healthy, aware and accountable for your personal health. In the book he debunked a number of myths, for example, he explains the futility of taking multi-vitamins, the importance of statins, the absolute necessity of keeping moving and a lot more. At the end of each chapter Angus gives some health rules, an effective way to distill the advice given in every chapter. The concept of developing a partnership with your doctor was eye opening and some simple advice on how to maintain maximum health in your body is easily adaptable. Although David Angus in an Oncologist the book is not about cancer but a holistic look on how to maintain maximum personal health. Holistic to the extent where he has given advice about how to eat effectively, including what to eat, what not to eat, how to eat certain foods and how not to eat certain foods. This incredible book is a New York Times Bestseller and will change your paradigm on how you view good health. Before starting any diet or taking some fad advice read this book renowned and educate yourself for life.