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| The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness | 
| Author: Jerome Groopman
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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You Save: $24.07 (96%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 116061
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0375506381
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.0019
EAN: 9780375506383
ASIN: 0375506381
Publication Date: December 23, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Cover wear and may contain some marks or writing. Keen Northwest ships in 2 business days or less. Refunds for any reason if item returned within 30 days of shipment.
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Product Description
An inspiring and profoundly enlightening exploration of one doctor’s discovery of how hope can change
the course of illness
Since the time of the ancient Greeks, human beings have believed that hope is essential to life. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Harvard Medical School professor and New Yorker staff writer Jerome Groopman shows us why.
The search for hope is most urgent at the patient’s bedside. The Anatomy of Hope takes us there, bringing us into the lives of people at pivotal moments when they reach for and find hope--or when it eludes their grasp. Through these intimate portraits, we learn how to distinguish true hope from false, why some people feel they are undeserving of it, and whether we should ever abandon our search.
Can hope contribute to recovery by changing physical well-being? To answer this hotly debated question, Groopman embarked on an investigative journey to cutting-edge laboratories where researchers are unraveling an authentic biology of hope. There he finds a scientific basis for understanding the role of this vital emotion in the outcome of illness.
Here is a book that offers a new way of thinking about hope, with a message for all readers, not only patients and their families. "We are just beginning to appreciate hope’s reach," Groopman writes, "and have not defined its limits. I see hope as the very heart of healing."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Gross Anatomy August 7, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Dissection is the act of "disassembling something to determine its internal structure and the function and relationships of its components."
Dr. Groopman tries to understand the source of hope by dissecting the doctor/patient relationship. The challenge of his approach is that his subjects are still warm and breathing. And the doctor attending to this surgery is also the object of the inquiry. Groopman succeeds at transparency but fails at impartiality and the resulting discussion feels more like a vivisection - painful and of limited value.
Groopman's heart is in the right place and his case studies are exquisite dioramas of people struggling to make physical, emotional and intellectual sense of confusing and complex diseases. And to communicate their hopes, dreams and fears to one another about that process.
Yet, Groopman betrays his bias by closing his book with "science, to my mind, is one of our greatest sources of hope." So it turns out that "how people prevail in the face of illness" is that science gives them that courage. No wonder alternative medicine, healers, roots, herbs, supplements and the like have gained favor in an American public sick of an ivory tower approach to wellness. For Groopman, it's as if there is only one path to health and it runs straight through the lab.
Humility or faith, to my mind, is one of our greatest sources of hope. Science hasn't figured out how to dissect and bottle that magic elixir. For a physician like Groopman, that's clearly the hope that still springs eternal.
 Help When Needed March 21, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this book while I was going through chemo - it helped keep my spirits up, and my thoughts positive. I'm cancer-free for two years now.
a doctor who is not afraid to step outside the box December 11, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
OK, so hope sounds too pollyanna for "serious medical students and stiff doctors". I'll tell you about hope. It's deeper and more complex than all the so called "only we know what is good for you, you peon." attitudes put together. All I could think about while reading this book was thank God a doctor with deep compassion had the courage to write it. Here we have a doctor who is not afraid to step outside the box to spend years thinking about the single most important part of any illness, in particluar cancer: hope. I've learned a lot about hope. Granted at 20 years old it was probably the last thing I was thinking and probably thought I had all the knowledge I needed. Now at age 62, I have lived longer than expected, and am a living example of hope. I've lived over three years with lung cancer (the last two as stage IV). I found a doctor with great skill whom I admire for his medical knowledge as a great doctor who does in fact treat people everyday with traditional medicine, but every time I am in his presence I feel an energy of profound hope. You can call it whatever "pop" name you want, it just shows you are not really in the trenches. I survived because of my good doctor and because of hope. Near the end of my life, I learned the greatest, most important and enduring things in life are the most simple, yet somehow complex, with hope being at the very top of the list. I can tell by reading Dr Groopman's book that he is a compassionate human being and knows the true meaning of life, and of hope, and was drawn to it by the title: The Anatomy Of Hope. I wish there were more doctors like my doctor, and like Dr Groopman.
Meaningful and Honest November 9, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this book to be both meaningful and honest, and was glad to see that it avoided so many of the pitfalls of the 'Self Help, Will YOurself to Get Well' books. One of the big messages from Dr. Groopman is summed up in a note on p. 220: 'There is no perfect or single way to provide clinical information to all patients under all circumstances - there is no one size fits all approach...In general, I follow the patient's lead..."
What a important observation; that each patient is an individual, and that it is the doctor's responsibility to impart information, as well as provide care, on an individual basis.
My one concern with the book is the use of the pronoun 'he' to describe each a patient, although half of the patients he speaks of are women. I would have preferred the use of 'he or she' or referring to patients in the plural when not speaking of a specific individual, or to sometimes refer to any patient as he, sometimes as she.
Still, the book is well worth reading.
Let Hope Live!!! September 5, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was thrilled when I came across this book. I established a foundation with this name to do just that, keep hope live - called, "Let Hope Live!" My son had a brain tumor and what we faced was constant words of death and literally no possibility of hope anywhere. Aching and searching for hope and possibilities anywhere and everywhere. Everyone was negative.
A famous painting in London, titled Hope, depicts a woman obviously full of despair clinging onto one frail strand, a note of hope. Something to refect on, help the day know some sunshine. This book helps others bring that note to those so in need of hope.
The book is excellent and full of truth. Life's reality is sickness is a reality. I never realized how many sick children there are in the world until we entered the pediatric ward. Few do. Yes that reality is depressing, but this book offers a way to help transform this. My son was not one of the lucky ones. He needed help keeping hope alive. Not sympathy and help dying. Everyone needs the ammunition to help them win the battle... I encourage everyone to read this book. Please pass it on to anyone going through a difficult time. Help them know there is a possibly and they have a reason to fight. Make sure you make that personal visit even when its depressing for you. That medical visit of friendship as Dr Groopman so aptly wrote could save there life. Encourage your children to do this too. I do this as much as I am able with our visits and the children, I call warriors. I do not want anyone to ever experience what my son and I experienced. The prevailing attitude cancer means death needs to be eliminated. The Anatomy of Hope will be highly recommended reading to all I know as well as on our web site.
Thank you Dr Jerome Groopman for helping, "Let Hope Live!"
Kyle Bryce Andrew's mother
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