Anthropologists once unearthed an ancient Egyptian list of known diseases and their treatments. A description matching that of cancer was found on the 4,000-year-old list, alongside hieroglyphics saying essentially “There is no cure.”
I’d heard very good things about the book “Emperor of All Maladies” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, and found a copy in Bookshop Santa Cruz last weekend, but it was a giant tome and I knew I’d never get through it. Happy to find, though, that it had also been made into a documentary by Ken Burns.
Supposedly available on PBS, but when we went to watch it tonight, found that all you get online is an odd-collection of 25 five-minute clips. No explanation for why it wasn’t available in its entirety, but many of the clips are fascinating. Worth perusing to catch up on why the disease has proved so elusive to cure over the centuries, not to mention the cruel treatment dished out to its victims when doctors didn’t know what else to do.
Interesting watch.
Our library in Michigan has the documentary on DVD, excited to check it out!
Oh awesome! Let me know what you think.
Well at least this generation of medical and scientists professionals have stepped it up. You might find the old medicinal ways of Japanese monks and their use of what we term as a “macrobiotic diet” had quite a preventative effect on cancer. Their use of frequent consumption of bowls of miso soup (specific to one’s body type) said to decrease susceptibility to cancer or lessen severity. Interestingly enough Western Civilization isn’t always superior-shocker.
I certainly would consider macrobiotics as a general health booster, and if it means we’re staying away from carcinogens, then absolutely. But people really do get seduced into thinking that being healthy prevents cancer somehow, which is just so dangerously untrue – cancer is an equal opportunity employer and affects healthy people just as much as it affects the sick and the weak.
Interesting