Anticancer Living

Cohen opens with a simple but powerful question: what if the missing piece in preventing and treating cancer is not a new drug but the choices we make every day? He then tells the book's origin: psychiatrist David Servan-Schreiber, diagnosed with a brain tumour at 31, changed his lifestyle on the basis of the scientific evidence and lived a productive life for 19 years — four times the statistical prognosis. Together, he and Cohen designed the «Comprehensive Lifestyle Study» of women with breast cancer in Houston.

The book's most important stance is stated clearly in the introduction: lifestyle change is not an alternative to surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy but a «vital component» of them. Cohen stresses that Servan-Schreiber himself ignored all suggestions of alternative treatment at his first diagnosis and kept aggressive medical treatment at the centre. This sharply distinguishes the book from the many titles that promise to cure cancer «without drugs».

Chapter 1 sets out the statistical picture: about 1.7 million new diagnoses in the US in 2017, 8.8 million deaths worldwide in 2015, one in six deaths. But the author also shows the hopeful side: for many, cancer is no longer a death sentence but a chronic disease, and survival rates have doubled. That raises a new question: how can people living with cancer for many years feel better?

The chapter's central claim rests on a 2016 Harvard study that followed more than 135,000 people for over 40 years: not smoking, drinking moderately, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly could prevent 41% of cancer cases and 59% of cancer deaths in women, and roughly two-thirds in men. Cohen gives these figures with sources and frames his conclusion — «we can prevent at least half» — cautiously. His use of how the link between tobacco and lung cancer came to be accepted as a historical example is apt.

A sensitive, humane moment in the chapter concerns guilt. The author reminds us that a singer who never smoked, a vegan runner or a little girl with leukaemia can all get cancer, so patients should not blame themselves. The words of breast-cancer survivor Meg Hirshberg — «Start now. Don't look back. We have no idea what caused your cancer» — set the book's tone: not blame, but forward-looking action.

The book's weakness is its US focus: statistics, the health system and examples are largely American, and in places «Anticancer» is repeated like a brand. The Turkish edition has small errors, including scanning glitches in numbers. Even so, it is one of the rare popular books on cancer that combines scientific responsibility with hope.

• Research is cited with numbered references in the text and extensive notes at the end
• Stories of patients and survivors give a human face to the statistics
• Each chapter of Part Two ends with concrete, actionable recommendations
• The importance of conventional treatment is emphasised consistently