Medical Memoirs

One day Donna Jackson Nakazawa found herself lying on the floor to recover from climbing the stairs. That’s when it hit her. She was managing the symptoms of the autoimmune disorders that had plagued her for a decade, but she had lost her joy. As a science journalist, she was curious to know what mind-body strategies might help her. As a wife and mother she was determined to get her life back. Over the course of one year, Nakazawa researches and tests a variety of therapies including meditation, yoga, and acupuncture to find out what works.

The candid memoir of a young doctor who reluctantly accepts a military commission and spends a year behind the front lines of the Vietnam War. Assigned to the marine camp at Phu Bai, Dr. John A. Parrish confronted all manner of medical trauma, quickly shedding the navet of a new medical intern.

Kinder gives us a gripping and raw insight into the life of a first responder, an opportunity to see through an invaluable lens that few will ever experience first hand. More importantly, it’s a story of hope and redemption.

This is the true story of a very special man whose life was suddenly and forever changed by a rare disease. Dealing with a severe backache for three days, he was taken to an emergency room. For five grueling months, his dignity, as well as his very self was stripped away. Trapped in a system that all too often is not healthcare, but Healthcareless.

Catherine Laborde, qui a des années durant présenté la météo sur TF1, se dévoile avec ce livre vérité, tout en pudeur, émotion, humour aussi, qui parlera à tous. Dans ce livre vérité sur la maladie de Parkinson dont Catherine Laborde est victime, elle raconte tout en pudeur, émotion, humour aussi, ce mal qui touche plusieurs milliers de personnes, malades et aidants inclus. "Après avoir réfléchi à mon quotidien, j'établis ainsi la liste non exhaustive des symptômes de la maladie de Parkinson qui me touchent."

A fascinating, darkly funny comeback story of learning to live with a broken mind after a near-fatal traumatic brain injury—from the acclaimed author of The Hike “Drew Magary has produced a remarkable account of his journey, one that is filled with terror, tenderness, beauty, and grace...

In Return to Joy, Dr. Keith Kahle offers a raw, deeply personal exploration of the long-term effects of “father-wounding”—a form of trauma rooted in unmet emotional needs, silence, or absence from a paternal figure. Drawing from his own life experiences, Kahle examines how these wounds manifest throughout adulthood in relationships, physical and emotional health, and personal identity. With a blend of memoir, medical insight, and compassionate storytelling, he shows how seemingly minor childhood messages can create lifelong patterns of shame, reactivity, and self-doubt.

When Ronald Reagan chose C. Everett Koop to be Surgeon General of the United States in 1981, liberal politicians, women's groups, and even the public health community opposed the nomination because of his conservative social views and strong anti-abortion beliefs. By the time he left office in 1989, the same people who had vilified him as "Dr. Kook" were singing his praises, and many conservative politicians and activists were criticizing him as a traitor.

It Started with a Finger Up My A*se is not your typical prostate cancer memoir—it’s a brutally honest, unexpectedly funny, and a deeply human journey through a diagnosis millions of men face but few talk about. I was diagnosed in 2024, and what followed was equal parts terrifying, ridiculous, painful, and oddly enlightening. This audiobook is filled with things you won’t hear in polite conversation, but probably should—from awkward intrusive exams and midnight fears, to German penis pumps and injections in a place they do not belong.

Written by a three times cancer survivor, this book is a must-listen for anyone facing and fighting cancer as well as for their caregivers. Called from a scientific background into Christian ministry, Philip has the ideal background to furnish valuable factual advice and spiritual counsel to his listeners. He shares candidly about how God helped him overcome malignant melanoma and prostate cancer and about his present struggles against multiple myeloma.

Just when Linda Varisco thought the storm had passed, her life plunges even deeper into turmoil, forcing her to confront the unimaginable. With her dazzling million-dollar smile now hiding more secrets than it reveals, Linda bravely steps into single parenthood, rebuilding her chiropractic practice and trying to piece together a new normal from the shattered fragments left behind by her husband’s betrayal and addiction.

Tom LeNoble’s life has been anything but ordinary, rising from the “Shack” with no hot water to the heights of Silicon Valley, and helping build some of the world’s most influential companies. He’s been a crowd-favorite performer, a bold leader, and a survivor of two life-threatening illnesses after being told three times he had six months to live. He’s navigated the AIDS epidemic’s heartbreak, personal loss, and the high-stakes world of Facebook, Walmart.com, Palm (HP), and MCI (Verizon), guiding startups and leaders through change.

As much as we all might wish that mental health problems, with their elusive causes and unsettling behaviors, simply did not exist, millions of people suffer from them, sometimes to an extreme extent. Many others face addiction to alcohol and other drugs, as overdose and suicide deaths abound. Yet the vast majority of doctors receive minimal instruction in treating these conditions during their lengthy medical training.

An Epidemic of Absence asks what will happen in developing countries, which, as they become more affluent, have already seen an uptick in allergic disease: Will India end up more allergic than Europe? Velasquez-Manoff also details a controversial underground movement that has coalesced around the treatment of immune-mediated disorders with parasites. Against much of his better judgment, he joins these do-it-yourselfers and reports his surprising results.

Dr. Michael Baden has been involved in some of the most high-profile civil rights and police brutality cases in United States history, from the government's 1976 re-investigation of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the 2014 death of Michael Brown, whose case sparked the initial Ferguson protests that grew into the Black Lives Matter movement. The playbook hasn't changed since 1979, when Dr. Baden was demoted from his job as New York City's Chief Medical Examiner after ruling that the death of a Black man in police custody was a homicide.

Are you looking for inspiration? Living is the inspiring true story of a father of seven facing cancer with grace.

In Custody MD: Fighting for the Woo, Dr. Adwoafuaa Nwokocha delivers a raw, gripping memoir chronicling her descent into the high-stakes hell of family court. What begins as a love story between two med school students unravels into a devastating custody battle against her ex-husband—an elite cardiac surgeon with the money, lawyers, and manipulative tactics to weaponize the legal system. Told with vulnerability, humor, and razor-sharp clarity, this book is far more than a courtroom drama. It's a powerful indictment of how race, gender, and power intersect in modern custody disputes.

By the time he was 30, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin Franklin’s protégé, and become John Adams’s confidant, and was soon to be appointed Washington’s surgeon general. And as with the greatest Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in the American experiment.

New Year's Eve 2020 was supposed to be a turning point to better days for twenty-nine-year-old Katie Coleman. Instead, she found herself in the ER processing the earth-shattering news of a stage IV cancer diagnosis, one that had come after years of being assured she was "too young for cancer" and a repeated misdiagnosis of anxiety. Too Young for Cancer tells the story of Katie's journey from diagnosis with an ultra-rare cancer through treatment, recovery, and a life-altering shift in perspective.

Sara Schley is the founder of a consulting business, and she has worked with hundreds of renowned companies worldwide. She's a proud mother, grandmother, community leader, and has been married for 26 years. She also has a bipolar II brain. Fearing the stigma, she kept this secret for decades. Until now. In her acclaimed memoir BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum, Sara tells her life-changing story to help end the bipolar stigma, optimize brain health, and save lives. Listen to this book to transform your life or that of someone you love.