Medicine Audiobooks | Science & Technology

The Miracle Century: Making Sense of the Cell Therapy Revolution

New York Times bestselling author and former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb provides a glimpse of a promising future that is quickly approaching: a world with cures for chronic illnesses and cancers. While traditional drugs mostly help us manage the effects of disease, cell therapies promise genuine cures for a broad range of intractable ailments, from Alzheimer’s to heart damage to cancer. They could even reverse the effects of aging. For the first time in history, on an unprecedented scale, we possess the power to modify the biology that gives rise to disease, ultimately restoring individuals to a state of normalcy and reversing debilitating ailments. In The Miracle Century, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb traces the scientific achievements that propelled progress in cell therapies. The birth of this medical revolution wasn’t a sudden event. Rather, it emerged from decades of steady, incremental progress in science. These concerted advances made cell therapies a reality. To forge a path for continued medical breakthroughs, Dr. Gottlieb meticulously traces this scientific journey, identifying lessons on how these achievements can be replicated. The MIracle Century is a look at the future of healthcare from one of the nation’s leading medical authorities. Scott Gottlieb explains how these new medicines are moving from the laboratory bench to the marketplace and tackles the issues that must be addressed to enable wide adoption of these treatments and transform as many lives as possible.

Scott Gottlieb (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Heart: An Owner's Guide

Become body literate with Heart: An Owner's Guide, the next book in The Body Literacy Library, an enlightening series that will democratise health for a new generation of readers. Heart: An Owner's Guide is an informative, practical, and engaging introduction to all aspects of heart health with the goal of living well and longer. Find out what is the key to a long, healthy life, and what is your own personal cardiac risk. Author Dr Paddy Barrett is an engaging and media-friendly Consultant Cardiologist who specialises in preventative health care. He translates medical jargon into simple, clear prose, answering frequently asked patient queries, such as Should I take aspirin? Are heart attacks hereditary? Is red wine healthy? Why do I have erectile dysfunction? and much more. From what you should eat (or not) and exercising smarter to why stress is as dangerous as smoking, this hard-working book applies science to the everyday, with FAQs and myth busters, all supported by the latest medical research. Heart: An Owner's Guide won't just help you to better understand your body, it might even save your life. © 2024 Paddy Barrett © 2024 DK Audio

Paddy Barrett (Author), Conor Sheridan, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Gut: An Owner's Guide

Become body literate with Gut: An Owner's Guide, the next book in The Body Literacy Library, an enlightening series that will democratise health for a new generation of readers. Gut: An Owner's Guide is an informative, practical, and engaging introduction to this hidden-away part of the body. We tend to only pay attention to our gut when it tries to tell us something - when it feels uncomfortable or something goes wrong. This myth-busting audiobook focuses on all aspects of gut health, so you can steer clear of Dr Google and find out what will really make your gut happier and healthier. From what you should eat (or not) to how often you should poo, to the microbiome and the brain/gut connection - this taboo-tackling audiobook applies science to the everyday, with simple checklists, FAQs, and myth busters, all supported by the latest medical research. Gut: An Owner's Guide won't just help you to understand your body, it might even change your life. Dr Austin Chiang is a world-renowned expert in gut health and TikTok star, who believes everyone has a right to know and understand their body. He translates medical jargon into simple, clear prose, answering frequently asked patient queries, and investigating what we fear, and most misunderstand about our gut. © 2024 TAustin Chiang © 2024 DK Audio

Austin Chiang (Author), Austin Chiang (Narrator)

Audiobook

Prescription for Pain: How a Once-Promising Doctor Became the 'Pill Mill Killer'

This haunting and propulsive debut follows a journalist's years-long investigation into his father's old classmate: former high school valedictorian Paul Volkman, who seemed destined for greatness after earning his MD and PhD from the prestigious University of Chicago, but is now serving four consecutive life sentences at a federal prison in Arizona. Volkman was the central figure in a massive 'pill mill' scheme in southern Ohio. His pain clinics accepted only cash, employed armed guards, and dispensed a torrent of opioid painkillers and other controlled substances. For nearly three years, Volkman remained in business despite raids by law enforcement and complaints from patients' family members. Prosecutors would ultimately link him to the overdose deaths of thirteen patients, though investigators explored his ties to at least twenty other deaths. This groundbreaking book is based on twelve years of correspondence and interviews with Volkman. Eil also traveled to nineteen states, interviewed more than 150 people, and filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the DEA that led to the release of nearly 20,000 pages of trial evidence. The American opioid epidemic is, like this book, a true crime story. Through this one doctor's story, an era of unfathomable tragedy is brought down to a tangible, and devastating, human scale.

Philip Eil (Author), Mike Lenz (Narrator)

Audiobook

Death to Beauty: The Transformative History of Botox

In the 1970s, Dr. Alan Scott sought to selectively weaken eye muscles to treat strabismus (when one or both eyes are misaligned) without surgery. After failed attempts with other agents, Scott developed a method to stabilize the bacteria that causes botulism, culminating in a drug that eventually became known as Botox. In Death to Beauty, Eugene M. Helveston, MD, follows the unlikely story of botulism's 1817 discovery in contaminated German sausages, to its use in military and research facilities, to Scott, an ophthalmologist who aimed to safely use the drug in humans. Scott struggled alone as an unknown in the pharmaceutical industry, searching for clinical trial financing and FDA approval, which he achieved at a fraction of the billions big pharma usually spends to bring a drug to market. Eventually, the company Allergan bought him out, capitalizing on the possibilities for cosmetic uses. Scott's formula was renamed 'Botox' and reached annual sales in the billions. After the sale, Scott received no further compensation from Botox sales and remained the same unassuming man. A fascinating walk through the intricate history of how the world's deadliest toxin starting as a treatment for crossed eyes became a routine tool for the cosmetic industry, Death to Beauty will make you rethink success, beauty, and deadly bacteria.

Eugene M. Helveston (Author), Kyle Snyder (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Wisdom of Nurses: Stories of Grit From the Front Lines

From the hosts of the hit podcast The Gritty Nurse, stories of the challenges, heartbreak and humour of life on the front line One of the enduring lessons of the pandemic has been the pivotal role that nursing plays in health care—vital work that isn’t widely understood or, sadly, appreciated. Sara Fung and Amie Archibald-Varley started the wildly popular The Gritty Nurse podcast to give voice to nurses all over the world, including more than 400,000 nurses in Canada. The authors have quickly become sought-after speakers and advocates for nurses and are called on regularly by the media to talk about a wide range of issues around the profession. In their first book, they take you to the front line of nursing to show the compassion, selflessness and dedication of professionals who not only give it all for their patients, but get up and do it over and over again.

Amie Archibald-Varley, Sara Fung (Author), Catherine Ho, Chanté Mccormick (Narrator)

Audiobook

After the Worst Day Ever: What Sick Kids Know About Sustaining Hope in Chronic Illness

For those who care for chronically ill children, a new understanding of hope that equips adults to better nurture pediatric hope among sick kids-articulated by the children themselves As anyone with a chronic illness knows, hope can sometimes be hard to come by. For parents and caregivers of children with serious illness, there can be a real struggle to move beyond one's own grief, fear, and suffering to see what hope means for these kids. Duane Bidwell, a scholar, minister, and former hospital chaplain who has struggled with serious illness himself, spent time with 48 chronically ill children in dialysis units and transplant clinics around the United States. Chronically ill kids, he found, don't adhere to popular or scholarly understandings of hope. They experience hope as a sense of well-being in the present, not a promise of future improvement, an ability to set goals, or the absence of illness and suffering. With this mindset, these kids suggest a new understanding of pediatric hope, saying hope becomes concrete when they (1) realize community, (2) claim power, (3) attend to Spirit, (4) choose trust, and (5) maintain identity. Offering textured portraits of children with end-stage kidney disease, After the Worst Day Ever illustrates in their words how sick children experience, maintain, and turn toward hope even when illness cannot be cured and severely limits quality of life. Their insights reveal how the adults in a sick child's world-parents, chaplains, medical professionals, teachers, and others-can nurture hope. They also shift our understanding of hope from an internal resource located "inside" an individual to a shared, communal experience that becomes a resource for individuals. Rich and moving, Bidwell's work helps us imagine anew what it means to sustain hope despite inescapable suffering and the limits of chronic illness.

Duane R. Bidwell (Author), Luis Moreno (Narrator)

Audiobook

Learning to Live Again: An inspiring story of survival and finding happiness

Louise Thompson (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Living Well With Multiple Sclerosis

Living Well with Multiple Sclerosis is one part primer, one part handbook, one part pocket translator, and 100% an essential field guide for navigating the challenges of living with chronic illness. This curated collection from nearly two decades of reflections by award-winning writer, Trevis L Gleason, compiled and edited with his 'MS Sister,' Emma Rogan, guides listeners through ever-changing personal, professional, and medical minefields associated with life-altering chronic conditions. Refreshingly honest, but written with hope, compassion, and Gleason's signature wry wit, it reinforces Gleason's MS ethos that 'Living life with a chronic illness well is all about the living part.'

Trevis Gleason, Trevis L. Gleason (Author), Trevis Gleason (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick

12.7 billion doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered around the world, with nearly 613 million doses in the United States alone. Unfortunately, the vaccine has not been universally accepted, often as a result of the side-effects of the vaccine that were widely discussed in news outlets and amplified by social media, relaying anecdotes of people feeling sick after getting jabbed. But lost in this discussion of side effects and ignored by the CDC, vaccine experts, and the media is the inconvenient fact that a significant portion of these side effects were not actually caused by the vaccine. Instead, they were the result of our negative expectations, the so-called nocebo effect. “The nocebo effect” stems from the Latin word nocere, which translates roughly as “to harm” and can be best summarized as the occurrence of a harmful event that stems from consciously or subconsciously anticipating or expecting it. While there has never before been such a massive demonstration of the nocebo effect as with the COVID vaccine, there are myriad other examples throughout history, and we are just beginning to discover the power behind this phenomenon. In turns enlightening and informative, The Nocebo Effect is the first book to investigate this fascinating phenomenon and offers a wide variety of topics and angles by the foremost researchers in this emerging field.

Charlotte Blease, Michael H. Bernstein (Author), Jeff Zinn, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Understanding Autistic Relationships Across the Lifespan: Family, Friends, Lovers and Others

Understanding Autistic Relationship Across the Lifespan is an overview of autistic relationships from the early years to old age. The book combines the latest research findings with first-hand accounts to offer insight into the relationships of autistic people and how they differ to those of non-autistic people. Felicity Sedgewick and Sarah Douglas delve into life's stages and their challenges, revealing how navigating relationships can lead to misunderstandings, rejection, and trauma-but also to genuine connection, support, and joy. Illustrated throughout with extracts from interviews and extended narratives, it explores key topics, including relationships in the early years, childhood friendships, teenage friendships and romance, adult romantic and sexual relationships, LGBTQ+ relationships, finding community, family relationships, and issues in the later stages of life. The authors explore a wide range of emotions and life situations, examining the social world of autistic people and the strategies they use to navigate it. This book offers practical recommendations for both autistic and non-autistic people on how to have the healthiest and most satisfying relationships possible. It is essential listening for all those working with autistic people and studying autism, as well as autistic individuals and those close to them.

Felicity Sedgewick, Sarah Douglas (Author), Sanya Simmons (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Support Group: Connection, Hope, and Healing for Patients and Providers

Shanda Blackmon is a pioneer in thoracic surgery, a skilled professional dedicated to providing the highest quality of care. But as a young doctor early in her career, she was overwhelmed. Her team was working at full capacity, yet Dr. Blackmon struggled to meet the needs of her many patients. Then one day at clinic she noticed patients trading stories in the waiting room, sharing not just valuable advice, but empathy and encouragement. That was the genesis of the support group, a safe place where people dealing with cancer and its aftermath could talk openly about what they were going through. It was a lightbulb experience for Dr. Blackmon. Once she saw the difference a committed ally could make in a patient’s long-term survivorship, Dr. Blackmon sought to extend the principles of support to her colleagues. Physicians, surgeons, and other healthcare workers endure long hours under constant stress and can succumb burnout due to the tidal wave of administrative work, patient complications, and constant pressure from administration to meet impossible demands. One doctor commits suicide every day in the United States, the highest suicide rate of any profession. Understanding and allyship can make a big difference in their lives too. An indispensable resource written by an experienced professional, The Support Group takes a candid look at the role of support in our healthcare practices and offers a workable model for patients, caregivers, and providers alike.

Shanda Blackmon, Shanda H. Blackmon (Author), Shanda H. Blackmon, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Medicine Audiobooks in Science & Technology