Page Tools:
  • print-friendly version

How Cancer Works

Author(s): Lauren Sompayrac, PhD, Retired Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Details:
  • ISBN-13: 9780763718213
  • ISBN-10:0763718211
  • Paperback    110 pages      © 2004
Price: International Sales $50.95 US List
Add to Cart

Overview

This book is the essential cancer primer! Following the model of his successful previous books, How the Immune System Works and How Pathogenic Viruses Work, Lauren Sompayrac here explains the basics of cancer: what it is, what it does, and what is being done to try to cure it. In nine clear and concise “Lectures,” Dr. Sompayrac conveys the essentials of what we know about human malignancies, using his trademark style of every day example, metaphor, anecdote and humor. Focusing on ten of the most common cancers, the book shows -- step by step -- what conditions and events are necessary for tumors to form and grow and what has been learned about stopping that process. This brief book, which can be read in a few sittings, will provide you with a broad basic understanding of our most feared disease. The ideal text for science, medical, and nursing students, practicing physicians and nurses, and all others who need a readable overview of this complex topic.

ShowTable of Contents

Introduction
Lecture 1 – An Overview     
Lecture 2 – Leukemia   
Lecture 3 – Lymphoma   
Lecture 4 – Breast and Prostate Cancer 
Lecture 5 – Lung and Skin Cancer    
Lecture 6 – Colon Cancer   
Lecture 7 – Cancer of the Cervix and the Liver 
Lecture 8 – Cancer and the Immune System 
Lecture 9 – Cancer in the Future    
Glossary      
Index
 


Back to top

ShowAbout the Author(s)

Lauren Sompayrac, PhD-Retired Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

PDr. Lauren Sompayrac was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 4, 1941. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a B.S. degree in physics in 1963, and a Ph.D. degree in elementary particle physics in 1969. After two years of postdoctoral research in particle physics, he moved to Copenhagen where he was a Postdoctoral Fellow for two years at the Microbiology Institute. Returning to the United States in 1973, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pathology at the Harvard Medical School where he studied tumor viruses. In 1976, he moved to the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado to continue his work on tumor viruses, eventually rising to the rank of Research Professor before his retirement in 1998. In retirement, he writes science books, and is the author of How the Immune System Works, published by Blackwell Science in 1999, and How Pathogenic Viruses Work, published by Jones and Bartlett in 2001.

Additional Titles by this Author

Back to top

ShowReviews

  • In praise of How Cancer Works:

    “When you read Sompayrac you feel like he is there talking to you. He has the great gift of making complex concepts accessible to the beginner. His material is completely up-to-date. This is the introductory cancer book I have been waiting for.”

    Professor Albey Reiner
    Microbiology Department
    University of Massachusetts at Amherst

    "The author…explains cancer in the simplest terms and…knows how to…maximize understanding. The book would be useful for a new nurse entering the field, a patient, or family member of a patient diagnosed with cancer as well as any reader who wants to learn more about cancer and its effects…Four stars!"

    Doody’s Review

    Michele Lynn Thomas, RN

    Union Hospital

    "A Goldilocks among educational cancer books: not too detailed for the student or lay person who wants to learn about the biology and common themes of the disease, but not too "light" on detail, theory, and first principles for the teacher who wants to design an integrated course on the topic . . . just right!"

    James L. Cook, MD
      Chief, Section of Infectious Diseases, Dept. of Medicine
    University of Illinois College of Medicine

    “The book is excellent. It is written in language that you do not have to be a scientist to understand and I used it in my lecture on Cancer. The RN's were delighted as it approached the subject scientifically but without needing to be a biologist or a molecular biologist to understand. The author has done outstanding work with this book … kudos to an outstanding publication."  

    Shirley Garick, Ph.D.


    “Lauren Sompayrac’s new book is an excellent overview of what is now known about cancer. In his characteristic engaging and lucid style, Dr. Sompayrac makes this information accessible to us all. This then is more than a very interesting book; it is a useful book that will help patients, potential patients, health care providers, and legislators understand cancer.”

    Robert Mehler, M.D.

    “A popular, non-trivial explanation of the risks and mechanisms of several cancers.”

    Book News

    "I love the way Dr. Sompayrac compares scientific matters to things in everyday life. This makes learning much easier and memorable for the beginner, and the more advanced reader gets an interesting and often very helpful new perspective."

    Dr.Reinhard Waehler
      Institute of Molecular Cell Biology
      University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    "A book that truly demystifies cancer. The clarity of this volume will remove much of the fear of this disease and replace it with understanding. In addition, it will allow the reader, from professional cancer researcher to the lay public, to comprehend the importance of the many studies and articles about new treatments we read in the press every day."

    Daniel G. Tenen, M.D.
    Harvard Institutes of Medicine

    “Dr. Sompayrac’s other books, on the working of the immune system, and pathogenic viruses, are the clearest molecular biology texts I have ever read. I refer to them constantly in preparation for my lectures, shamelessly steal his authoritative analogies, encourage my students to buy and read them, and hope beyond reason that my ability to teach with incisiveness and wit will one day approach a small percentage his wonderful writing.”

     

    Paul Evans, PhD.

    Microbiology Instructor

    Prescott, AZ United States

    “It is a good overview of the biology of cancer and clear but not superficial.”

    Martha Janners
    Associate Professor, Biological Sciences
    Michigan Technical University

    “Dr. Sompayrac’s book is unique in striking the perfect balance between up-to-date scientific accuracy and entertaining presentation. It flows so naturally and is such a fun read that one tends not to notice its great learning value. I did not put the book down until its last page and then started from the beginning again. I feel that everyone must read this book!”

     

    George N. Dessev, Ph.D.
    Retired Professor in Cell and Molecular Biology

Back to top

ShowAppropriate Courses

The ideal text for science, medical, and nursing students, practicing physicians and nurses, and all others who need a readable overview of this complex topic.

Back to top