Foreword: Manolis Anastasiou,
president of the Hellenic Society of Algology,
Director of Anesthesiology Department & Pain Unit
General Hospital of Elefsina "Thriasio
Popular Science / ANTI-MATTER Series
Acclaimed neurosurgeon Frank Vertosick documents the natural history of pain through historical, philosophical, literary, and religious texts, analyzes its biological and psychological nature, and presents the main strategies for dealing with it, with both scientific accuracy and humanity.
Although Medicine has made amazing progress in the last 100 years, it has not yet managed to tame or even fully understand pain, a feeling that is absolutely unwanted but absolutely necessary for our survival.
Starting with CS Lewis's phrase "pain is God's mouthpiece," acclaimed neurosurgeon Frank Vertosick charts the natural history of pain through the writings of historians and philosophers, analyzes its biological and psychological nature, and presents key coping strategies. With scientific precision but also with humanity, Dr. Vertosick studies pain and answers a question that has concerned us for centuries:
Why do we hurt?
According to statistics, chronic pain affects 1 in 5 adults across Europe (75 million people) and 1/3 of all European families have at least one member suffering from chronic pain.
Critics
• "Exciting! Oliver Sacks Family of Books'.
Newsday
• "Vertosick is a writer-alchemist: he transmutes the bleak theme of suffering into an unimaginably interesting treatise."
The New York Times Book Review
• "The Pain of Vertosick sheds light on the greatest mystery of all: what it means to be human."
The Seattle Times
• "Vertosick's empathy with his patients' pain, his obvious writing gift, and the vivid images he uses to guide us through the maze of the nervous system make this book a useful and interesting popular read."
The Lancet
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