Download Survival of the Sickest PDF: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease by Sharon Moalem & Jonathan Prince published on 6 February 2007.
Inside this book
This is a book about mysteries and miracles. About medicine and myth. About cold iron, red blood, and neverending ice. It’s a book about survival and creation. It’s a book that wonders why, and a book that asks why not. It’s a book in love with order and a book that craves a little chaos. Most of all, it’s a book about life—yours, ours, and that of every little living thing under the sun. About how we all got here, where we’re all going, and what we can do about it. Welcome to our magical medical mystery tour.
WHEN I WAS fifteen years old, my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He was seventy-one. Alzheimer’s—as too many people know—is a terrible disease to watch. And when you’re fifteen, watching a strong, loving man drift away almost before your eyes, it’s hard to accept. You want answers. You want to know why. Now, there was one thing about my grandfather that always struck me as kind of strange—he loved to give blood. And I mean he loved it. He loved the way it made him feel; he loved the way it energized him.
Most people donate blood purely because it makes them feel good emotionally to do something altruistic—not my grandfather; it made him feel good both emotionally and physically. He said no matter where his body hurt, all he needed was a good bleeding to make the aches and pains go away. I couldn’t understand how giving away a pint of the stuff our lives depend on could make someone feel so good. I asked my high school biology teachers. I asked the family doctor. Nobody could explain it. So I felt it was up to me to figure it out