The Pain Chronicles
Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering
Melanie Thernstrom(Author)
North Point Press
Published on 17. August 2010
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-0-86547-681-3 (ISBN)
Description
In "The Pain Chronicles", a singular and deeply humane work, Melanie Thernstrom traces conceptions of pain throughout the ages - from ancient Babylonian pain-banishing spells to modern brain imaging - to reveal the elusive, mysterious nature of pain itself. Interweaving first-person reflections on her own battle with chronic pain, incisive reportage from leading-edge pain clinics and medical research, and insights from a wide range of disciplines - science, history, religion, philosophy, anthropology, literature, and art - Thernstrom shows that when dealing with pain we are neither as advanced as we imagine nor as helpless as we may fear. Both a personal meditation and an intellectual exploration, "The Pain Chronicles" illuminates and makes sense of the all-too-human experience of pain - and confronts with extraordinary grace and empathy its peculiar traits, its harrowing effects, and its various antidotes.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkeley, California
United States
Product notice
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-86547-681-3 (9780865476813)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification