Offensive Thinking

Brain tumors suck. Hi, I'm Patrick btw. This is my cancer blog. My "normal" stuff is over here.

These are the various books that I’ve read on the topic of cancer. The title is always given in the language I’ve read the book, with the English title beneath it (or vice versa). I also give at least a short review, longer reviews might follow in the blog and will be linked here.


It’s Ok to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too)
Author: Nora McInerny

See the blog post Book Review: It’s Ok to Laugh for a review of the book. Conclusion: Worth a read, especially if you’re the partner of someone with a brain tumor.


Arbeit und Struktur
only available in German
Author: Wolfgang Herrndorf

See the blog post Book Review: Arbeit und Struktur for a (German) review of the book. Conclusion: The best autobiographic book about living with a brain tumor I have read yet.


The Last Lecture
Last Lecture – Die Lehren meines Lebens
Author: Randy Pausch

See this blog entry for a review of the book. A great lecture turned into a book for a little bit more background story, that I would encourage not only cancer patients to watch and read, but everyone. You can really learn a lot by listening to Randy Pausch.


Krebszellen mögen keine Himbeeren
Foods to Fight Cancer: Essential foods to help prevent cancer
Author: Richard Béliveau and Denis Gingras

A book about how your diet may affect your cancer. It’s well written and never drifts into the direction of pretending to know everything about food and cancer and that you should follow whatever they say to be healed. Instead, they encourage conventional treatment and give helpful tips about everyday food that not only is delicious, but might have an impact on your illness.


Das Antikrebs-Buch
Anticancer: A New Way of Life
Author: David Servant-Schreiber

David Servant-Schreiber was a doctor turned brain tumor patient who wrote a book about his story and the things he did to fight his cancer. This includes chapters about food, exercise and health of the mind, but the book is also a personal report of his journey. It’s not only for brain tumor patients, as he writes about cancer in general.


Man sagt sich mehr als einmal Lebewohl
Not the Last Goodbye: On Life, Death, Healing and Cancer
Author: David Servant-Schreiber

This is David Servant-Schreiber’s last book. He wrote it until only weeks before his death, having beaten his brain tumor for 19 years. It’s a short, but very personal and moving book from someone who fought the battle and ultimately had to face the inevitable.


Wieder gesund werden
Getting Well Again
Author: O. Carl Simonton, Stephanie Matthews Simonton and James Creighton

This is the only book I stopped reading after about half of it. It’s a very popular book, dealing with the concept of how we can psychologically fight against cancer and how to assist your body with your mind. Wasn’t for me though, but maybe others like it more than I did.


Nach der Diagnose Krebs
only available in German
Herbert Kappauf by Walter M. Gallmeier

An older book that I found in a second-hand bookshop. It deals with cancer in general and does this very well. The information is a bit dated (the edition I read is from 2000), but still interesting enough to make the book relevant in my opinion.


Ich habe nur dies eine Leben
only available in German
Daniela Michaelis

Another first-hand report of somebody who fell ill with a brain tumor. Daniela Michaelis gives an insight into how she experienced the first years of her illness, with many passages that may seems familiar to anyone who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It’s also rather dated, the third edition I’ve read is from 2000, the diary-like story begins in 1989 and the last entry is from 1997, where the author still lives and shows no signs of the tumor coming back.