David B. Agus - The End of Illness

Praise for THE END of ILLNESS

In this brilliant book, David Agus introduces a whole new way of looking at illness and health. Taking a cue from physics, he views the body as a complex system and helps us see how everything from cancer to nutrition fits into one whole picture. The result is both a useful guide on how to stay healthy and a fascinating analysis of the latest in medical science.

WALTER ISAACSON, author of Steve Jobs

Dr. David Agus has given us a remarkable peek into our healthand the impact will be profound. Ive made it my mission in life to live strong and help others do the same. The End of Illness is one more empowering piece to the puzzle of knowing how to do just that. This book will prevent illness, revolutionize treatments, and lengthen peoples lives. A tour de force in its delivery and message.

LANCE ARMSTRONG, seven-time Tour de France winner and founder and chairman, LIVESTRONG

David Agus is one of Americas great doctors and medical researchers, a man dedicated to improving the health of as many people as he can. Written in a style and format that will truly engage readers, The End of Illness presents a dramatic new way of thinking about our own healtha way that could lead to greatly improving the quality of life for millions, starting right now.

AL GORE, 45th vice president of the United States, Nobel laureate in peace, 2007

As physician, research scientist, and friendly guide, Dr. David Agus takes his readers on a fascinating tour of ideas and facts about health and illness. They will find many of those ideas to be unconventional and thought-provoking and many of the facts to be both striking and surprising. Read this book and you will very likely change at least some of your views on health and illness.

MURRAY GELL-MANN, PHD, Nobel laureate in physics, 1969, and distinguished fellow and cofounder of the Santa Fe Institute

Filled with unorthodox ideas backed with hard science, The End of Illness simplifies for the reader the complexity of vital developments happening in medicine today and teaches us how to make the most of whats available, as well as whats soon to come.

MICHAEL DELL, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Dell, Inc.

Dr. Agus is surfing the crest of two great waves of innovationin information technology and the life sciences. His The End of Illness uses Big Data to decode the personal and molecular basis of disease. And, more important, advance a new model for health where prevention is key.

JOHN DOERR, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Can we live robustly until our last breath? Do we have to suffer from debilitating conditions and sickness? Is it possible to add more vibrant years to our lives? In The End of Illness , David B. Agus, MD, one of the worlds leading cancer doctors, researchers, and technology innovators, tackles these fundamental questions, challenging long-held wisdoms and dismantling misperceptions about what health means. With a blend of storytelling, landmark research, and provocative ideas on health, Dr. Agus presents an eye-opening picture of the human body and all of the ways it worksand failsshowing us how a new perspective on our individual health will allow each of us to achieve that often elusive but now reachable goal of a long, vigorous life.

When Dr. Agus decided to pursue a career in oncology, many of his mentors questioned his choice. Why, they asked, would a promising young doctor want to enter a field known for its inescapably grim outcomes? But it was precisely the lack of progress that inspired Dr. Agus to join the war on cancer. He moved away from the modern methods of the medical establishment, which aim to reduce our afflictions to a single point. Instead, as he does in this book, Dr. Agus argues for the adoption of a systemic viewa way of honoring our bodies as complex, whole systems. This outlook informs how we can avoid all illnessesnot just cancer. Dr. Agus empowers us to take charge of our individual health in personal, customized ways we could not have imagined before.

This indispensable book is not only a manifestoa call for revising the way we think about healthits also filled with practical but impossible-to-ignore suggestions, including:

How taking multivitamins and supplements could significantly increase our risk for cancer over time.

Why sitting down most of the day, despite a strenuous morning workout, can be as bad as or worse than smoking.

How sneaky sources of daily inflammationfrom high heels to the common coldcan lead to a fatal heart attack, and even rob us of our sanity.

How three inexpensive medicationsaspirin, statins, and an annual flu vaccinecan substantially change the course of our health for the better.

How taking shortcuts to health via blending fruits and vegetables, and sometimes even by purchasing what we think is fresh, could be shortchanging our health.

The single most important thing we can do today to preserve our health and happiness that costs absolutely nothing.

Dr. Agus also offers insights and access to breathtaking and powerful new technologies that promise to transform medicine in our generation. In the course of offering recommendations, he emphasizes his belief that there is no right answer, no master guide that is one size fits all. Each one of us must get to know our bodies in uniquely personal ways, and he shows us exactly how to do that so that we can individually create a plan for wellness.

The End of Illness is a bold call for all of us to become our own personal health advocates, and a dramatic departure from orthodox thinking. This is a seminal work that promises to revolutionize how we live.

DAVID B. AGUS, MD , is a professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and Viterbi School of Engineering and heads USCs Westside Cancer Center and the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine. He is the cofounder of two pioneering personalized medicine companies, Navigenics and Applied Proteomics. Dr. Agus is an international leader in cancer care and new technologies and approaches for personalized health care and chairs the Global Agenda Council on Genetics for the World Economic Forum. He has received numerous awards, including the 2009 GQ Magazine Rock Star of Science Award.

On the cover: An image showing the beautiful richness and complexity of protein-based information derived from a drop of human blood.

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JACKET DESIGN BY ERIC FUENTECILLA
JACKET ART BY JONATHAN K ATZ AND DAVID AGUS, 2011
COPYRIGHT 2012 SIMON & SCHUSTER

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David Agus, one of the nations most innovative cancer doctors, shatters the myths about health and wellness and provides us with a handbook for living a long, healthy life.

Steve Case, chairman of Revolution and
The Case Foundation; cofounder America Online

In this seminal book, Dr. David Agus presents a brilliant new model of health based on the body as a complex system with an emphasis on prevention. The End of Illness may reframe everything you thought you knew about health. It is both provocative and inspiring. Highly recommended.