Far from simply being the short primer promised by its title, Dr. David J. Stewart’s new book on cancer is an in-depth, meticulously referenced and eminently readable guide to a group of diseases that will affect, either directly or indirectly, almost everybody. Running to 400 pages, A SHORT PRIMER ON WHY CANCER STILL SUCKS calls on Stewart’s experience as an oncologist in both the US and Canadian healthcare systems as well as drawing on a vast array of published papers on most variations of cancer. Each chapter opens with a rundown of a key issue and can indeed be read as a primer on subjects including why cancer is so common, screening for cancer, surgery techniques, the immune system and immunotherapy. After the initial introduction Stewart examines each area in far greater depth explaining both the historical approaches and the current thinking. The book serves as a fully rounded and easily understandable guide to what is often seen as a complicated and confusing subject.

For the majority of readers this will not be a book that is read from cover to cover, more that targeted personal concerns will be identified by utilizing the comprehensive indexing provided. Healthcare professionals may well benefit from a thorough study of the complete text as Stewart lays out not only the current knowledge base of most kinds of cancer but identifies potential avenues where care and prevention in both the US and the Canadian healthcare systems can be improved. Throughout the book, Stewart is straightforward and honest. This plain speaking is one of the things that makes his study so useful. There is little in the way of sugar-coating what are often bleak facts concerning both the disease and its treatments and prognosis but Stewart provides a solid foundation from which to further build knowledge of cancer in all of its variations. As he admits within the text, the section on alternative therapies will make some readers very unhappy but, as in the rest of the volume, Stewart’s aim is to present facts backed with empirical evidence.

Dr. David J. Stewart’s considered prose and meticulous referencing make A SHORT PRIMER ON WHY CANCER STILL SUCKS a comprehensive, academically rigorous and easily comprehended guide that warrants a place on the shelves of health conscious individuals and is serious enough to be useful to healthcare practitioners.

~Kent Lane for IndieReader