Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book

Here is an encyclopedic and authoritative reference to help keep everyone informed and grounded on the topic of breast health. With accessible writing, it delivers a colossal amount of information on issues like cancer types and risk rates, diagnostic options and risks, non-cancer diseases and disorders, environmental and diet factors, dealing with doctors, genetic markers, and more. There's even a section on how to understand the designs of scientific studies. Coleen Marlo performs this patient-centered guide with laser-accurate phrasing and medical textbook seriousness. Though some listeners might wish for more emotional variety or lightness in her approach, a more personable reading of this data-heavy guide would risk drawing too much attention to the performance. Marlo's consistency and clarity are exactly right for this no-nonsense resource. T.W. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

June 5, 1990
More than an up-to-date advisory for the reportedly one-in-eleven women stricken with breast cancer, this is a candid, comprehensive, splendidly well-written guide to a part of the body about which most women know surprisingly little. Originally a general surgeon and now a specialist in breast problems, Love teaches at Harvard Medical School and is affiliated with Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. With writer Lindsey ( Friends ), she devotes two-thirds of the text to breast cancer, thoroughly covering all aspects of the disease from relative risks to diagnosis (and its emotional impact) and the gamut of treatment options. The authors survey breast development and physiology, appearance (their discussion of plastic surgery is straightforward and nonjudgmental), breast-feeding and common noncancerous conditions, telling all in a tone at once wise and warm. Quotes from Love's patients lend additional scope, as do appendices ranging from recommended reading to lists of support groups and treatment centers. BOMC selection; first serial to Good Housekeeping

Starred review from February 27, 1995
This second edition of Love and Lindsey's comprehensive 1990 title has been so thoroughly revised that, Love notes, only the anatomy chapter remains untouched: ``The breast, I'm glad to report, is still located on the chest!'' New information includes that on mammography screening, the breast cancer gene, the metastatic phase of breast cancer, the connection between mind and body, prevention and the importance of political awareness and action. Also updated are discussions of every conceivable aspect of the breast: from its health and development to such common concerns as normal tissue lumpiness and breast feeding, to issues surrounding breast cancer-its screening, diagnosis, causes, treatment, prevention and the directions of current research. Hormone therapy, silicone implants, breast biopsy, lumpectomy, reconstruction and bone-marrow transplants are also explained. With Lindsey (Friends as Family), Love, who is director of the Comprehensive Breast Center, associate professor of clinical surgery at UCLA School of Medicine and co-founder of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, offers a highly readable book that educates, supports and encourages women to become their own advocates of breast health.