A fascinating book discussing terminally ill people and how some appear to miraculously recover. There is obviously something going on in these circumstances, but some should be taken with a pinch of salt. Having worked as a nurse in the NHS I did come across some patients who having given up the will to live dictated their own demise.

I'm a real sceptic when it comes to the 'science' of inexplicable healing. There is much written about the will to live, but this book stretches it out to encompass some cases in quite graphic detail.

Do I believe there is more 'science' in this phenomenon, yet to be discovered? I didn't and if I'm honest, I still don't.

The book is well written and I appreciate the arguments, which are well presented, but it does tail off towards the end inevitably as what can it really conclude? Interesting.

This is a ground breaking book. I Won’t go into the detail of it, but in short the central tenet is that we are only now beginning to obtain insights into the factors which contribute towards spontaneous healing. When someone ‘miraculously’ spontaneously recovers from a life limiting disease, unfortunately, orthodox medicine has merely shrugged its metaphorical shoulders and considered the recovery to be a fluke; an outlier result.

Nobody but the author and a few other notables have asked the questions “why did that person spontaneously heal, against all the medical evidence they should not have” and most importantly “can those factors be replicated and applied to others?”

As always books are seldom all–brilliant or all-bad, so here’s my opinions on the good and bad of this one.

On the upside:
- I really admire the book as it would be so easy to descend into a smug self help quick fix book purporting to know all the answers. But it comes across as a gloriously open honest account.

- I had the distinct feeling that the author has been grasping for some truth in uncharted waters, swimming against a torrent of orthodox medical thinking. It’s a brutally honest story of trying to make sense of spontaneous healing which, according to orthodox medicine, really shouldn’t be happening. The struggle is tangible in a beautifully woven story - like the author is trying to complete a jigsaw picture of a snow blizzard with a blindfold on.

What’s not so great:
- A little too graphic for my taste, in the descriptions of what some of patients suffered and underwent, before spontaneously healing. That’s not a criticism though and others might be fine. But if you’re easily upset about the horrors of cancer and other terminal diseases can do to a body and mind, skim read it!

- Again, a personal opinion and not a criticism: it’s written in that typical American over dramatic way.

- The last chapter regrettably does feel like filler quality. But that really shouldn’t and doesn’t detract from the message the book is making.

All in all, thoroughly recommended and I personally can’t wait for a sequel to tell us where the science is going on this critically important subject.

The author is to be congratulated on a seminal work.

Why do some individuals given a terminal prognosis go on to get well without currently available medical treatment being used? A good read that make you wonder if our bodies can be reset and so heal themselves when death seems inevitable.
Read this book, very informative and gives hope.

Fascinating. Lots of information, some from way back when but mostly new to me. A good book to read slowly and take time to digest, as it's very information dense.
Highly recommended to all who have an interest in fighting illness

An interesting read. I spent a decade and a half working in the NHS and I know that the will to live can make the difference between life and death. Sometimes it’s utterly inexplicable. However, this is largely anecdotal. So if you enjoy true life stories with a bit of medical science dressing, you’ll enjoy this. If you’re looking for some sort of instruction manual or self help book, modify your expectations. You won’t get one and a lot of practical research that came from these sorts of cases is still very ill understood and fragmentary. Worth a read but keep your analytical specs on.

Mixed thoughts about this book.at first but I learnt a lot about the body and it’s response to diseases.
Some really enlightening patient stories and spontaneous remission of terminal illnesses.
The writing is interesting but am not sure what the reader gets out of it as following all the suggestions does not guarantee you a positive outcome.
The book includes a lot of the writer’s life and experience which really drove him to investigate these remissions and his determination to get robust evidence to support the ‘miracles’..
The book certainly gives the reader pause for thought - particularly regarding the body’s immune system and the development of immunotherapy treatments.