-
His Brother's Keeper
- One Family's Journey to the Edge of Medicine
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Stephen Heywood was 29 years old when he learned that he was dying of ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease. Almost overnight, his older brother, Jamie, turned himself into a genetic engineer in a quixotic race to cure the incurable. His Brother's Keeper is a powerful account of their story, as they travel together to the edge of medicine. The book brings home for all of us the hopes and fears of the new biology.
In this dramatic and suspenseful narrative, Jonathan Weiner gives us a remarkable portrait of science and medicine today. We learn about gene therapy, stem cells, brain vaccines, and other novel treatments for such nerve-death diseases as ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's - diseases that afflict millions, and touch the lives of many more. "The Heywoods' story taught me many things about the nature of healing in the new millennium," Weiner writes. "They also taught me about what has not changed since the time of the ancients and may never change as long as there are human beings - about what Lucretius calls 'the ever-living wound of love".
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
-
-
Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
Time, Love, Memory
- A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jonathan Weiner, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Beak of the Finch, brings his brilliant reporting skills to the story of Seymour Benzer, the Brooklyn-born maverick scientist whose study of genetics and experiments with fruit fly genes has helped revolutionize or knowledge of the connections between DNA and behavior both animal and human.
-
-
This is a profound science book
- By Timothy A. Smith on 05-12-10
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- By: Rebecca Skloot
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects.
-
-
The Secret Life of an American Cancer Cell
- By Cynthia on 08-10-13
By: Rebecca Skloot
-
Mercies in Disguise
- A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them
- By: Gina Kolata
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Mercies in Disguise, acclaimed New York Times reporter and best-selling author Gina Kolata tells the story of the Baxleys, an upstanding family in small-town South Carolina. Many of them were doctors, but still, they are struck down by an inscrutable illness. Finally they discover the cause of the disease after a remarkable sequence of providential events. Meanwhile science, progressing for 50 years along a parallel track, handed the Baxleys a question - not a cure but a blood test that would reveal who had the gene for the disease.
-
-
Sappy
- By Amazon Customer on 11-10-22
By: Gina Kolata
-
Ben Carson
- A Chance at Life (Heroes of History)
- By: Janet Benge, Geoff Benge
- Narrated by: Tim Gregory
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a child growing up in Detroit, Ben Carson (1951-) has a dream of becoming a physician, a dream that rose out of struggles with poverty, racism, and poor grades. As Ben persevered and strove for academic excellence, his life became one of compassion and service. Today, Benjamin Carson, MD, is known as the American neurosurgeon with gifted hands.
-
-
He is an overcomer and difference maker
- By busy mom on 01-03-24
By: Janet Benge, and others
-
Mountains Beyond Mountains
- The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
- By: Tracy Kidder
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Tracy Kidder’s magnificent account shows how one person can make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease. Profound, Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes people’s minds through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.”
-
-
A Great Book
- By MikeInOhio on 11-22-03
By: Tracy Kidder
-
The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
-
-
Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
Time, Love, Memory
- A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jonathan Weiner, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Beak of the Finch, brings his brilliant reporting skills to the story of Seymour Benzer, the Brooklyn-born maverick scientist whose study of genetics and experiments with fruit fly genes has helped revolutionize or knowledge of the connections between DNA and behavior both animal and human.
-
-
This is a profound science book
- By Timothy A. Smith on 05-12-10
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- By: Rebecca Skloot
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects.
-
-
The Secret Life of an American Cancer Cell
- By Cynthia on 08-10-13
By: Rebecca Skloot
-
Mercies in Disguise
- A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them
- By: Gina Kolata
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Mercies in Disguise, acclaimed New York Times reporter and best-selling author Gina Kolata tells the story of the Baxleys, an upstanding family in small-town South Carolina. Many of them were doctors, but still, they are struck down by an inscrutable illness. Finally they discover the cause of the disease after a remarkable sequence of providential events. Meanwhile science, progressing for 50 years along a parallel track, handed the Baxleys a question - not a cure but a blood test that would reveal who had the gene for the disease.
-
-
Sappy
- By Amazon Customer on 11-10-22
By: Gina Kolata
-
Ben Carson
- A Chance at Life (Heroes of History)
- By: Janet Benge, Geoff Benge
- Narrated by: Tim Gregory
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a child growing up in Detroit, Ben Carson (1951-) has a dream of becoming a physician, a dream that rose out of struggles with poverty, racism, and poor grades. As Ben persevered and strove for academic excellence, his life became one of compassion and service. Today, Benjamin Carson, MD, is known as the American neurosurgeon with gifted hands.
-
-
He is an overcomer and difference maker
- By busy mom on 01-03-24
By: Janet Benge, and others
-
Mountains Beyond Mountains
- The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
- By: Tracy Kidder
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Tracy Kidder’s magnificent account shows how one person can make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease. Profound, Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes people’s minds through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.”
-
-
A Great Book
- By MikeInOhio on 11-22-03
By: Tracy Kidder
-
Brain on Fire
- My Month of Madness
- By: Susannah Cahalan
- Narrated by: Susannah Cahalan
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 24-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: At the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?
-
-
A must read for anyone in the medical field, and anyone who has ever gone undiagnosed.
- By Sarah M Valentino on 05-13-20
By: Susannah Cahalan
-
She Danced with Lightning
- My Daughter's Struggle with Epilepsy and Her Boundless Will to Live
- By: Marc Palmieri
- Narrated by: Marc Palmieri
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven-year-old Anna has lived all her life with severe epilepsy. Despite the ravage of thousands of violent seizures and heavy medications, she has thrived at school, athletics, and her greatest passion—dance. As she approaches her twelfth birthday, Anna's condition takes a dire turn. Her health declines quickly and a new diagnosis is revealed, leaving the family only one excruciating choice.
-
-
Remarkable
- By Sheila Valaer on 01-08-24
By: Marc Palmieri
-
Your Heart, My Hands
- An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons
- By: Arun K. Singh MD, John Hanc - contributor, Delos Cosgrove MD - foreword
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leaving a life marked by crippling setbacks and his father's doubt, in 1967 a 20-something doctor from India arrived in America with only five dollars and the desire to claim his American dream. Faced with an entirely new culture, racism, and the lasting effects of disabling childhood injuries, through hard work and perseverance he overcame all odds. Now having performed over 15,000 open-heart surgeries, more than nearly every surgeon in history, Dr. Singh reflects on his most memorable patients and his incredible personal life.
-
-
Remarkable!
- By Stacey on 12-01-22
By: Arun K. Singh MD, and others
-
Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart
- By: Mimi Swartz
- Narrated by: Lydia Mackay
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. If America could send a man to the moon, shouldn’t the best surgeons in the world be able to build an artificial heart? In Ticker, Texas Monthly executive editor and two time National Magazine Award winner Mimi Swartz shows just how complex and difficult it can be to replicate one of nature’s greatest creations. Part investigative journalism, part medical mystery, Ticker is a dazzling story of modern innovation, recounting 50 years of false starts, abysmal failures, and miraculous triumphs.
-
-
Didn’t hate it, didn’t like it.
- By Gotta Tellya on 09-07-18
By: Mimi Swartz
-
Patient H.M.
- A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets
- By: Luke Dittrich
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1953, a 27-year-old factory worker named Henry Molaison - who suffered from severe epilepsy - received a radical new version of the then-common lobotomy, targeting the most mysterious structures in the brain. The operation failed to eliminate Henry’s seizures, but it did have an unintended effect: Henry was left profoundly amnesic, unable to create long-term memories. Over the next 60 years, Patient H.M., as Henry was known, became the most studied individual in the history of neuroscience, a human guinea pig who would teach us much of what we know about memory today.
-
-
Sort of misleading title
- By L on 10-27-16
By: Luke Dittrich
-
Generosity
- By: Richard Powers
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What will happen to life when science identifies the genetic basis of happiness? Who will own the patent? Do we dare revise our own temperaments? Funny, fast, and magical, Generosity celebrates both science and the freed imagination. In his most exuberant book yet, Richard Powers asks us to consider the big questions facing humankind as we begin to rewrite our own existence.
-
-
All About Fiction
- By James on 11-30-10
By: Richard Powers
-
Panic in Level 4
- Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science
- By: Richard Preston
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bizarre illnesses and plagues that kill people in the most unspeakable ways. Obsessive and inspired efforts by scientists to solve mysteries and save lives. From The Hot Zone to The Demon in the Freezer and beyond, Richard Preston's best selling works have mesmerized readers everywhere by showing them strange worlds of nature they never dreamed of.
-
-
WAIT! Maybe this isn't what you think....
- By Doug on 07-05-11
By: Richard Preston
-
The Mind and the Moon
- My Brother’s Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches
- By: Daniel Bergner
- Narrated by: Daniel Bergner
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1960s, JFK declared that science would take us to the moon. He also declared that science would make the “remote reaches of the mind accessible” and cure psychiatric illness with breakthrough medications. We were walking on the moon within the decade. But today, psychiatric cures continue to elude us—as does the mind itself. Why is it that we still don’t understand how the mind works? What is the difference between the mind and the brain? And given all that we still don’t know, how can we make insightful, transformative choices about our psychiatric conditions?
-
-
Narration
- By M. Morgan on 09-06-22
By: Daniel Bergner
-
The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind
- My Tale of Madness and Recovery
- By: Barbara K. Lipska, Elaine McArdle - contributor
- Narrated by: Emma Powell
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2015, Barbara Lipska - a leading expert on the neuroscience of mental illness - was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to her brain. Within months, her frontal lobe, the seat of cognition, began shutting down. She descended into madness, exhibiting dementia- and schizophrenia-like symptoms that terrified her family and coworkers. But miraculously, the immunotherapy her doctors had prescribed worked quickly. Just eight weeks after her nightmare began, Lipska returned to normal. With one difference: she remembered her brush with madness with exquisite clarity.
-
-
Be Prepared To Feel Insane--
- By Gillian on 04-11-18
By: Barbara K. Lipska, and others
-
Struck by Genius
- How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel
- By: Jason Padgett, Maureen Ann Seaberg
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings, Kate Rudd
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The remarkable story of an ordinary man who was transformed when a traumatic injury left him with an extraordinary gift. No one sees the world as Jason Padgett does. Water pours from the faucet in crystalline patterns, numbers call to mind distinct geometric shapes, and intricate fractal patterns emerge from the movement of tree branches, revealing the intrinsic mathematical designs hidden in the objects around us. Yet Padgett wasn’t born this way. Twelve years ago, he had never made it past pre-algebra. But a violent mugging forever altered the way his brain works.
-
-
Struck by Delusion
- By Jay on 07-22-14
By: Jason Padgett, and others
-
Crashing Through
- The Extraordinary True Story of the Man Who Dared to See
- By: Robert Kurson
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blinded at age three, Mike May defied expectations by breaking world records in downhill speed skiing, joining the CIA, and becoming a successful inventor, entrepreneur, and family man. He had never yearned for vision. Then, in 1999, a chance encounter brought startling news: a revolutionary stem-cell transplant surgery could restore May's vision.
-
-
Outstanding!
- By K. R. Phillips on 06-27-07
By: Robert Kurson
-
The Genome War
- How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World
- By: James Shreeve
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 10, 1998, biologist Craig Venter, director of the Institute for Genomic Research, announced that he was forming a private company that within three years would unravel the complete genetic code of human life, seven years before the projected finish of the U.S. government's Human Genome Project. Venter hoped that by decoding the genome ahead of schedule, he would speed up the pace of biomedical research and save the lives of thousands of people. He also hoped to become very famous and very rich.
-
-
DNA/Microbiology 101
- By Neil on 02-24-04
By: James Shreeve
Editorial reviews
Jamie, Stephen, and Ben are the Heywood brothers, adoring daredevil sons of a retired therapist and MIT professor. At 29, Stephen, a carpenter, is diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a progressive fatal condition that bombs nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, collapsing voluntary muscle control, and making it hard to chew, swallow, speak, even breathe. Paralysis is nearly certain. His Brother’s Keeper: A Story From the Edge of Medicine, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jonathan Weiner chronicles the Heywood family’s deeply human, defiant response to Stephen’s grim prognosis. Victor Bevine narrates with perceptive, poignant stillness. His meditative pacing steadies the frantic deadline of the premise: find a solution or lose Stephen. Bevine applies the same pebble-smooth reverence to Weiner’s own sorrow when he learns his mother, Ponnie, is dying from a similar, rare neurogenerative disease.
As brother-built dynasties go, the Heywoods are enthralling. Jamie, the eldest, is a charismatic compulsive talker who quits his job to cure ALS. A trained mechanical engineer, Jamie studies gene therapies and hires “guerilla scientists” to develop experimental treatments and pioneer stem-cell research. In the process, he ruins his marriage to Melinda — an exuberant belly dancer with a PhD in medieval French literature.
Stephen is six-foot-three and blindingly handsome. He’s wry and observant, a self-taught architect who finds his calling rebuilding old, rotting historical homes. The worthy anchor of His Brother’s Keeper, Stephen despises pity and fuss. He marries, fathers a son, and works with his hands as long as he can. “The more he lost, the stronger he seemed,” Weiner notes of Stephen, by then, skeletal and wheelchair-bound, nourished by liquid Ensure his mother, Peggy, pours into his stomach tube. Ben is the youngest Heywood, an engineer like Jamie and their father. He’s creative and logical, a practical risk-taker as droll and dynamic as the rest of his tribe. Still, and always, though, the love story belongs to Jamie and Stephen. —Nita Rao
Critic reviews
- 100 Notable Books, The New York Times
- 10 Best Nonfiction of the Year, Entertainment Weekly
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
"Weiner has a master's eye for the telling detail and a spare, often poetic style. His terse recounting of the seminal advances and setbacks in genetic engineering in the late 1990s provides the scientific counterpoint to the Heywood family drama." (The Washington Post)
Related to this topic
-
The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind
- My Tale of Madness and Recovery
- By: Barbara K. Lipska, Elaine McArdle - contributor
- Narrated by: Emma Powell
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2015, Barbara Lipska - a leading expert on the neuroscience of mental illness - was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to her brain. Within months, her frontal lobe, the seat of cognition, began shutting down. She descended into madness, exhibiting dementia- and schizophrenia-like symptoms that terrified her family and coworkers. But miraculously, the immunotherapy her doctors had prescribed worked quickly. Just eight weeks after her nightmare began, Lipska returned to normal. With one difference: she remembered her brush with madness with exquisite clarity.
-
-
Be Prepared To Feel Insane--
- By Gillian on 04-11-18
By: Barbara K. Lipska, and others
-
The Family Gene
- A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance into a Hopeful Future
- By: Joselin Linder
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Joselin Linder was in her 20s, her legs started to swell. She thought little of it until her health problems started to compound in ways that baffled her doctors. Diagnosed with extreme liver blockage and dangerous levels of lymph fluid, Joselin turned to the most similar case she could think of - her father's.
By: Joselin Linder
-
The Second Opinion
- By: Michael Palmer
- Narrated by: Franette Liebow
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, Michael Palmer has created a cat-and-mouse game where one woman must confront a conspiracy of doctors to uncover an evil practice that touches every single person who ever has a medical test. With unforgettable characters and twists and betrayals that come from the most unlikely places, The Second Opinion will keep you guessing...and looking over your shoulder.
-
-
great story line; unnecessary love affair
- By Anonymous User on 05-26-09
By: Michael Palmer
-
Truth Doesn't Have a Side
- My Alarming Discovery About the Danger of Contact Sports
- By: Dr. Bennet Omalu, Mark Tabb, Will Smith - foreword
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One day in 2002 the 50-year old body of former Pittsburgh Steeler and hall of famer Mike Webster was laid on a cold table in front of pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu. Webster's body looked to Omalu like the body of a much older man, and the circumstances of his behavior prior to his death were clouded in mystery. But when Omalu cut into Webster's brain, it appeared to be normal. Something didn't add up.
-
-
Truly Enlightening
- By Marie on 01-31-20
By: Dr. Bennet Omalu, and others
-
Splendid Solution
- Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio
- By: Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Salk became a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the first national vaccination program, and as humanity is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio worldwide, comes this unforgettable chronicle. Salk's work was an unparalleled achievement, and it makes for a magnificent listen.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Tim on 08-10-06
By: Jeffrey Kluger
-
Concussion (Movie Tie-in Edition)
- By: Jeanne Marie Laskas
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeanne Marie Laskas first met the young forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2009, while reporting a story for GQ that would go on to inspire the movie Concussion. Omalu told her about a day in September 2002, when, in a dingy morgue in downtown Pittsburgh, he picked up a scalpel and made a discovery that would rattle America in ways he’d never intended. Omalu was new to America, chasing the dream, a deeply spiritual man escaping the wounds of civil war in Nigeria.
-
-
If you know, come forth and speak.
- By Cynthia on 12-14-15
-
The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind
- My Tale of Madness and Recovery
- By: Barbara K. Lipska, Elaine McArdle - contributor
- Narrated by: Emma Powell
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2015, Barbara Lipska - a leading expert on the neuroscience of mental illness - was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to her brain. Within months, her frontal lobe, the seat of cognition, began shutting down. She descended into madness, exhibiting dementia- and schizophrenia-like symptoms that terrified her family and coworkers. But miraculously, the immunotherapy her doctors had prescribed worked quickly. Just eight weeks after her nightmare began, Lipska returned to normal. With one difference: she remembered her brush with madness with exquisite clarity.
-
-
Be Prepared To Feel Insane--
- By Gillian on 04-11-18
By: Barbara K. Lipska, and others
-
The Family Gene
- A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance into a Hopeful Future
- By: Joselin Linder
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Joselin Linder was in her 20s, her legs started to swell. She thought little of it until her health problems started to compound in ways that baffled her doctors. Diagnosed with extreme liver blockage and dangerous levels of lymph fluid, Joselin turned to the most similar case she could think of - her father's.
By: Joselin Linder
-
The Second Opinion
- By: Michael Palmer
- Narrated by: Franette Liebow
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, Michael Palmer has created a cat-and-mouse game where one woman must confront a conspiracy of doctors to uncover an evil practice that touches every single person who ever has a medical test. With unforgettable characters and twists and betrayals that come from the most unlikely places, The Second Opinion will keep you guessing...and looking over your shoulder.
-
-
great story line; unnecessary love affair
- By Anonymous User on 05-26-09
By: Michael Palmer
-
Truth Doesn't Have a Side
- My Alarming Discovery About the Danger of Contact Sports
- By: Dr. Bennet Omalu, Mark Tabb, Will Smith - foreword
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One day in 2002 the 50-year old body of former Pittsburgh Steeler and hall of famer Mike Webster was laid on a cold table in front of pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu. Webster's body looked to Omalu like the body of a much older man, and the circumstances of his behavior prior to his death were clouded in mystery. But when Omalu cut into Webster's brain, it appeared to be normal. Something didn't add up.
-
-
Truly Enlightening
- By Marie on 01-31-20
By: Dr. Bennet Omalu, and others
-
Splendid Solution
- Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio
- By: Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Salk became a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the first national vaccination program, and as humanity is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio worldwide, comes this unforgettable chronicle. Salk's work was an unparalleled achievement, and it makes for a magnificent listen.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Tim on 08-10-06
By: Jeffrey Kluger
-
Concussion (Movie Tie-in Edition)
- By: Jeanne Marie Laskas
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeanne Marie Laskas first met the young forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2009, while reporting a story for GQ that would go on to inspire the movie Concussion. Omalu told her about a day in September 2002, when, in a dingy morgue in downtown Pittsburgh, he picked up a scalpel and made a discovery that would rattle America in ways he’d never intended. Omalu was new to America, chasing the dream, a deeply spiritual man escaping the wounds of civil war in Nigeria.
-
-
If you know, come forth and speak.
- By Cynthia on 12-14-15
-
Knocking on Heaven's Door
- The Path to a Better Way of Death
- By: Katy Butler
- Narrated by: Katy Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like so many of us, award-winning writer Katy Butler always assumed her aging parents would experience healthy, active retirements before dying peacefully at home. Then her father suffered a stroke that left him incapable of easily finishing a sentence or showering without assistance. Her mother was thrust into full-time caregiving, and Katy became one of the 24 million Americans who help care for aging parents. In an effort to correct a minor and non - life threatening heart arrhythmia, doctors outfitted her father with a pacemaker.
-
-
A better way to narrate a book about death?
- By MAUREEN on 10-21-13
By: Katy Butler
-
The Inheritance
- A Family on the Front Lines of the Battle Against Alzheimer's Disease
- By: Niki Kapsambelis
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every 69 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Of the top 10 killers, it is the only disease for which there is no cure or treatment. For most people, there is nothing that they can do to fight back. But one family is doing all they can. The DeMoe family has the most devastating form of the disease that there is: early onset Alzheimer's, an inherited genetic mutation that causes the disease in 100 percent of cases, and has a 50 percent chance of being passed onto the next generation.
-
-
A Cover-to-Cover Slug in the Gut, but Inspiring
- By Gillian on 04-16-17
By: Niki Kapsambelis
-
Frameshift
- By: Robert J. Sawyer
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of Pierre Tradivel, a scientist, and his complex battle against deadly illness, and ex-Nazi war criminal still hiding in the U.S., a crooked insurance company, and a plot to make Pierre and his wife the victims of a bizarre genetic experiment. Frameshift is hard science fiction at its best, full of complications and neat surprises.
-
-
Storyshift
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-24-14
By: Robert J. Sawyer
-
Your Heart, My Hands
- An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons
- By: Arun K. Singh MD, John Hanc - contributor, Delos Cosgrove MD - foreword
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leaving a life marked by crippling setbacks and his father's doubt, in 1967 a 20-something doctor from India arrived in America with only five dollars and the desire to claim his American dream. Faced with an entirely new culture, racism, and the lasting effects of disabling childhood injuries, through hard work and perseverance he overcame all odds. Now having performed over 15,000 open-heart surgeries, more than nearly every surgeon in history, Dr. Singh reflects on his most memorable patients and his incredible personal life.
-
-
Remarkable!
- By Stacey on 12-01-22
By: Arun K. Singh MD, and others
-
Doctored
- The Disillusionment of an American Physician
- By: Sandeep Jauhar
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hoping for the stability he needs to start a family, Sandeep Jauhar, an attending cardiologist, accepts a position at a massive teaching hospital on the outskirts of Queens. With a decade's worth of elite medical training behind him, he is eager to settle down and reap the rewards of countless sleepless nights. Instead, he is confronted with sobering truths. Doctors' morale is low and getting lower.
-
-
Frank, inside perspective on the follies of unintended consequences in medical reform
- By JW on 02-25-18
By: Sandeep Jauhar
-
The Soloist
- A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music
- By: Steve Lopez
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When journalist Steve Lopez sees Nathaniel Ayers playing his heart out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles' skid row, he finds it impossible to walk away. More than 30 years ago, Ayers was a promising classical bass student at Juilliard - ambitious, charming, and also one of the few African-Americans there - until he gradually lost his ability to function, overcome by schizophrenia.
Over time, the two men form a bond and Lopez imagines that he might be able to change Ayers' life. The Soloist is a beautifully told story of devotion in the face of seemingly unbeatable challenges.
-
-
Fantastic Audiobook
- By reggie p on 06-26-08
By: Steve Lopez
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
Schuyler's Monster
- A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter
- By: Robert Rummel-Hudson
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Schuyler Rummel-Hudson was 18 months old, a question about her lack of speech by her pediatrician set in motion a journey that continues today. When she was diagnosed with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (an extremely rare neurological disorder), her parents were given a name for the monster that had been stalking them from doctor to doctor, and from despair to hope, and back again.
-
-
Must-read for medical parents & those who ❤them
- By Kelly A. Wolske on 05-23-18
-
Rise and Shine
- The Path to Life
- By: Simon Lewis
- Narrated by: Kelsey Grammer
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crushed between a truck and a tree, Simon and his wife were both pronounced dead at the scene of a horrific car accident. Enduring a broken skull, jaw, arms, clavicle and pelvis, followed by a coma, Simon lives to tell his remarkable journey from tragedy to triumph.
-
-
Amazing opportunities for healing!
- By Leah on 04-29-17
By: Simon Lewis
-
Because I Come from a Crazy Family
- The Making of a Psychiatrist
- By: Edward M. Hallowell
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Edward M. Hallowell was 11, a voice out of nowhere told him he should become a psychiatrist. A mental health professional of the time would have called this psychosis. But young Edward (Ned) took it in stride, despite not quite knowing what "psychiatrist" meant. With a psychotic father, an alcoholic mother, an abusive stepfather, and two so-called learning disabilities of his own, Ned was accustomed to unpredictable behaviour from those around him and to a mind he felt he couldn't always control.
-
-
Love and connection permeates through this book!
- By Steve Steinmetz on 06-29-18
-
Zendegi
- By: Greg Egan
- Narrated by: Parisa Johnston
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As tragedy strikes his multicultural family, Martin struggles to maintain his place in his adapted culture, and to provide for his child. Zendigi explores what it means to be human, and the lengths one will go to in order to provide for ones children. This emotional roller coaster explores a non-Western-European near future that both challenges ideas of global monoculture and emphasizes the humanity we all share.
-
-
important topics, sad story
- By Kindle Customer on 04-06-24
By: Greg Egan
-
A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman
- A Memoir
- By: Lindy Elkins-Tanton
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deep in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, three times farther from the sun than the Earth is, orbits a massive asteroid called (16) Psyche. It is one of the largest objects in the belt, potentially containing the equivalent of the world’s total economy in metals, though they cannot be brought back to Earth. But (16) Psyche has the potential to unlock something even more valuable: the story of how planets form, and how our planet formed.
-
-
Inspiring
- By SLL on 12-03-23
What listeners say about His Brother's Keeper
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Doggy Bird
- 03-17-13
Fascinating story, very good narration
I so much enjoyed THE BEAK OF THE FINCH, Jonathan Weiner's book on the studies done on the Galapagos Islands of Darwin's finches that I did not hesitate to try this examination of a brother's struggle to find a cure for Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS also commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It is a subject of particular interest to me as my own mother died of ALS when she was only 52. The story examines not only the tragedy of neuro degenerative diseases, but the ethical struggles that accompany this brother's search for funding and a cure for his sibling's illness. There is also running through the book Weiner's own mother's discovery of and death from a neuro-degenerative disease.
The book was well narrated and held my interest, but didn't have the same impact of Weiner's first book, perhaps because the work in the book is not as successful or heroic as the Beak of the Finch. That said I did find the story worthwhile. particularly from the perspective of the ethical dilemmas presented and I do think it would be of interest even to those without a personal connection to these diseases. I would recommend the book to non-fiction readers who find the progress (and sometimes the setbacks) of medical science of interest as it is very well written and the reader does an excellent job.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Barbara
- 02-02-10
Well done portrayal of a family in crisis
A well written book about a family racing for a treatment for a family member diagnosed with ALS.
It is a sad and at time disturbing portrayal of a brother trying to find a way to use "gene" therapy and/or stem cell therapy to cure his dying brother, while struggling with the temptation to develope a business with these therapies. The book examines the patient,family, friends; their interactions, support and always,their hope. Mr. Bevine is an excellent narrator making the book all the better.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Tammy Clardy
- 05-20-10
very good for understanding ALS
Having a close friend with ALS and having had 3 other friends die from it in the past, I enjoyed the medical explanations and factual content of this book along with the story. It was very believable and well written. I hope some day a cure is found
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful