-
The Puzzle Solver
- A Scientist's Desperate Quest to Cure the Illness that Stole His Son
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 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 $14.81
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
A Father, His Son, and an Unrelenting Quest for a Cure
At the age of 27, Whitney Dafoe was forced to give up his life as a photographer who traveled the world. Bit by bit a mysterious illness stole away the pieces of his life: First, it took the strength of his legs, then his voice, and his ability to eat. Finally, even the sound of a footstep in his room became unbearable. The Puzzle Solver follows several years in which he desperately sought answers from specialist after specialist, where at one point his 6'3" frame dropped to 115 lbs. For years, he underwent endless medical tests, but doctors told him there was nothing wrong. Then, finally, a diagnosis: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis.
In the 80s, when an outbreak of people immobilized by an indescribable fatigue were reported near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, doctors were at a loss to explain the symptoms. The condition would alternatively be nicknamed Raggedy Ann Syndrome or the Yuppie Disease, and there was no cure or answers about treatment. They were to remain sick.
But there was one answer: Whitney's father, Ron Davis, PhD, a world-class geneticist at Stanford University whose legendary research helped crack the code of DNA, suddenly changed the course of his career in a race against time to cure his son's debilitating condition.
In The Puzzle Solver, journalist Tracie White, who first wrote a viral and award-winning piece on Davis and his family in Stanford Medicine, tells his story. In gripping prose, she masterfully takes listeners along on this journey with Davis to solve one of the greatest mysteries in medicine. In a piercing investigative narrative, closed doors are opened, and masked truths are exposed as Davis uncovers new proof confirming that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a biological disease.
At the heart of this book is a moving story that goes far beyond medicine, this is a story about how the power of love - and science - can shine light in even the darkest, most hidden, corners of the world.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Funny Farm
- My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals
- By: Laurie Zaleski
- Narrated by: Erin Moon
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laurie Zaleski never aspired to run an animal rescue; that was her mother Annie’s dream. But from girlhood, Laurie was determined to make the dream come true. Thirty years later as a successful businesswoman, she did it, buying a 15-acre farm deep in the Pinelands of South Jersey. She was planning to relocate Annie and her caravan of ragtag rescues - horses and goats, dogs and cats, chickens and pigs - when Annie died, just two weeks before moving day. In her heartbreak, Laurie resolved to make her mother’s dream her own.
-
-
Heartwarming
- By Petfan on 04-13-22
By: Laurie Zaleski
-
Einstein's Fridge
- How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe
- By: Paul Sen
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Einstein’s Fridge tells the incredible epic story of the scientists who, over two centuries, harnessed the power of heat and ice and formulated a theory essential to comprehending our universe. “Although thermodynamics has been studied for hundreds of years…few nonscientists appreciate how its principles have shaped the modern world” (Scientific American).
-
-
What is the real purpose of this book?
- By Bob on 07-02-22
By: Paul Sen
-
Back to Earth
- What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet - and Our Mission to Protect It
- By: Nicole Stott
- Narrated by: Nicole Stott
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Nicole Stott first saw Earth from space, she realized how interconnected we are and knew she had to help protect our planetary home. In Back to Earth, Stott imparts essential lessons in problem-solving, survival, and crisis response that each of us can practice to make change. She knows we can overcome differences to address global issues, because she saw this every day on the International Space Station. Stott shares stories from her spaceflight and insights from scientists, activists, and changemakers working to solve our greatest environmental challenges.
-
-
This is why we go…
- By Jared Angaza on 12-27-21
By: Nicole Stott
-
Festival Days
- By: Jo Ann Beard
- Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When “The Fourth State of Matter”, her now famous piece about a workplace massacre at the University of Iowa, was published in The New Yorker, Jo Ann Beard immediately became one of the most influential writers in America, forging a path for a new generation of young authors willing to combine the dexterity of fiction with the rigors of memory and reportage, and in the process extending the range of possibility for the essay form. Now, with Festival Days, Beard brings us the culmination of her groundbreaking work.
-
-
Moments of brilliance
- By P. Bergh on 08-23-21
By: Jo Ann Beard
-
Count to Three
- By: T.R. Ragan
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her first day of kindergarten, five-year-old Tinsley disappeared without a trace... Five agonizing years later, her divorced mother, Dani Callahan, is a private investigator. She and Quinn Sullivan, a promising young assistant determined to prove herself, are devoted to helping others find missing loved ones. And for Dani, finding Tinsley is still a never-ending obsession.
-
-
No Cliffhanger?!?!
- By shelley on 12-16-21
By: T.R. Ragan
-
Burn Coast
- A Novel
- By: Dale Maharidge
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
McGee Ridge, earthquake-rattled and clinging to the thousand-foot cliffs of the Northern California coast, is nestled in one of a very few truly wild places left in the Lower 48. It is also home to a band of off-grid outlaws who vanished behind the famed Redwood Curtain in the 1960s and whose time there is swiftly coming to an end.
-
-
A new great American novel?
- By Gabriel Kent on 01-26-22
By: Dale Maharidge
-
Funny Farm
- My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals
- By: Laurie Zaleski
- Narrated by: Erin Moon
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laurie Zaleski never aspired to run an animal rescue; that was her mother Annie’s dream. But from girlhood, Laurie was determined to make the dream come true. Thirty years later as a successful businesswoman, she did it, buying a 15-acre farm deep in the Pinelands of South Jersey. She was planning to relocate Annie and her caravan of ragtag rescues - horses and goats, dogs and cats, chickens and pigs - when Annie died, just two weeks before moving day. In her heartbreak, Laurie resolved to make her mother’s dream her own.
-
-
Heartwarming
- By Petfan on 04-13-22
By: Laurie Zaleski
-
Einstein's Fridge
- How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe
- By: Paul Sen
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Einstein’s Fridge tells the incredible epic story of the scientists who, over two centuries, harnessed the power of heat and ice and formulated a theory essential to comprehending our universe. “Although thermodynamics has been studied for hundreds of years…few nonscientists appreciate how its principles have shaped the modern world” (Scientific American).
-
-
What is the real purpose of this book?
- By Bob on 07-02-22
By: Paul Sen
-
Back to Earth
- What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet - and Our Mission to Protect It
- By: Nicole Stott
- Narrated by: Nicole Stott
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Nicole Stott first saw Earth from space, she realized how interconnected we are and knew she had to help protect our planetary home. In Back to Earth, Stott imparts essential lessons in problem-solving, survival, and crisis response that each of us can practice to make change. She knows we can overcome differences to address global issues, because she saw this every day on the International Space Station. Stott shares stories from her spaceflight and insights from scientists, activists, and changemakers working to solve our greatest environmental challenges.
-
-
This is why we go…
- By Jared Angaza on 12-27-21
By: Nicole Stott
-
Festival Days
- By: Jo Ann Beard
- Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When “The Fourth State of Matter”, her now famous piece about a workplace massacre at the University of Iowa, was published in The New Yorker, Jo Ann Beard immediately became one of the most influential writers in America, forging a path for a new generation of young authors willing to combine the dexterity of fiction with the rigors of memory and reportage, and in the process extending the range of possibility for the essay form. Now, with Festival Days, Beard brings us the culmination of her groundbreaking work.
-
-
Moments of brilliance
- By P. Bergh on 08-23-21
By: Jo Ann Beard
-
Count to Three
- By: T.R. Ragan
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her first day of kindergarten, five-year-old Tinsley disappeared without a trace... Five agonizing years later, her divorced mother, Dani Callahan, is a private investigator. She and Quinn Sullivan, a promising young assistant determined to prove herself, are devoted to helping others find missing loved ones. And for Dani, finding Tinsley is still a never-ending obsession.
-
-
No Cliffhanger?!?!
- By shelley on 12-16-21
By: T.R. Ragan
-
Burn Coast
- A Novel
- By: Dale Maharidge
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
McGee Ridge, earthquake-rattled and clinging to the thousand-foot cliffs of the Northern California coast, is nestled in one of a very few truly wild places left in the Lower 48. It is also home to a band of off-grid outlaws who vanished behind the famed Redwood Curtain in the 1960s and whose time there is swiftly coming to an end.
-
-
A new great American novel?
- By Gabriel Kent on 01-26-22
By: Dale Maharidge
-
New Teeth
- Stories
- By: Simon Rich
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laugh till you cry in this new collection of stories from the “Serena Williams of humor writing” (New York Times Book Review) about raising babies and trying to learn how not to be one.
-
-
Kind of like an SNL skit...starts out funny then..
- By Curtis Hauge on 02-07-22
By: Simon Rich
-
On Animals
- By: Susan Orlean
- Narrated by: Susan Orlean
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,” writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, she’s been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career.
-
-
Learned so Much from this Work
- By Birdman on 10-18-21
By: Susan Orlean
-
Brain Energy
- A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More
- By: Christopher M. Palmer MD
- Narrated by: Christopher M. Palmer MD
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are in the midst of a global mental health crisis, and mental illnesses are on the rise. But what causes mental illness? And why are mental health problems so hard to treat? Drawing on decades of research, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Chris Palmer outlines a revolutionary new understanding that for the first time unites our existing knowledge about mental illness within a single framework: mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain. Brain Energy will transform the field of mental health, and the lives of countless people around the world.
-
-
Arguing brain health theory to medical profession
- By Maya H Saric on 03-10-23
-
Pathological
- The True Story of Six Misdiagnoses
- By: Sarah Fay
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this stunning debut—both a memoir and a work of investigative journalism—writer Sarah Fay explores the ways we pathologize human experiences. Over thirty years, doctors diagnosed Sarah Fay with six different mental illnesses—anorexia, major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and bipolar disorder.
-
-
Balanced perspective
- By J. T. Conn on 07-09-22
By: Sarah Fay
-
The Ultimate Guide to Methylene Blue
- Remarkable Hope for Depression, COVID, AIDS & Other Viruses, Alzheimer’s, Autism, Cancer, Heart Disease, Cognitive Enhancement, Pain
- By: Mark Sloan
- Narrated by: Graham Dunlop
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Mark Sloan is the creator of the popular blog Endalldisease, which delivers evidence-based health information and has helped tens of thousands of people get healthy. After losing his mother to cancer at age 12, Mark has committed his life to finding safer and more effective therapies for diseases of all kinds. Methylene Blue is your ultimate guide for understanding what disease is, what disease isn’t, and how to use methylene blue to dramatically enhance your health and quality of life.
-
-
Reckless
- By Janardhana on 07-14-22
By: Mark Sloan
-
Hidden Valley Road
- Inside the Mind of an American Family
- By: Robert Kolker
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their 12 children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins—aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the 10 Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic.
-
-
A story you've never heard before
- By Kelley Cox on 04-19-20
By: Robert Kolker
-
Between Two Kingdoms
- A Memoir of a Life Interrupted
- By: Suleika Jaouad
- Narrated by: Suleika Jaouad
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was preparing, as they say in commencement speeches, to enter “the real world”. She had fallen in love and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. The real world she found, however, would take her into a very different kind of conflict zone. It started with an itch - first on her feet, then up her legs, like a thousand invisible mosquito bites. Then a trip to the doctor and, a few weeks shy of her 23rd birthday, a diagnosis: leukemia, with a 35 percent chance of survival.
-
-
This was painful.
- By Meredith Nutrition on 07-31-22
By: Suleika Jaouad
-
Lost Connections
- Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions
- By: Johann Hari
- Narrated by: Johann Hari
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling author of Chasing the Scream, a radically new way of thinking about depression and anxiety. What really causes depression and anxiety - and how can we really solve them?
-
-
Heartfelt, but not convincing
- By Brett on 03-18-18
By: Johann Hari
-
While You Were Out
- An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
- By: Meg Kissinger
- Narrated by: Meg Kissinger
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in the 1960s in the suburbs of Chicago, Meg Kissinger’s family seemed to live a charmed life. With eight kids and two loving parents, the Kissingers radiated a warm, boisterous energy. Whether they were spending summer days on the shores of Lake Michigan, barreling down the ski slopes, or navigating the trials of their Catholic school, the Kissingers always knew how to live large and play hard. But behind closed doors, a harsher reality was unfolding.
-
-
Thoughtful and mindful
- By James Thomas McIntyre on 09-11-23
By: Meg Kissinger
-
The End of Alzheimer's
- The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline
- By: Dale E. Bredesen MD
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this paradigm shifting book, Dale Bredesen, MD, offers real hope to anyone looking to prevent and even reverse Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline. Revealing that AD is not one condition, as it is currently treated, but three, The End of Alzheimer's outlines 36 metabolic factors (micronutrients, hormone levels, sleep) that can trigger "downsizing" in the brain. The protocol shows us how to rebalance these factors using lifestyle modifications like taking B12, eliminating gluten, or improving oral hygiene.
-
-
Should Have A PDF
- By IthacaNancy on 08-25-17
-
The Brain's Way of Healing
- Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity
- By: Norman Doidge M.D.
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge described the most important breakthrough in our understanding of the brain in 400 years: the discovery that the brain can change its own structure and function in response to mental experience - what we call neuroplasticity. His revolutionary new book shows, for the first time, how the amazing process of neuroplastic healing really works. It describes natural, noninvasive avenues into the brain provided by the forms of energy around us.
-
-
Extremely helpful understanding my TBI.
- By Robert Deramo on 02-12-15
-
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
Critic reviews
"The Puzzle Solver is a love-letter not only to the Dafoe and Davis family but to everyone with crushing chronic illness who nevertheless continue to find meaning and joy in life - and to those who stand behind them. It's both a gripping read and a heart-wrenching story, but far more, it's inspiring, showing how we, and those we love, can band together to withstand challenges, even those beyond your worst nightmares." (Julie Rehmeyer, author of Through the Shadowlands)
"The Puzzle Solver is a compelling story of the love of a father who as a scientist preserved through a maze of uncertainty to help his son. Anyone who has endured undiagnosed chronic illness or has been subjected to the blanket dismissal of the medical community will find refuge in this book. The personal sense of responsibility coupled with the journey for acceptance of this disease as having a biological basis is nothing short of inspiring. A reminder that our lives can change in an instant, are are ultimately dependent upon our love for each other." (Rana Awdish, MD, author of In Shock)
"The Puzzle Solver is a medical mystery with a heart. It's a poignant memoir of a scientist whose determination, ingenuity and love for his son drives him to the limits of science and medicine to unravel an enigmatic illness that has eluded doctors for decades." (Steffanie Strathdee, author of The Perfect Predator)
Related to this topic
-
Little Matches
- A Memoir of Finding Light in the Dark
- By: Maryanne O'Hara
- Narrated by: Maryanne O'Hara
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When their only child was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of two, Maryanne O'Hara and her husband were told that Caitlin could live a long life or be dead in a matter of months. Thirty-one years later, Caitlin lost her battle with this devastating disease following an excruciating two-year wait on the transplant list and a last-minute race to locate a pair of healthy lungs. The sudden spiral of events left Maryanne in an existential crisis, searching to find an answer to the eternal question: Why we are here?
-
-
I don't know who needs to read it...
- By H. Hill on 04-18-23
By: Maryanne O'Hara
-
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 20-Month Legend
- My Baby Boy's Fight with Cancer
- By: Steve Tate
- Narrated by: Steve Tate
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As if juggling a life with half-a-dozen kids, including triplets, isn’t enough, Steve Tate receives the life-altering news that one of his triplets, Hayes, has been diagnosed with brain cancer. The once-star collegiate football player finds himself fighting for his son’s life. This memoir takes you through the various challenges he faced raising a family of six kids and balancing a career, all while his son battled the odds. Both Steve and his high-school sweetheart, Savanna, found hope and happiness through the example of their 20-month-old son Hayes.
-
-
Very touching story
- By Nicole on 03-16-23
By: Steve Tate
-
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
-
Another Kind of Madness
- A Journey Through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness
- By: Stephen P. Hinshaw
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Families are riddled with untold secrets. But Stephen Hinshaw never imagined that a profound secret was kept under lock and key for 18 years within his family - that his father's mysterious absences, for months at a time, resulted from serious mental illness and involuntary hospitalizations. From the moment his father revealed the truth, during Hinshaw's first spring break from college, he knew his life would change forever.
-
-
Insightful, heartbreaking, and important
- By S. Yates on 10-09-17
-
Finding Chika
- A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family
- By: Mitch Albom
- Narrated by: Mitch Albom
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. She spent her infancy in a landscape of extreme poverty, and when her mother died giving birth to a baby brother, Chika was brought to The Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Albom operates in Port Au Prince. With no children of their own, the 40-plus children who live, play, and go to school at the orphanage have become family to Mitch and his wife, Janine. But at age five, Chika is suddenly diagnosed with something a doctor there says "no one in Haiti can help you with."
-
-
BUY READ AND RECOMMEND THIS BOOK
- By The Birds. on 11-05-19
By: Mitch Albom
-
Little Matches
- A Memoir of Finding Light in the Dark
- By: Maryanne O'Hara
- Narrated by: Maryanne O'Hara
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When their only child was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of two, Maryanne O'Hara and her husband were told that Caitlin could live a long life or be dead in a matter of months. Thirty-one years later, Caitlin lost her battle with this devastating disease following an excruciating two-year wait on the transplant list and a last-minute race to locate a pair of healthy lungs. The sudden spiral of events left Maryanne in an existential crisis, searching to find an answer to the eternal question: Why we are here?
-
-
I don't know who needs to read it...
- By H. Hill on 04-18-23
By: Maryanne O'Hara
-
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 20-Month Legend
- My Baby Boy's Fight with Cancer
- By: Steve Tate
- Narrated by: Steve Tate
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As if juggling a life with half-a-dozen kids, including triplets, isn’t enough, Steve Tate receives the life-altering news that one of his triplets, Hayes, has been diagnosed with brain cancer. The once-star collegiate football player finds himself fighting for his son’s life. This memoir takes you through the various challenges he faced raising a family of six kids and balancing a career, all while his son battled the odds. Both Steve and his high-school sweetheart, Savanna, found hope and happiness through the example of their 20-month-old son Hayes.
-
-
Very touching story
- By Nicole on 03-16-23
By: Steve Tate
-
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
-
Another Kind of Madness
- A Journey Through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness
- By: Stephen P. Hinshaw
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Families are riddled with untold secrets. But Stephen Hinshaw never imagined that a profound secret was kept under lock and key for 18 years within his family - that his father's mysterious absences, for months at a time, resulted from serious mental illness and involuntary hospitalizations. From the moment his father revealed the truth, during Hinshaw's first spring break from college, he knew his life would change forever.
-
-
Insightful, heartbreaking, and important
- By S. Yates on 10-09-17
-
Finding Chika
- A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family
- By: Mitch Albom
- Narrated by: Mitch Albom
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. She spent her infancy in a landscape of extreme poverty, and when her mother died giving birth to a baby brother, Chika was brought to The Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Albom operates in Port Au Prince. With no children of their own, the 40-plus children who live, play, and go to school at the orphanage have become family to Mitch and his wife, Janine. But at age five, Chika is suddenly diagnosed with something a doctor there says "no one in Haiti can help you with."
-
-
BUY READ AND RECOMMEND THIS BOOK
- By The Birds. on 11-05-19
By: Mitch Albom
-
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
-
Heartwood
- The Art of Living with the End in Mind
- By: Barbara Becker
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When her earliest childhood friend is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Becker sets off on a quest to immerse herself in what it means to be mortal. Can we live our lives more fully knowing some day we will die? With a keen eye toward that which makes life worth living, interfaith minister, mom, and perpetual seeker Barbara Becker recounts stories where life and death intersect in unexpected ways.
-
-
The author’s compassion
- By Amazon Customer on 04-16-24
By: Barbara Becker
-
Changing the Way We Die
- Compassionate End-of-Life Care and the Hospice Movement
- By: Sheila Himmel, Fran Smith
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There’s a quiet revolution happening in the way we die. More than 1.5 million Americans a year die in hospice care - nearly 44 percent of all deaths - and a vast industry has sprung up to meet the growing demand. Once viewed as a New Age indulgence, hospice is now a $14 billion business and one of the most successful segments in health care. Changing the Way We Die, by award-winning journalists Fran Smith and Sheila Himmel, is the first book to take a broad, penetrating look at the hospice landscape.
-
-
Sadly, not very engaging.
- By Debra S. Long on 06-16-18
By: Sheila Himmel, and others
-
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
-
God's Hotel
- A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine
- By: Victoria Sweet
- Narrated by: Victoria Sweet
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco's Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hôtel-Dieu (God's hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages. Ballet dancers and rock musicians, professors and thieves - "anyone who had fallen, or, often, leapt, onto hard times" and needed extended medical care - ended up here. So did Victoria Sweet, who came for two months and stayed for 20 years. Laguna Honda, lower-tech but human-paced, gave Sweet the opportunity to practice a kind of attentive medicine that has almost vanished.
-
-
Great read
- By kayla solomon on 04-08-17
By: Victoria Sweet
-
He Came in with It
- A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness
- By: Miriam Feldman
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an idyllic Los Angeles neighborhood, where generations enjoy deep roots in old homes, the O’Rourke family fits right in. Miriam and Craig are both artists and their four children carry on the legacy. When their teenage son, Nick, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, a tumultuous decade ensues in which the family careens off the conventional course. Like the 10 Biblical plagues, they are hit by one catastrophe after another: violence, evictions, arrests, a suicide attempt, a near-drowning - even cancer and a brain tumor - play against the backdrop of a wild teenage bacchanal.
-
-
So Beautifully Written
- By Michael on 08-01-22
By: Miriam Feldman
-
Pregnant Girl
- A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families
- By: Nicole Lynn Lewis
- Narrated by: Nicky Sunshine
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An activist calls for better support of young families so they can thrive and reflects on her experiences as a Black mother and college student fighting for opportunities for herself and her child. Pregnant Girl presents the possibility of a different future for young mothers - one of success and stability - in the midst of the dismal statistics that dominate the national conversation.
-
-
Political
- By Amazon Customer on 01-16-23
-
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive
- 101 Inspirational Stories about Counting Your Blessings and Having a Positive Attitude
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, and others
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Jim Bond
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
101 True Stories about how Positive Thinking can change your life! Everyone needs a little attitude adjustment once in a while, and these amazing true life stories reveal how real people used positive thinking to improve their lives and overcome challenges. You’ll read stories about how you can make every day a special day, incorporate gratitude and joy into your daily life, count your blessings and change your outlook, use a few well-chosen words to reorient your life, manage cancer and other health challenges through a positive attitude, simplify and have a more meaningful life and more!
-
-
Good overall.
- By Sergey Makeev on 02-21-24
By: Jack Canfield, and others
-
Carly's Voice
- Breaking Through Autism
- By: Arthur Fleischmann, Carly Fleischmann
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of two, Carly Fleischmann was diagnosed with severe autism and an oral motor condition that prevented her from speaking. Doctors predicted that she would never intellectually develop beyond the abilities of a small child. Although she made some progress after years of intensive behavioral and communication therapy, Carly remained largely unreachable. Then, at age 10, Carly had a breakthrough....
-
-
A peek inside...
- By Yolanda on 08-09-13
By: Arthur Fleischmann, and others
-
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
-
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
-
Paranormal
- My Life in Pursuit of the Afterlife
- By: Raymond Moody MD, Paul Perry
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The grandfather of the NDE (near death experience) movement, Raymond Moody has, in the words of Dr. Larry Dossey, author of The Power of Premonitions, "radically changed the way modern humans think about the afterlife." Paranormal, essential listening for fans of Dannion Brinkley and Jeffrey Long, is "a thrilling and inspiring literary experience. Anyone who is not grateful for Moody's immense contribution to human welfare ought to check his pulse."
-
-
Engaging memoir of near-death researcher
- By tru britty on 03-20-20
By: Raymond Moody MD, and others
What listeners say about The Puzzle Solver
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Angela
- 05-27-22
MECFS is real.
I have a dear friend who suffers from Chronic fatigue syndrome, and she was told by friends and loved ones that it was all in her head, there was nothing wrong with her. I have lost touch with her, which I regret. I hope she reads this book or hears about it and is able to get some validation for her health problems. She is not crazy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TBone
- 02-22-21
B A beautiful and well-researched story.
l loved it. This is a well-written true story with excellent narration. I can't wait for a sequel.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lindsay
- 10-19-23
Eye Opening and Inspiring
I loved hearing this account of Whitney’s life with ME/CFS and his father’s work to find a cure. It inspires me to support those suffering and cheer on the scientists working so hard (with limited government support) to find a cure. Whitney, I am praying for you and thinking of you often. To those that suffer: You are not alone, I pray for your comfort, peace and a cure.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laura B.
- 01-11-24
A father’s love has no limits!
A genuinely great story about a man who against the odds, became a great scientist on his own and advocate for his ill son.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R. F. Laurita
- 06-18-21
Heartbreaking truth...a must read.
This is a profound story with no ending yet, but a must read to understand how unfair judgement can destroy a person's hope, which may be the only resource they have to survive this debilitating disease. A life unlived due to illness is difficult beyond belief, but to be berated by the medical profession who takes the oath to do no harm is emotional torture.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mary
- 11-04-21
Special memories for me about Whitney and Ron.
This book had special memories for me because I worked for Ron Davis in the late 80s. He hired me to assist him in his lab and later I became the lab manager for the Biochemistry Department at Stanford University. I first met Whitney at the Davis home when he was just 3 years old. The book captures the love Ron has for his family and his devotion to Science.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Arlene Kovash
- 10-22-22
Important information
Reading this very interesting book certainly increased my awareness of this chronic fatigue disease. It made me realize how important it is not to make judgments before knowing the facts, and to listen to advocates for causes such as this. Well written.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer CM
- 03-23-23
ME/CFS
This was incredibly powerful. I had no idea how bad Chronic Fatigue Syndrome can be. Praying for treatments and cures. Narration was slow so I listened at 1.25x.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adam Hyde
- 01-30-22
Important book for anyone trying to understand ME CFS
I am an anesthesiologist and one of my family members has ME CFS. Reading this book gives me hope and makes me not feel alone. I am sorry that the medical profession has failed these patients in so many ways. I have always been committed to treating my patients with ME CFS with respect and to truly listen to their complaints. I hope this book teaches other physicians to do the same. Thank you Tracie, Ron, and Whitney (and Whitney’s mom)
God bless you.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 04-14-21
Thought provoking, sensitive, a must read
I am in awe of Whitney and his family, incredibly courageous, selfless. Thanks to HH for writing this to enlighten others about MECFS. May it get the research funds it deserves!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful