Adam's Burden: An Explorer's Personal Odyssey through Prostate Cancer [Hardcover]

Charles Neider (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2001

A three-time Antarctic explorer who nearly perished in a helicopter crash at 12,000 feet on Mt. Erebus, Charles Neider tackles cancer's inhospitable terrain with the same straightforward courage, tenacity, and curiosity that he brings to his explorations.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

At age 79, author, Mark Twain scholar and editor, and explorer Neider (The Grotto Berg) was diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa). Neider wanted to know as much as possible about his disease so that he could participate in making decisions that affected his health and survival. This memoir is the result of his persistently inquisitive approach, which led him to interview doctors as well as a half-dozen friends and relatives who had undergone various therapies for PCa. Selecting the best therapy for the disease is a complex decision for a patient to make. There are quality-of-life issues (incontinence, impotence, and morbidities associated with any given therapeutic model) that each PCa patient must consider for himself. Neider's clear, down-to-earth, informative, and compassionate memoir also provides a no-holds-barred portrait of the medical profession good and bad. It will make a fine addition to consumer health collections that also have Ralph Berberich's Hit Below the Belt (LJ 3/15/01) and Saralee and Robert Fine's Prostate Cancer (LJ 9/1/99), which are also helpful in guiding readers through the morass of PCa therapies and its associated jargon (Gleason scores and PSA readings, for example). [Unfortunately, Neider lost his battle with cancer on July 4, 2001. Ed.] James Swanton, Harlem Hosp., New Yor.
- James Swanton, Harlem Hosp., New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Noted Mark Twain scholar Neider was diagnosed with prostate cancer early in 1993, when he was 78. His intensely personal yet scientifically informed account of the succeeding two years of tests, treatment, and his own thoughts and emotions show him to have been fortunate in his doctors and nurses and, especially, in the strong support of his wife, Joan. Hardly the typical cancer patient, Neider had made three trips to the Antarctic and was a MacDowell Colony resident 10 times; indeed, some of this book was written there. Hardly the typical patient's account, Neider's supplements his own experiences with those of two cousins, several fellow members of support groups in New Jersey and California, and other acquaintances. With the diagnosis, Neider's doctor gave him three options: ignoring the cancer because of his age, surgery, or radiation. Neider chose the third--38 sessions' worth. Early in 1995 the doctor announced, "As far as I'm concerned, you have a cure!" Neider lived on until July 2001. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Madison Books; 1 edition (August 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568332394
• ISBN-13: 978-1568332390
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,615,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Deserves to be more widely read, August 10, 2002

By 

M. H. Plumer (Lihue, Hi USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Adam's Burden: An Explorer's Personal Odyssey through Prostate Cancer (Hardcover)

I found this an absorbing personal account of a thoughtful layman's encounter with prostate cancer. At age 78, with a PSA of 14 and a Gleason of 6, Neider choose treatment by external beam radiation. He describes this experience, which began in 1993, in absorbing daily detail. Neider is curious but not contentious. He questions his own doctors and technicians, and he listens to other patients. He patiently records not only his own thoughts but the shared details of others' encounters with cancer.
Two years later his radiation oncologist pronounces him cured -- with a PSA of 3.4. The book closes on this hopeful note in 1995. Six years later the book is published and the author is dead (of cancer?). That's the book's weakness; it closes with the story well begun but only partly told.