Eve's Rib: The Groundbreaking Guide to Women's Health [Paperback]

Marianne J. Legato (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2003

“This groundbreaking book . . . will forever change how you think about women’s health. Pass along a copy to your doctor.”—Healing Retreats & Spas

In this revolutionary new book, Dr. Marianne Legato, one of the most respected scientists in her field, shares the truth about how women and men are fundamentally different in virtually every system of the body—from the composition of their saliva to the way their guts, brains, and hearts function. Such differences are critical variations that doctors must recognize in order to spot and treat disease. Eve’s Rib is a powerful tool for women eager to understand the ways their bodies work—and how to use this information to provide essential care for themselves and their loved ones.
Here are just a few critical differences that can save your life:

• Many women do not experience the classic symptoms of a heart attack and instead have pain in the upper abdomen or back, intense shortness of breath, nausea, and profuse sweating. They may be easily misdiagnosed.
• Women metabolize drugs differently than men do.
• Smoking damages a specific gene in females, which causes a fourfold increase in the likelihood that a woman who smokes will die of cancer.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

From a professor of Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons and Woman of the Year in Science for 2000.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Legato takes a fresh and much broader look at what she calls ‘the new science of gender-specific medicine,’ a melding of clinical practice and cutting edge research that she did much to pioneer.”—San Francisco Chronicle

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (July 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140004829X
• ISBN-13: 978-1400048298
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,068,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A groundbreaking book, June 11, 2002

By 

Barbara H. Roberts, MD (Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eve's Rib: The New Science of Gender-Specific Medicine and How It Can Save Your Life (Hardcover)

Eve's Rib by Marianne Legato, MD is a groundbreaking book. In clear, easily understood language Dr. Legato spells out the myriad ways that gender influences our experience of illness, our response to medications and the expectations/biases of our physicians. She points out that when scientists performed research only on male subjects, and extrapolated their findings to women "they made a tremendous intellectual gaffe." Because women are not just diminutive versions of men. As Dr. Legato makes clear,their bodies and their response to disease are often very different from that of men - and not just in their reproductive organs. The field of gender-based medicine is still in its infancy but already some of the new knowledge that has been discovered is saving lives and improving the health care of both men and women. Just to cite one example, Dr. Legato relates how drug companies are now trying to design medicines to combat abnormal heart rhythms that can actually be caused by drugs that are effective in men, but dangerous for women. She details how every organ system in the body has features that are gender-dependent. And she points up how much knowledge is still to be gained. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in human biology and in staying healthy.
Barbara H. Roberts, MD
Director, The Women's Cardiac Center at the Miriam Hospital
Providence, RI

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for so many, July 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Eve's Rib: The New Science of Gender-Specific Medicine and How It Can Save Your Life (Hardcover)

Dr. Legato, the most respected voice in the nascent discipline of gender-specific medicine has written a book that can enlighten so many people. Unlike many books on "women's health" this book has the beauty of being inclusionary. The book is not only relevant to women, but is a helpful read for any husband, son, brother, or health care professional. I do not think that we have really understood what short shrift women have been given in formulating the treatment protocols for medical conditions. Hopefully this book and the science it heralds will help push the medical establishment to realizing that women are not just small men with different reproductive organs but are people with unique responses to drugs, and symptomologies that are necessary knowledge to have before anyone can make an accurate diagnosis. This book should be standard reading for every medical student.