that itself, that process begins the unburdening of an illness. long before you receive your first dose of whatever medicine you will or will not receive it is the and burdening of a story that is the first -- it seems something important will happen in medicine. once i come to this realization inspired by the, and it became clear to me, could write this book. there was a vast history here but it could be written through the eyes of patients and written by telling stories. if i could tell stories that began at whatever point, i could flesh out these stories, what seemed an insurmountable problem, how does one tell this history, would become solvable which is tell the history by moving from a story to story focusing on those who were right there and experienced it most directly. that was the solution in principle of the problem but that raises a second question which is how does one find these stories? how does one and cover the story of a woman who experienced breast cancer in the 1950s. i recount a moment in time in 1950 when a woman calls up the

i think in some way that unburdens or relieves patients. they don't have to be the person who's the expert all the time. because no one's the expert, you know? i'm not the expert. i know a little bit more, but i'm not the expert in your choices and directions. so that's my strategy. again, i think it involves the kind of active listening which i think is very hard to do in these times. >> i've learned that web research is the kiss of death. >> i know. [laughter] it is the kiss of death, i think. >> in do you think that the vast quantity of chemicals that are being used in various processes are contributing to a increase in the incidents of cancer? >> it's a tough question. i think some chemicals may be contributing. but i think that, but i think on the other hand one has to be careful about this idea of a hypercarcinogennic environment because it creates a kind of panic about the environment that i actually don't agree with. so my general thoughts about this is that every chemical, particularly those that reach a certain concentration in ou