Life and Breath: Preventing, Treating and Reversing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Schachter's late father was a WWII refugee from Vienna who landed in the South Bronx and began a practice that inspired Schachter fils to enter the family profession; he now holds multiple titles in pulmonary and respiratory care at New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center, has published more than 400 research papers and five monographs, and is the former president of the American Lung Association. If any further evidence were needed of his menschdom, 25 percent of all earnings from this preventative how-to will be donated to the American Lung Association of the City of New York. Schachter shows COPD (the disease in the subtitle) to encompass various forms of chronic bronchitis (sometimes in the form of smoker's cough), asthma and emphysema, and notes that many potential victims of the disease-which affects 35 million Americans and is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.-are between 45 and 64. He carefully lays out environmental hazards (from particulate matter to gas stoves), warning signs, testing options, treatments and preventatives, including changes in diet and exercise. He argues against smoking, of course, and offers tips on how to quit. The book is brisk but sympathetic-one section about asthma, a disease that many argue has links to stress, is titled: ""It's Not All In Your Head""-and should help even the most doctor-phobic seek proper care. (Apr. 8)