Head First: The Biology of Hope and the Healing Power of the Human Spirit

Former editor of Saturday Review , Cousins was appointed adjunct professor at the School of Medicine, UCLA, in 1978 following publication of Anatomy of an Illness , which detailed the attitudes that helped him recover from a compound of grave maladies which included a heart attack. Here he relates stories of physicians, researchers and patients who augment medical treatments with hope and positive emotions, especially laughter, showing that ``a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.'' Cousins stresses that positive attitudes, the opposite of fear and despair which cause biochemical damage, promote the healing of body and spirit. He supports his anecdotal research with scientific data that should convince readers that the ``mind creates the ambience of treatment. The head comes first.'' Cousins's scrupulously detailed information makes the book invaluable. $150,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Oct.)