Elizabeth Hughes, ca. 1923 courtesy of Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Hughes! Elizabeth was born on August 19, 1907. Just a few days shy of her 15th birthday, she became one of the first recipients of insulin. Her life was transformed.
Elizabeth arrived in Toronto from America a frail child, fighting to stay alive just one more day, armed with a hopeful spirit that refused to diminish despite her dire condition.
A great review of BREAKTHROUGH was posted by Lit Chick on the blog Lit Chit Chat. Here are some higlights:
“Breakthrough had me hooked from page five and kept me holding my breath right up to the last word.”
“Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg have mastered the art of writing a historical non-fiction account…”
“The reader is given a devastating and un-sugar coated look into the seriousness of the illness at the time…”
You can read the entire review below or at Lit Chit Chat.
Book: Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, The Discovery of Insulin, and The Making of A Medical Miracle.
Reviewer Alan Caruba included Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle by Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg on his monthly list of best new non-fiction! Alan Caruba is an author and a charter member of the National Book Critics Circle who has been reviewing for more than five decades. Here’s what he wrote:
“I heartily recommend this book.”
“…mark your calendar…”
“The whole story is fraught with drama…”
Read the full post below:
A guest blog, written by Arthur Ainsberg, was posted yesterday on DiabetesMine.com. DiabetesMine was founded by Amy Tenderich, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in May 2003. She writes of the site: ”I started this blog to connect with others, to offset the feeling of isolation with diabetes, and to sort out and share some of what I was learning. It’s my “gold mine of informational nuggets,’ if you will…”
A full re-posting of Arthur’s guest post is below:
Physician and medical writer Peter Lipson gives praise to Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle on Forbes.com:
“[Breakthrough] successfully weaves together the personal struggles of the patients, doctors and scientists living and dying on the edge of one of medicine’s greatest discoveries.”
“Cooper and Ainsberg create vivid images…”
“[Breakthrough] relies heavily on primary historical sources and documents.”
A reposting of the full article is below…
Charles Best and Frederick Banting
It’s been a steamy summer so far, with record-high temperatures hitting cities around the world. The sweltering summer heat can send even sun worshipers running for the cool relief of an air-conditioned room. But that wasn’t always an option.
Almost ninety years ago, in 1921, Toronto experienced one of the hottest summers on record. It was in this oppressive heat that Frederick Banting and Charles Best would begin their research for a new diabetes treatment at a University of Toronto lab. The conditions were far from ideal. The operating table was made of wood, which meant it was difficult to keep sterile, the floor couldn’t be effectively scrubbed because water would leak through to the ceiling below, glassware was smeared, and linens were tattered and stained. The heat exacerbated the already difficult objectives at hand.
Read the review below:
Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle
Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg, St. Martin’s, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-64870-1
Welcome to the Breakthrough blog! This has been an incredible journey—seven years since a 2003 article in the New York Times first sparked a passionate determination to share this extraordinary story with the world. And now, after painstaking research—much of the process was like being inside a detective novel, searching for clues and chasing down leads—and carefully weaving this complex story into a thrilling read, the book is almost here!
Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle will be published on September 14, but you can pre-order your copy online today at the Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites.
