Why We Hurt

The Natural History of Pain

By: Frank T. Vertosick Jr. MD

Narrated by: Tom Parks

A top neurosurgeon and acclaimed author's unique and highly listenable study of the paradox of pain, with fascinating anecdotes on childbirth, migraines, cancer, and more.

Medical science has made brilliant discoveries over the last century but as any cancer patient can attest, it has yet to conquer, or even fully comprehend, pain. Beginning with his own battle against severe migraines, and citing numerous case studies of his patients, in Why We Hurt Dr. Frank Vertosick explains how pain evolved, and by highlighting the critical functions it serves, he helps us to understand its value. Well written, expertly researched, and movingly told, each chapter offers an amalgam of medicine, history, anthropology, drama, inspiration, and practical advice on a myriad of pain syndromes, from back pain to angina, arthritis to carpal tunnel syndrome. A skilled writer and compassionate physician, Vertosick believes knowledge is often the first, and best, analgesic, and in Why We Hurt, "he offers fascinating insight into the greatest mystery of all: what it means to be human" (the Seattle Times).

©2000 Frank T. Vertosick, Jr., M.D. (P)2023 Tantor

A Pleasure to Learn More About Pain

This book is sobering and informative. It covers the most painful scenarios for human bodies one by one. I learned a lot about my body and appreciate my regular day-to-day activities a lot more.

It has both concrete examples to make you care about the characters (who are suffering all kinds of extreme pain) and scientific analysis to explain why/how that happens and what can be done to ease that. It’s a book you could listen to while doing something else and still fully be engaged and get much out of it.

If you like books on a specific perspective of human bodies as a system, check out
- "What Is Health? Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design" by Peter Sterling (2023)
- “Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding" by Daniel Lieberman (2021)
- "Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive" (this book is excellent for kids, too) by Philipp Dettmer (2021).

For specific body parts, here are some of my favorites.
- Brain: "Zero to Birth: How the Human Brain Is Built" by W.A. Harris (2022)
- Heart: "Pump, A Natural History of the Heart" by Bill Schutt (2022)
- Hearing: "Volume Control: Hearing in a Deafening World" by David Owen (2019)

Buyer Beware - This book is over 20 years old

Audible lists as a book from 2023, but that is just the audiobook production. The actual book is from 2001. 22 years is not an insignificant time period for a medical book.