Breath Taking

The Power, Fragility, and Future of Our Extraordinary Lungs

By: Michael J. Stephen MD

Narrated by: Tom Parks

From an expert in pulmonary medicine, the story of our extraordinary lungs, the organ that both explains our origins and holds the keys to our future as a species

We take an average of 7.5 million breaths a year and some 600 million in our lifetime, and what goes on in our body each time oxygen is taken in and carbon dioxide expelled is nothing short of miraculous. “Our lungs are the lynchpin between our bodies and the outside world,” writes Dr. Michael Stephen. And yet, we take our lungs for granted until we’re incapacitated and suddenly confronted with their vital importance.

In Breath Taking, pulmonologist Michael Stephen takes us on a journey to shed original and much-needed light on our neglected and extraordinary lungs, at a most critical societal moment. He relates the history of oxygen on Earth and the evolutionary origins of breathing, and explores the healing power of breath and its spiritual potential. He explains in lay terms the links our lungs have with our immune system and with society at large. And he offers illuminating chronicles of pulmonary research and discovery - from Galen in the ancient world to pioneers of lung transplant - and poignant human stories of resilience and recovery - from the frantic attempts to engage his own son’s lungs at birth to patients he treats for cystic fibrosis today.

Despite great advances in science, our lungs are ever more threatened. Asthma is more prevalent than ever; rising stress levels make our lungs vulnerable to disease; and COVID-19 has revealed that vulnerability in historic ways. In this time, Breath Taking offers inspiration and hope to millions whose lungs are affected and vital perspective to us all.

©2021 Michael J. Stephen. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Tom Parks provides superb narration.” (Library Journal)

“Brains and hearts preoccupy science writers, so this rare exploration of lungs fills a need. Pulmonologist Stephen cannot conceal his enthusiasm for his favorite organ as he mixes evolution, medical history, autobiography, and vivid stories of patients with a skillful account of how lungs operate and how we might take better care of them.... Valuable popular science.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“[Stephen’s] educational and passionate book successfully unites the true importance of our lungs and advances in medical science.... Best of all are Stephen’s stories of courageous patients, including a girl with cystic fibrosis who receives a successful lung transplant, which just might take your breath away” (Booklist)

Highly informative

Fascinating information for everyone who has lungs. Highly recommend this thought provoking book. Many surprising facts.

Great & informative book

For those who are not lung specialists, this book is fabulous. The author covers lung function, physiology,gas exchange, and reviews several lung diseases, treatments and medical developments. Thumbs up.

Enjoyed this informative book

As a retired respiratory, I found this book very interesting and enjoyable. Although much of the medical information wasn't new, most of the historical information about the discoveries the pulmonary diseases and treatments was.

Great history of the lungs and lung disease

Excellent tour of the history of our understanding of the lungs and the major health issues that affect the lungs. Only real detractor is that the narrator does not know how to pronounce any scientific or medical words, which was a little distracting.

A book for the young and old

I have the book in print, audible and Kindle. It’s fascinating reading as Dr Stephen is an excellent author. He presents the narrative very engagingly and the technical portions in easy assimilable fashion.
This book should be read by young and old (I’m 92) alike.

Reads like a Medical Detective Novel!

The breadth and depth of Michael Stephen’s Breath Taking is literally breathtaking. In fact, there were moments when I actually held my breath, waiting to see the outcome of a procedure. Dr. Stephen’s clearly loves his patients, and he makes you care about them too. But lest you think this is one pulmonologist’s moving story with heartfelt patient anecdotes woven in, let me expand upon that notion.
This is a big book. The scope is epic. We learn how our planet evolved over four billion years to sustain life. We learn about the first appearance of oxygen, and we follow the evolution of a single cell into the multiplicity of forms living and dying today. We learn about the formation of our lungs, how we damage them with pollutants, like smoke and coal fires, inhaling tobacco, and how we can heal them with yoga breathing exercises and ever newer scientific discoveries.
One of the pleasures of reading this book is the way Stephen humanizes the unsung medical innovators, many of them women, who persisted against the odds of gender discrimination to discover the causes and treatment of pulmonary diseases. One contemporary hero is the oncologist Dr. Alice Shaw at Massachusetts General Hospital, a pioneer in the use of targeted drugs that use our own immune systems to effect a cure. Dr. Stephens writes about historical medical heroes like Dr. Virginia Apgar, whose name is given to the score newborns receive, and my personal favorite, Dr. Mary Ellen Avery, who, in 1948 was denied admission to Harvard Medical School because she was female. After training in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, she became a research scientist, on a mission to solve the mystery of premature respiratory distress. This mysterious disease, whose cause was unknown, was killing infants at great numbers when Dr. Avery did her training, including the newborn son of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. In 1959, Dr. Avery published a paper that broke through the traditional understanding of the syndrome. “Today,” says Stephens, “the mortality from respiratory distress syndrome is 5% of what it was before Dr. Avery’s brilliant insight.” In this same chapter, Stephen’s tells the story of his son’s birth, a tense and heart-pounding narrative that brought me to tears.
There are chapters that read like detective novels, wrong turns and right turns in the eradication of tuberculosis, for example. There are two heroes in this story. First, Dr. Robert Koch, whose research presented in a lecture in 1882 before the Berlin Physiological Society, “changed the field of TB forever.” The second hero in the TB story was the physician and epidemiologist Dr. Herman Biggs who, at the turn of the 20th century, brought his knowledge of how germs spread (based on Koch’s work) and prevention to New York City. Despite political opposition from both politicians and the mainstream medical community, he was able, through an early form of contact tracing and public education he spearheaded at the New York City Department of Health, significantly reduce the spread of TB.
Pollution, Stephen says, is the source of 6.5 million deaths every year, from both outdoor air quality, particularly in farming regions and urban areas, and indoor air quality resulting from wood burning stoves, dung and coal fires used for household heating.
Dr. Stephens is a leading expert on cystic fibrosis, and the stories of his patients’ bravery are nearly as moving as the story he tells about his own son’s birth. We learn through the poignant stories of his patients, about the advances, including lung transplants, that have increased life expectancy of cystic fibrosis patients. The detective novel-like narrative continues, moving from the history of diseases that at first seemed untreatable, to being treatable, to being cured.
There are cautionary tales about vaping, wood stoves and COVID. However, like any good story, Dr. Stephen leaves us feeling hope that even climate change is treatable.

Great story

This book keeps you listening simply because it is an amazing narrative, beautiful success story and informs you as never before about our amazing lungs. Thanks for writing this Dr. Parks and for the wonderful narration Tom Parks.

History and overview of Pulmonary medicine

This book reminds me of one of those college courses where you learn a lot of vaguely interesting historical facts but don't really come away with much that could be considered useful in day to day life
Would be a great book for anyone considering a career in pulmonary medicine.

If you are seeking a book that provides really useful information on actually BREATHING, I recommend the book, The Breathing Cure, or anything else by Patrick McKeown.