The book is worth buying if only for the following chapter alone-Procedures and Diagnostic Tests: Your Life as a Laboratory Mouse. The bit about a mammogram has been the grist for e-mail funnies, and it is only one of the descriptions Hammer deliciously conjures. From the chapter on surgery, this is a snippet of her humor: "Postoperative Activities: Walking. As soon as you've stopped throwing up, they will get you out of bed and make you walk. This is the Lazarus therapy used in the Bible, and it worked quite well for him." This book is good for people on either side of the needle. A real gas!