Can hope contribute to recovery by changing physical well-being? To answer this hotly debated question, Jerome Groopman embarked on an investigative journey to cutting-edge laboratories where researchers are unraveling an authentic biology of hope. There he finds a scientific basis for understanding the role of this vital emotion in the outcome of illness. Here is a book that offers a new way of thinking about hope, with a message for all readers, not only patients and their families. "We are just beginning to appreciate hope’s reach," Groopman writes, "and have not defined its limits. I see hope as the very heart of healing.” An inspiring and profoundly enlightening exploration of one doctor’s discovery of how hope can change the course of illness.