Boxing

This book neither argues for or against the continuation of boxing, but lays out the literature and the body of scientific knowledge that are necessary to provide a meaningful background for the ensuing debate. It provides a comprehensive resource for those who are involved in regulating boxing and those who participate directly, as well as for the medical and scientific communities. Includes carefully quoted case histories and research as well as an extensive body of medical literature on boxing injuries to demonstrate that brain damage is a natural consequence of boxing.

"The book repeatedly enters uncharted territory. The table of contents includes everything from the mechanics of head injury to hand injuries to theologians' view of pugilism. Friedrich Unterharnscheidt is a medical scientist, a neurologist, and neuropathologist. He states, 'It is not my intention to support or oppose boxing as a sport; my own research and experience with head trauma and boxing injuries compels me as a physician and a scientist to let the findings be known so that prospective boxers and in some cases their parents, can make an informed decision to accept the risks.'...The authors do lay out the body of available scientific knowledge of boxing and a large amount of literature from newspapers, magazine, and books in an attempt to provide debate regarding perpetuation of the sport...the boxing photographs in the book are magnificent and provide a medical history of the sport that has never been done before. This alone would be fascinating to any boxing fan. From a physician's perspective, the chapters dealing with brain injuries, including statistics, studies, and pictures of actual boxers' brains are truly insightful."—Margaret Goodman, MD for THE RING, October 2005