Book Review: How to Get Cancer? — A Satirical Survival Guide

How to Get Cancer?
by Ashish Gurram

Reviewed by Swamy Muddam

A Hilarious Manual for Self-Destruction — With a Life-Saving Message

Ashish Gurram’s ‘How to Get Cancer?’ is not your average health book. It doesn’t lecture, it doesn’t plead — it dares. With razor-sharp wit and a punch of satire, Gurram flips the health genre on its head, delivering a bold, uncomfortable, and oddly hilarious take on the very habits that are silently killing us.

This debut work is structured like a manual—a tongue-in-cheek guide on “how” to get cancer—but beneath the sarcasm lies a brutal mirror to modern lifestyles. From junk food addiction and sleep deprivation to sedentary routines and screen obsessions, each chapter mocks our most normalized self-destructive choices. It’s the kind of book that’ll make you laugh, cringe, and rethink your midnight snacks, all at once.

Gurram, a first-time author and full-time truth-speaker, has crafted a new kind of public health awareness—edgy, viral, and unforgettable. His writing channels the energy of stand-up comedy with the depth of a TED Talk. He doesn’t hide behind medical jargon or dull statistics. Instead, he wraps hard truths in humor so sharp it cuts through denial like a scalpel.

What makes ‘How to Get Cancer?’ remarkable isn’t just its concept—it’s the DIY spirit behind it. Ashish has not only written the book, but independently published and promoted it, performing at open mics and speaking at events, turning his message into a movement.

This book is not for the faint-hearted—unless, as he cheekily warns, you want a faint heart. But for everyone else—students, professionals, dreamers, and doers—it’s a wake-up call in disguise.

Darkly comic, deeply insightful, and painfully relevant, ‘How to Get Cancer?’ might be the most important satirical book you’ll read this year. It may not hand you a wellness plan, but it will hand you a moment of reflection—and possibly, a life-changing one.