Description: "The Emperor of All Maladies" is a magnificently written "biography" of cancer--from its origins to the epic battle to cure, control, and conquer it. Riveting and magisterial, the book provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments and offers a bold new perspective on the way the human body has been observed and understood for millennia. Photos.
Brief description: Siddhartha Mukherjee is the author of The Song of the Cell, The Gene: An Intimate History, a #1 New York Times bestseller; The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction; and The Laws of Medicine. He is the editor of Best Science Writing 2013. Mukherjee is an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University and a cancer physician and researcher. A Rhodes scholar, he graduated from Stanford University, University of Oxford, and Harvard Medical School. In 2023, he was elected as a new member of the National Academy of Medicine. He has published articles in many journals, including Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker. Visit his website at: SiddharthaMukherjee.com.
Review Quotes: Mukherjee brings an impressive balance of empathy and dispassion to this instantly essential piece of medical journalism. Time A meticulously researched, panoramic history . . . What makes Mukherjee s narrative so remarkable is that he imbues decades of painstaking laboratory investigation with the suspense of a mystery novel and urgency of a thriller. . . . He possesses a striking gift for carving some of science s most abstruse concepts into forms as easily understood and reconfigured as a child s wooden blocks. The Boston Globe Riveting and powerful . . . Mukherjee s extraordinary book might stimulate a wider discussion of how to wisely allocate our precious health care resources. San Francisco Chronicle Remarkable . . . The reader devours this fascinating book . . . Mukherjee is a clear and determined writer. . . . An unusually humble, insightful book. Los Angeles Times Extraordinary . . . So often physician writers attempt the delicacy of using their patients as a mirror to their own humanity. Mukherjee does the opposite. His book is not built to show us the good doctor struggling with tough decisions, but ourselves. John Freeman, NPR Now and then a writer comes along who helps us fathom both the intricacies of a scientific specialty and its human meaning. Lewis Thomas, Sherwin Nuland, and Oliver Sacks come to mind. Add to their company Siddhartha Mukherjee. Elle Rich and engrossing . . . With the perceptiveness and patience of a true scientist, [Mukherjee] begins to weave these individual threads into a coherent and engrossing narrative. The Economist A brilliant, riveting history of the disease . . . Threaded throughout, and propelling the narrative forward, are the affecting tales of Mukherjee s own patients. Entertainment Weekly Ambitious . . . Mukherjee has a storyteller s flair and a gift for translating complex medical concepts into simple language. The Wall Street Journal Cancer has never been as fully explored as in Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee s fascinating and moving history. The Daily Beast With epic scope and passionate pen, The Emperor of All Maladies boldly addresses, then breaks down the monolith of disease. The Onion A.V. Club Informative, elegant, comprehensive, and lucid. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Mukherjee s elegant prose animates the science. Bloomberg News Brilliant and riveting. Associated Press [A] brilliant book. Larry King A magnificent book. Sanjay Gupta, M.D., CNN An ambitious scientific, political, and cultural history. Slate.com Intensely readable. New York Post Impressive. The Philadelphia Inquirer Mukherjee . . . writes with supreme authority. The Seattle Times Mukherjee makes us understand that along with our terrible losses, great gains have been made. Newsday Eminently readable . . . A surprisingly accessible and encouraging narrative. Booklist (starred review) A beautifully written account of the ingenuity, hubris, courage, and utter confusion humankind has brought to its attempts to grapple with cancer. Maclean s Future biographers and historians of the disease will labor from deep with the long shadow cast by Siddhartha Mukherjee s remarkable The Emperor of All Maladies. . . . A vivid and profoundly engaging read. BookPage Sweeping . . . Mukherjee s formidable intelligence and compassion produce a stunning account. Publishers Weekly (starred review) Siddhartha Mukherjee s The Emperor of All Maladies left me shaken, fascinated, and not depressed, because he gives a face to our old enemy, cancer. Emma Donoghue, author of Room Sid Mukherjee s book is a pleasure to read, if that is the right word. . . . His book is the clearest account I have read on this subject. With The Emperor of All Maladies, he joins that small fraternity of practicing doctors who cannot just talk about their profession but write about it. Tony Judt, author of The Memory Chalet Rarely have the science and poetr...