The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
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This is a great book. The author, a physician, does a superb job at walking the fine line between the biological science and the history of the disease. I learned a lot – both about the background of cancer and it’s biological roots. Mukherjee personifies cancer in the title by referring to the book as a biography. He mirrors that throughout the text, linking cancer and it’s growth to life, itself. While that’s sort of interesting, it’s not the important part of the book, in my opinion. The history of the disease is clear and the medical facts fascinating. The story is just vehicle for the unbelievable facts.
I was shocked to learn how the growth in knowledge about cancer has been almost exponential, with the knee of the growth curve really just happening in the last 20 years. While there have been superhuman efforts put forth before then, most of them were empirically hacking at the disease with limited knowledge of what was really going on. It’s only been in the last few decades that scientists started to understand what’s really going on. Still, there’s so much more to learn and do.
Perhaps the most interesting thing I took from the book was the explanation that detection and prevention is way more effective than cures for virtually all diseases. Finding it early, or even better, avoiding it altogether, has a much greater impact on the spread of the disease than any drug or therapy. In terms of cancer, it also means finding it before it’s metastasized. Local tumors are much easier to deal with and the science, while still brutal, is better understood.
Also interesting are the stories about the people who drove the politics of funding for cancer research – those that worked behind the scenes and those in the public eye.
Someone loaned me this book without my asking and I was apprehensive about reading it. The book itself scared me. Irrational? Yes, but it is what it is. The book certainly prayed on my hypochondria (and continues to do so – is that a mosquito bite or a lump?). That shouldn’t prevent you from reading it. An important and enjoyable read.
- Started reading:
- 1st June 2011
- Finished reading:
- 15th June 2011