“The Emperor of All Maladies”, written by physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee is an elegant look at the history of cancer and its long entanglement with the history of humans.
Cancer has baffled humans for thousands of years and this book tells its story entwined with the stories of those who took it on as doctors, patients, lobbyists and politicians. It reads like a novel filled with behind the scenes drama of the politics that plays out when focusing on securing science research, spearheaded by Mary Lasker and Sidney Farber.
Dr. Mukherjee writes this book for his patients who have asked him questions and in it he begins to demystify cancer from a disease which has no cure to finally understanding some of its secrets in our own DNA.
This book is must have primer for anyone seeking answers about cancer as it synthesizes much information into a palatable format that is accessible to everyone.