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Emperor of All Maladies a Biography of Cancer
Emperor of All Maladies a Biography of Cancer | Siddhartha Mukherjee
'The Emperor of All Maladies' is a comprehensive history of cancer - one of the greatest enemies of medical progress - and an insight into its effects and potential cures.
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review
allenac87
Mehso-so

Very interesting, although a bit of a slog in the middle

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eol
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Pickpick

Despite already being 12 years old, this book is still relevant. It is also a great read, especially for people who are no stranger to medically-themed nonfiction. It's well-written if technical in places; it gets personal yet sticks to the facts; it's well-researched and informative, and written by an expert in the field—all in all, the kind of #nonfiction I like best.

5.0/5

2 likes1 stack add
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eol

Reading how quickly and mercilessly childhood leukemia used to kill, from the perspective of someone who just a few yers back had a case in the family (the kid is well now), is... something else.

Humanity is a disaster, but we've come a long way.

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eol

Starting this for my monthly #nonfiction read. It's a long one, and well-reviewed, and I've been meaning to get to it for some time now.

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Smrloomis
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Pickpick

This book was phenomenal and an excellent read. Maybe I need to read his one on genes next? Highly recommend this if you‘re in the right mood and circumstances. Glad I finally finished it! Now I just need to return it and pay my overdue fine… couldn‘t finish on time!

75 likes1 stack add
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Smrloomis
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I vaguely knew this would intersect with early HIV but now I obviously need to read more about this. Should I just start with And the Band Played On? That‘s the only title that comes to mind on early AIDS/HIV activism and research. Any other recommendations??? Add them if you have them!

Graywacke No recommendations, but terrific quote 2y
Smrloomis @Graywacke 👍🏽 2y
Julsmarshall And the Band Played on is amazing, highly recommend! 2y
See All 6 Comments
Smrloomis @Julsmarshall Glad to hear it! 2y
shanaqui I know David France's How to Survive a Plague is pretty thorough and detailed. Schilts' book is an important historical document, but it's inaccurate about many things, as we've learned later, and is for example what critics called “murderously irresponsible“ in the way it demonises Gaëtan Dugas, the alleged Patient Zero of AIDs in North America. (He was nothing of the sort and could not possibly have been the index case.) 2y
Smrloomis @shanaqui Thank you! I‘ll add How to Survive a Plague to my list. And bear in mind that Shilts‘s book may be dated (at least in some ways) at this point. I‘ve got to finish this one above first but then I‘m thinking of moving on to one of these… 2y
39 likes6 comments
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Smrloomis
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“The relationship between smoking and lung cancer, the committee found, was one of the strongest in the history of cancer epidemiology- remarkably significant, remarkably conserved between diverse populations, remarkably durable over time, and remarkably reproducible in trial after trial.” Holy *#%!!!

Crazeedi Good book 2y
Smrloomis @Crazeedi YES! It‘s fascinating. 2y
48 likes2 comments
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TheBookHippie
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Mehso-so

#nonfictionnerds difficult read but I‘m glad I read it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Amiable What made it a so-so read for you? Was it the writing style? 2y
TheBookHippie @Amiable I'm the only member of my family to not have cancer or died from it. 2y
DisneyFan I loved this book!!! 2y
58 likes4 comments
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jenniferw88
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Mehso-so
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2y
Whatever101 Years ago, this was a somewhat difficult read for me (both content wise and on a personal level) but well worth it. Glad to see people are still interested in reading it, even though it is heavy on the science stuff and sections are a bit dry. 2y
60 likes2 comments
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Trace
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Mehso-so

Interesting to read about the scientists and doctors who pioneered new treatments and research.

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Nebklvr
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Mehso-so

The Author does a good job of simplifying cancers and treatments. I wish they would have used standard chapter breaks to make it easier to flip between different formats. This book left me queasy at times due to the indifference shown by early scientists and doctors towards the suffering of patients. I would have appreciated a focused look at hospice and palliative care for those for whom cures are not an option.

38 likes2 stack adds
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Nebklvr
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Feeling ambivalent about this book. I am amazed by the ingenuity yet sickened by the primitive treatment and sometimes paternalistic tone of doctors towards patients. I hope hospice and palliative care come more into play in the second half.

KathyWheeler I have this book— I bought it the year it came out — but I haven‘t read it yet. In 2016, I was diagnosed with breast cancer (I‘m fine— it was caught really early) and now I‘m not sure that I want to read it. 3y
Nebklvr @KathyWheeler I love to read medical nonfiction but some of this makes me queasy. They sometimes forget in their drive to “solve” cancer that there are humans on the treatment end. This book has very good reviews so take this with a grain of salt but I would give it a pass if I were you. I work as a nurse and even I considered dnfing it 3y
KathyWheeler @Nebklvr Thanks for the advice. I have no medical background. If it makes you queasy, it‘ll probably be worse for me. 3y
Nebklvr @KathyWheeler The treatments were sometimes quite inhumane and the attitude and lack of concern by the doctors and scientists made it more so. I know it was the way things were done at that time but it was still gross. I finished it but had I known at the beginning what i know now i would probably have dnf‘d it 3y
33 likes4 comments
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Hestapleton
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Pickpick

Some of the science is a little confusing, but the author lays things out as clearly as possible. A great explanation of how cancer works and the history of cancer research and treatment. I will never complain about getting my Pap smear again. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Hestapleton
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My #anywayyoureadathon goals are a tad ambitious (what else is new?) but I hope that this forces me out of a reading slump and helps me make some good progress on my #bookspinbingo blackout!

kimmypete1 Thanks for joining! I am also trying to get a #bookspinbingo black out! Good luck! 3y
Eggbeater Glad you're joining. Good luck! 3y
43 likes2 comments
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SaraBeth_RN
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Lindy
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Pickpick

I‘ve been meaning to read this for a long while and finally tackled the 22-hour #audiobook narrated by Fred Sanders. It‘s approachable science with a broad scope, from cancer‘s first recorded history, to research into the causes and cures, to the author‘s own clinical experience with the disease as a doctor. It‘s fascinating & I learned a lot. Also, I felt closer to my loved ones who live with & have died of cancer.

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Lindy
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Horizontal gene transfer is discussed in two audiobooks in a row: the tagged one on cancer, and Entangled Life, which is about fungi. Both books are excellent, btw.
(Internet image in the background)

Centique Oh wow - I have The Emperor of all Maladies but haven‘t read it yet and now I want this Fungi one too. 😍 I really need to concentrate on non fiction soon and reduce the pile! 3y
39 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Lindy
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Seen on yesterday‘s #audiowalk

Bookwormjillk Wow 🤩 3y
Lindy @Bookwormjillk It‘s good to see that people are being creative in response to COVID-19 😁 3y
AlaMich I had to stare it for several minutes before I got it! 😂 3y
See All 8 Comments
Lindy @AlaMich 👍 3y
valeriegeary @AlaMich yeah.... Me too then once I got it I snorted. 🤣🤣 3y
LauraBeth 😂😂 3y
Come-read-with-me 🤣🤣🤣 3y
LeahBergen 😆😆 3y
50 likes1 stack add8 comments
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rabbitprincess
Pickpick

A thorough book, well put together. I lost a bit of steam toward the end but overall found this informative.

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rabbitprincess
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“In 1884, at the prime of his career in New York, Halsted read a paper describing the use of a new surgical anesthetic called cocaine.”

Did NOT know cocaine was used for that purpose!

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LisaLovesToRead
Pickpick

This was a thorough insight into the history of our knowledge & fight against cancer. I am glad I listened to the audio book. I think it made it easier to stick with it, that I could listen as a backdrop to drives and runs. It is long, but I did learn quite a bit.

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rockpools
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For #scienceseptember, this is the main book by a BIPOC on my shelves. Wonder why I‘ve been putting this one off?! Think I‘m going to read to page 50 to see if it‘s something I actually want to read in the next 5 years, or whether it‘s something I need to pass on for now. From the dogears, the last reader made it as far as p5 😬

#integrateyourshelf

@ChasingOm @Emilymdxn my username‘s changed - was @ RachelO - sorry!

squirrelbrain No, I wouldn‘t want to read it either.... 4y
ChasingOm Noted on the username! Will fix going forward. 😄 This one has definitely stayed on my TBR as well.... 4y
54 likes2 comments
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Tinyiko.N
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Pickpick

Compulsory reading for all medical professionals and a riveting referral for those interested in the human anatomy. Siddhartha was able to poetically narrate the story of a disease which we all fear, giving us non-medics a simple yet beautiful understanding of where we are in finding a treatment for it. Absolutely worth the read!

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Dostoyes
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Pickpick

Ultimately a bit choppy of a read, but it mirrored the subject matter. The history of cancer is not a neat and linear story. It has no climax, rather many, but no resolution—yet. We are in the middle of its history and the author had a massive challenge to reflect that, in which he succeeded.

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Amandajoy
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I‘ve been think about this for a couple of days & here‘s my #top10ofthedecade #nonfictionedition. I read so many good ones! As always, it was hard to choose. I picked ones I read this decade, I didn‘t care if they were published this decade. Stay tuned for the fiction edition....

Cinfhen I don‘t know why but I‘m MOST INTRIGUED by 4y
Amandajoy @Cinfhen I bought it on a whim & it was fascinating! I think it started my love of micro histories. 4y
Cinfhen ❤️ 🦞🦞 🦞 4y
38 likes3 comments
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Dostoyes
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Into part 2 and already recommend to everyone interested in our healthcare system and what we know and don‘t know. And how we learn about medicine and our bodies. Cancer touches pretty much all of us, Mukherjee‘s “biography” helps us grapple with what is going on, by contextualizing cancer within history.

Ericalambbrown This is on my TBR list. I read The Gene this year and loved it! (edited) 4y
Dostoyes Thanks for the reminder @Ericalambbrown about The Gene! On my TBR as well now :) 4y
Ericalambbrown Another one to check out if you like medical history is the book I just tagged. It‘s about Joseph Lister‘s fight for antiseptic surgery. So gross but so good! 4y
Dostoyes Sounds like something to read on an empty stomach :) thanks! reminds me of Candice Millard‘s Destiny of the Republic about President Garfield‘s death at the hands of his physicians, and the similar struggle of the medical community to adopt antiseptics. Such important stories for us all to know! What will end up being the “antiseptic” of our time? 4y
Nebklvr The Knife Man about Hunter was great too 3y
11 likes1 stack add5 comments
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Tineke
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TIL The tobacco industry is scum of the earth. When they couldn't keep their hold on American households, they moved on to greener underdeveloped pastures, using the knowledge they learned from the legal battles in America.

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Tineke
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Currently reading this one. I love this kind of non- fiction. This one is easy to read and this far very interesting. Has anyone else read this, or do you have any recommendations for non-fiction?

Tineke @Megabooks. I read that one a couple of years ago. It was a great book. Maybe I should reread it. 4y
Tineke I will add the other one you suggested on my wishlist. 4y
15 likes2 stack adds4 comments
review
Vivlio_Gnosi
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Pickpick

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Truly worth the #PulitzerPrize.
An absolute thrill to read. Mukherjee does an excellent job of taking such a complex and technical subject and bring it to a level that the average reader can understand.
This book is perfect if you're trying to get a better understanding of what cancer is and why we haven't discovered a cure yet.
#Nonfiction #cancer #medical #science #NYTBestseller

8 likes1 stack add
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Vivlio_Gnosi
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Last chapter! Almost done!
#Nonfiction #medical #SoClose

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Vivlio_Gnosi
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Perhaps the scariest #Halloween reality of all: #cancer.
Thankfully doctors have discovered at least 5 Achilles Heels.
1. Originates as a local disease before spreading.
2. Rapid growth rate (easier to target).
3. Accumulation of mutations in it's DNA required for growth.
4. Dependent on proto-oncogenes & tumor suppressor genes.
5. Dependent on multiple corrupt properties from other areas of the body.
#Nonfiction #medical #science

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Lauren890
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book is incredibly researched. It‘s so packed with info that I‘m not sure I even absorbed half of it. My favorite parts were the few times the author discussed his own patients and experiences. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator‘s voice was nice to listen to but I found myself zoning out pretty often and I‘d need to rewind. 😬 I‘m definitely more interested in Mukherjee‘s book on genes now!

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Vivlio_Gnosi
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And look at that progress! I'm up to Part 6 of 6. Almost there...
#Nonfiction #GreenvilleSC #Medical #BridgeCity #coffee #espresso

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Vivlio_Gnosi
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Tried a cortado to go with my book.
#GreenvilleSC #BridgeCity

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Vivlio_Gnosi
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Trying a new coffee shop in #GreenvilleSC to finish this book up. Bridge City Coffee.

4 likes1 stack add
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Vivlio_Gnosi
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Vivlio_Gnosi

"the only intervention ever known to reduce the aggregate mortality for disease - any disease - at a population level was prevention."

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Vivlio_Gnosi

(Part 2 of 2) and ventilation - had driven TB mortality down in Europe and America. Polio and smallpox had also dwindled as a result of vaccinations. Cairns wrote, 'The death rates from malaria, cholera, typhus, tuberculosis, scurvy, pellagra and other scourges of the past have dwindled in the US because humankind has learned how to prevent these diseases....To put most of the effort into treatment is to deny all precedent.'"

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Vivlio_Gnosi

(Part 1 of 2) "In the history of medicine, no significant disease had ever been eradicated by a treatment-related program alone. If one plotted the decline in deaths from tuberculosis, for instance, the decline predated the arrival of new antibiotics by several decades. Far more potently than any miracle medicine, relatively uncelebrated shifts in civic arrangements - better nutrition, housing, and sanitation, improved sewage systems...

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Vivlio_Gnosi
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"care, she wrote, 'is a soft word' that would never win respectability in the medical world."
[Don't ever let the cause become bigger than the people it's designed to help.]

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Vivlio_Gnosi
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7 likes1 stack add
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Vivlio_Gnosi

How do I choose between 2 large books? Read both of course. I alternate everytime I finish a chapter.
#BookHero #GreenvilleSC #history #Nonfiction

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CoffeeK8
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Pickpick

An amazing and detailed book. Wow.

Crazeedi Yes great read, and wasn't it a PBS show? 5y
53 likes4 stack adds1 comment
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SharonGoforth
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Started this yesterday and am having a hard time putting it down! #amreading #pulitzerprizewinner #nonfiction

Centique That‘s good to hear. This is coming up soon on my TBR 😊👍 5y
Megabooks This book is amazing! 5y
SharonGoforth @Centique I was afraid it would be too “technical”, but it isn‘t. It‘s really interesting reading! 5y
See All 8 Comments
SharonGoforth @Megabooks I‘m less than 100 pages in, but I totally agree with you! 5y
Vivlio_Gnosi Just started this weekend. A friend, who is a nurse, highly recommended this book. 5y
SharonGoforth @Vivlio_Gnosi It‘s so good!! Hope you like it 😊. 5y
Vivlio_Gnosi I can't wait. This #Nonfiction topic is right up my alley. Thank you for your review! 5y
SharonGoforth @Vivlio_Gnosi You‘re welcome! 5y
44 likes8 comments
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Conservio
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I did it! I finally finished this #behemoth of a book! Solid 5/5. #science #cancer

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Conservio
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Still working on this #behemoth. About 100 pages to go! #science #cancer

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MamaJody
Mehso-so

As a big nonfiction reader & lover, this one just didn‘t click for me. I found the incredibly clinical subject matter and the framing such as “on a warm Autumn morning” just didn‘t quite gel for me. I‘m certainly in the minority though! #aroundtheyearin52books

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mamabear68
Pickpick

Was recommended by my BIL who eventually succumbed to cholangiocarcinoma. Such a detailed and interesting book into cancer history and research and hope for the future of cancer treatments. I‘ll want to go back to this again since it‘s so dense and I‘m sure I‘ve missed parts of the book that were “sciencey” and I should read again. But much of it is written in language that is meant for non-medical people to understand.

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CSeydel
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Here we go! Getting ready to start this guy. It was my Christmas gift ... figure I should read it before Christmas rolls around again!

#makemereadit #mountTBR
#readwhatyouown #nonfiction

Mindyrecycles Really good. I heard him speak right after I read the book. He was fantastic. 6y
sisilia I have a copy for more than a year 😆 6y
75 likes2 comments