The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer is as heart-wrenching as you’d expect from a book about a deadly disease, but it is also a majestically hopeful story because of its descriptions of the great strides in treatment. Practicing oncologist and researcher, Siddhartha Mukherjee, covers the vast sweeping history of cancer and its treatment, while focusing on a huge range of real people who played a role in cancer’s study, research and burgeoning cures. He always comes back to real individuals with cancer whom he has treated or studied and how their own struggles with their own disease are impacted by improvements in treatment. This is definitely a book about a disease but Siddhartha Mukherjee comes across as a deeply humane man writing a deeply humane book.
The earliest mention of cancer that the book talks about is a quote from scroll written by the Ancient Egyptian physician Imhotep over 4000 thousand years ago. The scroll gives a perfect description of breast cancer, but unfortunately for breast cancer sufferers from that time up until recently Imhotep concluded that there was nothing that could be done to help. Two centuries ago the standard treatment became a mastectomy without an anesthetic which is horrible to even contemplate. Today a range of options including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation mean a much higher survival rate.
Siddhartha Mukherjee points out that cancer is actually more than one disease and survival rates for some forms of the disease have improved rapidly, while others haven’t changed much. One joyful and astonishing story is the treatment of some common forms of childhood leukemia which went from a 5-year survival rate of less than 10% in the 1960s to a 5-year survival rate of over 90% today.
The Emperor of All Maladies is very readable and extremely compelling. It won the Pulitzer Prize for non fiction in 2011. Unless you are an oncologist be prepared to learn a lot from this 500-page epic of human ingenuity in overcoming a horrible disease that has caused untold suffering. I learned some astonishing facts, for instance that a chemical similar to mustard gas, the World War I trench horror, is used in chemotherapy.
As you’d expect from a reliable scientific book, The Emperor of All Maladies includes extensive notes with references, a glossary and an index. It also has some black and white photographs and drawings of notable people, events and procedures in the fight against cancer. The Emperor of All Maladies is a good choice if you like Oliver Sacks for his deep compassion for the people he treats and his profound knowledge of his area of expertise.
Check the WRL catalog for The Emperor of All Maladies.
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Definitely want to check this out. Thanks for the review!
This is a nice review. I never knew books of this sort did exist.
Hi sanchitahobby
We have plenty of general science (500s of the Dewey Decimal system) books and plenty of medical books about cancer (Dewey Decimal 616.994). This book is different in that it is narrative nonfiction, so it is a story with a beginning, middle and end. It is also special in that it was written by a practicing doctor and researcher. I also found it very readable, and the author did a great job of describing complex medical and scientific processes and issues in an understandable way. I think this all adds up to why this book won the Pulitzer Prize!
We have lots of other narrative nonfiction books about eclectic topics as well.
Jan
This sounds absolutely fascinating, but I’m not sure I could bear to read it. My daughter has the highest grade of brain tumour and there is no cure for that yet although I’m sure there will be in time. Good luck to all those who have recovered or will recover from any type of cancer.
I am so sorry to hear about your daughter.
This book is a wrenching read as I said, but does point out the amazing strides people have made in cancer treatment.
We wish your daughter and family good luck.
Jan
I’m currently suffering from a severe and rare form of Leukemia, so I know how hard it is for people who suffer just the same emotionally and physically but seems an interesting read. Love reading your book reviews too from a fellow bookworm.
Sonea
I am glad you enjoy our reviews! This book is certainly an interesting read, but probably a difficult one for someone currently with cancer (but possible worthwhile as well for some people).
Good luck with the Leukemia.
Jan
[…] the historical intersection between science and society, likeThe Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson, or The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Bear in mind, this is not for the squeamish, as forensics are described […]
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