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The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

Siddhartha Mukherjee

Start date: December 1, 2012

Finish date: December 31, 2012

Discussion: Book Club 2012

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Book Club 2012

June-July 2012 - Godel Escher Bach
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last updated Jun 08, 2024 07:09PM

December 2012 Emperor of All Maladies
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What Members Thought

May 05, 2011 David Rubenstein rated it liked it

Shelves: medicine, history

This is an elegant, well-written book. Parts of the book read like a detective story, and are very engrossing. However, I really take issue with the short shrift that the book gives to research on cancer prevention. Now, the author readily admits that big strides toward conquering cancer will not occur by only finding cures--prevention is just as important. But, while the book has several chapters on the connection between smoking and lung cancer, no attention is paid to research related to othe ...more

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May 24, 2013 Casey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: knowledge-is-good, veridical, pull-it-surprise

I never understood why intelligent, well-rounded people would want to become oncologists. On television, such doctors were the James Wilson type: damaged, overly empathetic, the kind of person who gets off on guilt. I was never particularly interested in medicine, but I always thought it would be more fun to be an obstetrician or plastic surgeon, helping perfectly healthy people fulfill their dreams of having cute babies or big boobs, and never really dealing with issues as macabre as telling so I never understood why intelligent, well-rounded people would want to become oncologists. On television, such doctors were the James Wilson type: damaged, overly empathetic, the kind of person who gets off on guilt. I was never particularly interested in medicine, but I always thought it would be more fun to be an obstetrician or plastic surgeon, helping perfectly healthy people fulfill their dreams of having cute babies or big boobs, and never really dealing with issues as macabre as telling someone they only had a few months live.

Everyone has a personal story about the impact of cancer on their own lives, and I am no exception: when I was in college, my mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. The prognosis wasn't good, although I didn't know how bad it was at the time: my mom asked her oncologist not to reveal her staging. We were lucky, for a number of reasons. My mom had fantastic health insurance through the school where she taught, and she received treatment at a highly-ranked research hospital that just happened to be located close to my nowheresville hometown. The cancer was driven by a particular gene that had recently been discovered, and that was receiving an intense amount of research interest. If the cancer had developed a few years earlier, things might not have gone quite so well.

Things really did go well, though: my mom is now in remission, although she still sees her oncologist for regular check-ups. One thing that surprised me was the deep relationship she developed with the oncologist who oversaw her treatment. He was focused on research, but not to such a myopic extent that he failed to support his patients. He was optimistic, but honest. My mom told me that he claimed to have stopped trying to estimate who would live and who would die, because his estimates failed to take into account the ephemeral human factors that cannot be measured. Although I never met this doctor, he didn't sound like the stereotype of an oncologist I had pictured. Instead, he was a well-adjusted doctor who cared about his patients and was passionate about his job.

This is all a long windup to the simple fact that I totally get it now: I understand why people would devote their life to oncology. As Mukherjee writes, the root of the word oncology can be translated as "burden," and it would be disingenuous to say that doctors treating cancer patients do not feel this burden on their shoulders. However, cancer is also fascinating. Before reading this book, I had no idea how cancer manipulated genes, setting off cascades that ultimately lead to uninhibited growth of tissue. Cancers are wily and manipulative, taking advantage of the human body in order to proliferate. The group of diseases we call cancer are darkly human in their intelligence and sheer desire to multiply. ...more

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Apr 25, 2019 bup rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, science, 2019

Cancer's biography would not be well represented by a quick and easily categorized, archived and dismissed volume. Cancer is heavy, and messy, and hard fought.

So Mukherjee's lengthy, heavy, pessimistic and optimistic full frontal on cancer feels right. It met my expectations. And it left me feeling more optimistic than I had previously about our species' battle against it.

Before reading this book, I felt cancer would always be with us - because it is ultimately a sort of entropy - the result of ...more

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Feb 05, 2011 Bridget rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

An epic history of cancer. Remarkable in its style, fluidity and comprehensiveness. Thoroughly enjoyable, incredibly edifying. I so so wish I had written this book.

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Jan 09, 2011 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, lwv-book-group

I don't know how Mukherjee has done it. But if it were easy, we would have many more wonderful books that bring a subject into clear focus.

I don't suspect there are many people whose lives have not been touched by cancer. Friends, relatives, acquaintances have died, survived or are currently fighting some form of cancer.

Mukherjee brings the disease into focus--what we have theorized in the past, what we know now, how our treatments and prevention strategies have evolved. And he does this in a ...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Patricrk patrick rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, science

all cancers are alike but they are alike in a unique way.

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Dec 27, 2022 Gabrielle rated it it was amazing

May 01, 2011 Dan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, science

Jun 27, 2012 sphilange marked it as to-read

Shelves: nonfiction, historical, kindle

Aug 30, 2012 David Cerruti marked it as to-read

1 like · Like

Sep 22, 2012 Stacy marked it as to-read

Oct 21, 2012 AER marked it as to-read

Jul 23, 2018 Anna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Apr 26, 2013 Yinxiang24 rated it it was amazing

Oct 29, 2013 Velvetink marked it as to-read

Shelves: wishlist

Feb 04, 2014 Zac marked it as unread

Shelves: history, 1-my-books, non-fiction, science, narrative-non-fiction, pullitzer-prize, virus-and-disease, 2-must-read-non-fiction, medical, 2-top-200