upcarta
  • Sign In
  • Sign Up
  • Explore
  • Search

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

  • Book
  • Nov 16, 2010
  • #NaturalScience
Siddhartha Mukherjee
@DrSidMukherjee
(Author)
www.goodreads.com
See on Goodreads
4.28/5 78.3k ratings
13 Recommenders
13 Mentions
3 Asks
1 Collection
Alternate Cover Edition ISBN 1439107955 (ISBN13: 9781439107959) The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer - from its first documented ap... Show More

Alternate Cover Edition ISBN 1439107955 (ISBN13: 9781439107959)

The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer - from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence.

Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with - and perished from - for more than five thousand years.

The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.”

The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist. From the Persian Queen Atossa, whose Greek slave cut off her malignant breast, to the nineteenth-century recipients of primitive radiation and chemotherapy to Mukherjee’s own leukemia patient, Carla, The Emperor of All Maladies is about the people who have soldiered through fiercely demanding regimens in order to survive—and to increase our understanding of this iconic disease.

Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.

(From Goodreads)

Show Less

Number of Pages: 571

Recommend
Post
Save
Complete
Collect
Mentions
See All
Jim OShaughnessy @JimOShaughnessy · Jan 3, 2022
  • Post
  • From Twitter
Great book, cheers
Gad Saad @GadSaad · Jan 14, 2022
  • Post
  • From Twitter
FANTASTIC book. I reached out to @DrSidMukherjee to invite him on my show for a chat but I was not privy to a reply. It's always courteous to reply to people who take the time to write you. I reply to random strangers from some small village in Pakistan.
Andrew Chen @AndrewChen · Nov 27, 2019
  • Post
  • From Twitter
wow. this book. 👌 Incredible story interleaving the histories of chemotherapy, mastectomies, radiation, tobacco, and so much more. The pulitzer prize is well deserved. Highly recommended.
stdgy @stdgy · Nov 28, 2022
  • Answered to What are you reading and would you recommend it?
  • From Twitter
If you have any interest in Biology or Cancer I would highly recommend ‘The Emperor of All Maladies’ or ‘The Gene’ by Siddhartha Mukherjee. They’re not small reads but they manage to convey an infectious fascination with biology. Lovely books!
Tommy Collison @tommycollison
  • Curated in Recommended books
Collections
See All
  • Tommy Collison
    • Collection
    Recommended books
    222 curations
Asks
See All
  • Izzzyzzz
    • Ask
    Any recommendations for cool nonfiction books?
    82 answers
  • Packy McCormick
    • Ask
    I'm reading The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee, and it's incredible. What else is in this category?
    60 answers
  • Molly White
    • Ask
    What are you reading and would you recommend it?
    42 answers
  • upcarta ©2025
  • Home
  • About
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • @upcarta