The Emperor of All Maladies
Book description
Winner of the Guardian First Book Award 2011
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction 2011
Shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize 2011
Shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize
In The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee, doctor, researcher and award-winning science writer, examines cancer with a cellular biologist's…
Why read it?
3 authors picked The Emperor of All Maladies as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Less than a century ago, having a diagnosis of cancer was almost universally a death sentence, if the word was even uttered at all.
In The Emperor of All Maladies, Mukherjee (who overlapped in training with me) takes us back in time to the heroic – and at times cavalier and even brutal – procedures and discoveries that led to the very first cancer treatments, some of which are told by the people who pioneered those therapies.
From Mikkael's list on the good, bad, beautiful, and ugly in medicine.
The Emperor of All Maladies lays out the history of research on specific cancer treatments, showing that most treatment plans have a foundation in vetted quality research. I found that very helpful once I was diagnosed with cancer since it allowed me to trust my doctors and their recommendations. The book also shows that most cancer researchers are dedicated to the work and to patients. As an oncology nurse I worked with physicians whose egos were the focus of their practice. Mukherjee’s portrayals of altruistic physicians helped me see doctors more generously.
From Theresa's list on having cancer.
Cancer is one of the leading killer of people, and has become an iconic disease of our age, cutting many lives short. Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Pulitzer Prize winning book provides an inside look at how we have come to better understand this disease and curb its effects for many, but not all.
From Haider's list on death, medicine, and end of life care.
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