Scan barcode
maxschuman's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
This guy’s books rule. He does an amazing job of being comprehensive without assuming the reader knows anything. I never feel like anything is dragging on too long and he deals with the human and philosophical implications of the science alongside the pure mechanics of the systems we’ve learned about. Truly next-level explanatory work that also does a great job explaining what the unanswered questions are in the field.
Half-star off because it can naturally be a little hard to follow some of the jargon in an audiobook and that dulls effectiveness of some chapters. If I had read this in print it probably would’ve been a 5 star review.
Half-star off because it can naturally be a little hard to follow some of the jargon in an audiobook and that dulls effectiveness of some chapters. If I had read this in print it probably would’ve been a 5 star review.
izzyisreading's review against another edition
4.75
Beautiful, enchanting, philosophical take on the biology of cells. Definitely would recommend to anybody with an interest in biology, especially cell biology. I was really surprised at how masterful this book was- the case studies and personal anecdotes intertwined beautifully with the research and the history of science. One thing I particularly liked about this book was the openness it provided- it did not seek to answer every question, but to keep arising new ones. I also appreciated Mukherjee's interconnected view of the cell and the organism as a whole. I found the chapters on stem cells, immunotherapy, and cancer cells fascinating and I learned a lot from those chapters in particular. There were some chapters near the beginning that were a bit tedious (if you were already acquainted with cell biology), but overall I learned a lot from each of the chapters. This book brought philosophy, humanity, and the power of storytelling to a field that is prone to plain data and facts. You can tell the author loves his work, and it makes me love this book as well. One of the best nonfiction books I've read. It is quite dense though, so I'd only recommend if you are interested/have a background in science.
raelin's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.5
I don’t understand the audience this book was written for.
The recap of fundamental science in each section makes me think it is for people without a science background, but I don’t know why they would pick up a book this dense. The dumbing down of scientific research and cellular functions makes me think it’s not for the science nerd crowd. So WHO IS IT FOR?
It was not a terrible read, but since the science recaps were all review for me personally I tended to skip over or zone out while reading them to get to the medical advancements that they inspired
Read to create book club guide.
The recap of fundamental science in each section makes me think it is for people without a science background, but I don’t know why they would pick up a book this dense. The dumbing down of scientific research and cellular functions makes me think it’s not for the science nerd crowd. So WHO IS IT FOR?
It was not a terrible read, but since the science recaps were all review for me personally I tended to skip over or zone out while reading them to get to the medical advancements that they inspired
Read to create book club guide.