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lalawoman416's review against another edition
4.0
Starts strong with a very interesting history of cancer from the ancient times to the present. Then? It gets stuck. The middle portions are overly detailed and lacks the narrative that the first third did. It changes stream from a biography of cancer to an overly detailed analysis of every study ever done on cancer. There, it meanders until he hits his stride again at the end with a strong conclusory chapter. Very good information a around though.
cgriesemer's review against another edition
5.0
Man oh man. One of the most interesting books I’ve ever read. There isn’t a one of us who haven’t been in the immediate orbit of cancer at some point in our lives. Be it friends, relatives, ourselves. This look at the history of cancer from antiquity to present day was exquisitely told. Equal parts fascinating and sobering. I feel like I learned so much, and if there’s one group that should have statues built of them, it’s not athletes, but these cancer researchers.
5/5, superb book, a must read if you’re even remotely interested in this topic. Couldn’t put it down.
5/5, superb book, a must read if you’re even remotely interested in this topic. Couldn’t put it down.
alreadyemily's review against another edition
5.0
Comprehensive and compelling, biography and history of our relationship with and treatment of cancer.
danoreading's review against another edition
4.0
This was a marathon read, but worth it in the end. An excellent book.
wyvernfriend's review against another edition
5.0
This was a bit of a tough read, not because it was badly written or written in a highly scientific manner obscuring the discussion with wodges of data, but because it stirred up a lot of my issues with cancer and my relationship with it. People who know me know I had cancer, Hodgkin's Lymphoma to be exact and I survived chemotherapy, to see the drugs mentioned, their sources, the fact that people have been treated successfully for this cancer since 1969 came as a bit of a surprise. Seeing the path to the multiple-drug treatment that I went through (AVBD if you want to know) being developed struck me deeply and made me a little twitchy and I had to read several light fiction titles to distract me.
It's an interesting read, the history of cancer, some possible historical examples, some of the personalities involved, particularly from the US, some of the links on the chain that are being discovered and some of the treatments attempted over the years.
I found it compelling, interspersed with tales of his own work and experiences in Oncology, he's familiar with the topic, and does do a sucessful job (in my opinion) of creating a biography of the multifaceted monster that is cancer.
Worth a read.
It's an interesting read, the history of cancer, some possible historical examples, some of the personalities involved, particularly from the US, some of the links on the chain that are being discovered and some of the treatments attempted over the years.
I found it compelling, interspersed with tales of his own work and experiences in Oncology, he's familiar with the topic, and does do a sucessful job (in my opinion) of creating a biography of the multifaceted monster that is cancer.
Worth a read.