Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

26 reviews

dmturner's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

"Cancer is a flaw in our growth, but this flaw is deeply entrenched in ourselves. We can rid ourselves of cancer, then, onlly as much as we can rid ourselves of the processes in our physiology that depend on growth - aging, regeneration, healing, reproduction." (462)

A thorough and very readable history of cancer and its treatment through history, from the viewpoint of surgery, chemotherapy, and cell biology. It is also incidentally an enlightening analysis of the institutional and structural problems in science that can interfere with treatment. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer and Death

snowleopard4's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Terminal illness

lochlyn's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Medical content

standardissuecat's review against another edition

informative inspiring slow-paced

3.0

Quite slow and it's easy to get caught up in the details. I loved the personal stories, but the biological detail a little less. It would be great for anyone who has a relative with cancer in order to learn about the disease. I also enjoyed the historical lens on this biological topic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

gkgkgk's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Vomit and Grief

eagerreader2022's review

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

I learned alot about how cancer was discovered, diagnosed, and treated throughout history. I'm glad I picked up the audiobook to help me get through it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Gore, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Excrement, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

Eugenics mentioned in passing.

melv32's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, and Medical content

bookreadingelf's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexism

nikkiacat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

4.25

This book manages to make me sad and give me hope for the future at the same time. It really shows me why people study cancer and get so committed to the science of it; cancer is both a devastating, horrifying disease but also an incredibly fascinating subject on the cellular level. I love that the author is a doctor himself and not only shows us the science and men and women in the laboratory but humanizes the topic as well and shows us the people hit hardest by cancer: the victims and their families. It started off a little slow but once you get used to the scientific discussions it gets very interesting. A lot of names of scientists and doctors to try to remember, but worth it. An excellent read.

(The trigger warnings about animals are due to the many descriptions of animal testing.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, and Medical content