The Emperor of All Maladies
A Biography of Cancer
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Published By: Scribner, 2010
Genre: Nonfiction | Science & Technology
Page Count: 608 (Paperback)
Audiobook Length: 22 hours and 18 minutes
Audiobook Narrator: Fred Sanders
ISBN: 9781439170915
Publisher’s Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a documentary from Ken Burns on PBS, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—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.
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.
About the Author
Siddhartha Mukherjee, born on July 21, 1970, in New Delhi, is a distinguished Indian-American physician, scientist, and author. A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, he specializes in oncology and has made significant contributions to cancer research. In 2010, Mukherjee received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his groundbreaking book “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.” Beyond his medical practice, he is known for his ability to communicate complex scientific concepts to a broader audience, contributing to a better understanding of medicine and health.
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